Rescue an encrypted LUKS LVM volume

This article describes how to rescue data from encrypted LUKS LVM volume or how to generate new initrd in case you are not able to boot from LUKS volume.

Requirements

• Debian Testing CD
• Basic Linux knowledge

Procedure

1. Follow the wizard but do not choose root partition (you will end up just with console or you can switch to VT2 using ALT+F2)
2. Boot from CD and choose "Rescue" mod
3. Load dm-crypt modules

   modprobe dm-crypt

4. Verify LVM volume name

   lvscan

5. Open the encrypted LUKS volume

   cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/data_vg/luksVolume luksVolume

6. Mount the encrypted volume

   mkdir /target

   mount /dev/mapper/luksVolume /target

Note: you can retrieve the data or you can continue to create new initrd

Procedure to create new initrd

1. You need to mount /boot partion which usually resides on non-encrypted partition

   mount /dev/sda3 /target/boot

2. You also need to mount the following to be able to generate new initrd succesfully

   mount proc /target/proc -t proc

   mount sysfs /target/sys -t sysfs

   mount --bind /dev /target/dev

3. Chroot into the /target

   chroot /target /bin/bash

4. Generate new initrd

   update-initramfs -u

5. Reboot

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