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MattBianco
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ANSWER FROM 2013 - See other answers for happy times

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cryptsetup luksRemoveKey would only remove an encryption key if you had more than one. The encryption would still be there.

The Fedora Installation_Guide Section C.5.3 explains how luksRemoveKey works.

That it's "impossible" to remove the encryption while keeping the contents is just an educated guess. I base that on two things:

  • Because the LUKS container has a filesystem or LVM or whatever on top of it, just removing the encryption layer would require knowledge of the meaning of the data stored on top of it, which simply is not available. Also, a requirement would be that overwriting a part of the LUKS volume with its decrypted counterpart, would not break the rest of the LUKS content, and I'm not sure if that can be done.
  • Implementing it would solve a problem that is about as far away from the purpose of LUKS as you can get, and I find it very unlikely that someone would take the time to do that instead of something more "meaningful".
  • Backup
  • Reformat
  • Restore

cryptsetup luksRemoveKey would only remove an encryption key if you had more than one. The encryption would still be there.

The Fedora Installation_Guide Section C.5.3 explains how luksRemoveKey works.

That it's "impossible" to remove the encryption while keeping the contents is just an educated guess. I base that on two things:

  • Because the LUKS container has a filesystem or LVM or whatever on top of it, just removing the encryption layer would require knowledge of the meaning of the data stored on top of it, which simply is not available. Also, a requirement would be that overwriting a part of the LUKS volume with its decrypted counterpart, would not break the rest of the LUKS content, and I'm not sure if that can be done.
  • Implementing it would solve a problem that is about as far away from the purpose of LUKS as you can get, and I find it very unlikely that someone would take the time to do that instead of something more "meaningful".

ANSWER FROM 2013 - See other answers for happy times

  • Backup
  • Reformat
  • Restore

cryptsetup luksRemoveKey would only remove an encryption key if you had more than one. The encryption would still be there.

The Fedora Installation_Guide Section C.5.3 explains how luksRemoveKey works.

That it's "impossible" to remove the encryption while keeping the contents is just an educated guess. I base that on two things:

  • Because the LUKS container has a filesystem or LVM or whatever on top of it, just removing the encryption layer would require knowledge of the meaning of the data stored on top of it, which simply is not available. Also, a requirement would be that overwriting a part of the LUKS volume with its decrypted counterpart, would not break the rest of the LUKS content, and I'm not sure if that can be done.
  • Implementing it would solve a problem that is about as far away from the purpose of LUKS as you can get, and I find it very unlikely that someone would take the time to do that instead of something more "meaningful".
link to documentation, reasoning
Source Link
MattBianco
  • 3.8k
  • 7
  • 32
  • 47
  • Backup
  • Reformat
  • Restore

cryptsetup luksRemoveKey would only remove an encryption key if you had more than one. The encryption would still be there.

The Fedora Installation_Guide Section C.5.3 explains how luksRemoveKey works.

That it's "impossible" to remove the encryption while keeping the contents is just an educated guess. I base that on two things:

  • ImplementingBecause the LUKS container has a filesystem or LVM or whatever on top of it, just removing the encryption layer would be hardrequire knowledge of the meaning of the data stored on top of it, which simply is not available. Similar to makingAlso, a programrequirement would be that converts from one filesystem to another very different filesystemoverwriting a part of the LUKS volume with its decrypted counterpart, would not break the rest of the LUKS content, and I'm not sure if that can be done.
  • Implementing it would solve a problem that is about as far away from the purpose of LUKS as you can get, and I find it very unlikely that someone would take the time to do that instead of something more "meaningful".
  • Backup
  • Reformat
  • Restore

cryptsetup luksRemoveKey would only remove an encryption key if you had more than one. The encryption would still be there.

The Fedora Installation_Guide Section C.5.3 explains how luksRemoveKey works.

That it's "impossible" to remove the encryption while keeping the contents is just an educated guess. I base that on two things:

  • Implementing it would be hard. Similar to making a program that converts from one filesystem to another very different filesystem.
  • Implementing it would solve a problem that is about as far away from the purpose of LUKS as you can get, and I find it very unlikely that someone would take the time to do that instead of something more "meaningful".
  • Backup
  • Reformat
  • Restore

cryptsetup luksRemoveKey would only remove an encryption key if you had more than one. The encryption would still be there.

The Fedora Installation_Guide Section C.5.3 explains how luksRemoveKey works.

That it's "impossible" to remove the encryption while keeping the contents is just an educated guess. I base that on two things:

  • Because the LUKS container has a filesystem or LVM or whatever on top of it, just removing the encryption layer would require knowledge of the meaning of the data stored on top of it, which simply is not available. Also, a requirement would be that overwriting a part of the LUKS volume with its decrypted counterpart, would not break the rest of the LUKS content, and I'm not sure if that can be done.
  • Implementing it would solve a problem that is about as far away from the purpose of LUKS as you can get, and I find it very unlikely that someone would take the time to do that instead of something more "meaningful".
link to documentation, reasoning
Source Link
MattBianco
  • 3.8k
  • 7
  • 32
  • 47
  • Backup
  • Reformat
  • Restore

cryptsetup luksRemoveKey would only remove an encryption key if you had more than one. The encryption would still be there.

The Fedora Installation_Guide Section C.5.3 explains how luksRemoveKey works.

That it's "impossible" to remove the encryption while keeping the contents is just an educated guess. I base that on two things:

  • Implementing it would be hard. Similar to making a program that converts from one filesystem to another very different filesystem.
  • Implementing it would solve a problem that is about as far away from the purpose of LUKS as you can get, and I find it very unlikely that someone would take the time to do that instead of something more "meaningful".
  • Backup
  • Reformat
  • Restore

cryptsetup luksRemoveKey would only remove an encryption key if you had more than one. The encryption would still be there.

The Fedora Installation_Guide Section C.5.3 explains how luksRemoveKey works.

  • Backup
  • Reformat
  • Restore

cryptsetup luksRemoveKey would only remove an encryption key if you had more than one. The encryption would still be there.

The Fedora Installation_Guide Section C.5.3 explains how luksRemoveKey works.

That it's "impossible" to remove the encryption while keeping the contents is just an educated guess. I base that on two things:

  • Implementing it would be hard. Similar to making a program that converts from one filesystem to another very different filesystem.
  • Implementing it would solve a problem that is about as far away from the purpose of LUKS as you can get, and I find it very unlikely that someone would take the time to do that instead of something more "meaningful".
link to documentation
Source Link
MattBianco
  • 3.8k
  • 7
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  • 47
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Source Link
MattBianco
  • 3.8k
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  • 32
  • 47
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