--- layout: doc title: Custom Installation permalink: /doc/custom-install/ redirect_from: - /doc/encryption-config/ --- Custom Installation =================== In the present context, "custom installation" refers to things like manual partitioning, setting up LVM and RAID, and manual LUKS encryption configuration. ## Qubes 4.0 ### Installer Defaults For reference, these are the typical defaults for a single disk with legacy boot: ~~~ Mount Point: /boot Desired Capacity: 1024 MiB Device Type: Standard Partition File System: ext4 Name: (none) Mount Point: / Desired Capacity: (your choice) Device Type: LVM Thin Provisioning Volume Group: qubes_dom0 File System: ext4 Name: root Mount Point: (none) Desired Capacity: 10 GiB Device Type: LVM Volume Group: qubes_dom0 File System: swap Name: swap ~~~ ~~~ SUMMARY OF CHANGES Order Action Type Device Mount point 1 Destroy Format Unknown Disk (sda) 2 Create Format partition table (MSDOS) Disk (sda) 3 Create Device partition sda1 on Disk 4 Create Format ext4 sda1 on Disk /boot 5 Create Device partition sda2 on Disk 6 Create Format LUKS sda2 on Disk 7 Create Device luks/dm-crypt luks-sda2 8 Create Format physical volume (LVM) luks-sda2 9 Create Device lvmvg qubes_dom0 10 Create Device lvmthinpool qubes_dom0-pool00 11 Create Device lvmthinlv qubes_dom0-root 12 Create Device lvmlv qubes_dom0-swap 13 Create Format swap qubes_dom0-swap 14 Create Format ext4 qubes_dom0-root / ~~~ ### Typical Partition Schemes If you want your partition/LVM scheme to look like the Qubes default but with a few tweaks, follow this example. With a single disk, the result should look something like this: ~~~ NAME SIZE TYPE MOUNTPOINT sda disk ├──sda1 1G part /boot └──sda2 part └──luks- crypt ├──qubes_dom0-pool00_tmeta lvm ├──qubes_dom0-pool00_tdata lvm └──qubes_dom0-swap lvm [SWAP] ~~~ ### Encryption Defaults By default, `cryptsetup 1.7.5` will create a LUKS/dm-crypt volume as follows: ~~~ Version: 1 Cipher name: aes Cipher mode: xts-plain64 Hash spec: sha256 ~~~ ~~~ $ cryptsetup --help [...] Default compiled-in device cipher parameters: loop-AES: aes, Key 256 bits plain: aes-cbc-essiv:sha256, Key: 256 bits, Password hashing: ripdemd160 LUKS1: aes-xts-plain64, Key: 256 bits, LUKS header hashing: sha256, RNG: /dev/urandom ~~~ This means that, by default, Qubes inherits these upstream defaults: - AES-128 [[1]][cryptsetup-faq][[2]][dm-crypt][[3]][tomb-238] - SHA-256 - `/dev/urandom` - probably an `iter-time` of one second If, instead, you'd like to use AES-256, SHA-512, `/dev/random`, and a longer `iter-time`, for example, you can configure encryption manually by following the instructions below. ### Example: Custom LUKS Configuration Boot into the Qubes installer, then press `ctrl`+`alt`+`F2` to get a virtual console. 1. (Optional) Wipe the disk: # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=1M status=progress && sync 2. Create partitions: # fdisk /dev/sda Follow the steps to create two partitions: - ~500MiB-1GiB for `/boot` - The rest for `/` (might want to leave some for overprovisioning if it's an SSD) 4. Create LUKS encrypted volume: # cryptsetup -v --hash sha512 --cipher aes-xts-plain64 --key-size 512 --use-random --iter-time 10000 --verify-passphrase luksFormat /dev/sda2 5. Open encrypted volume: # cryptsetup open /dev/sda2 luks 6. Create LVM volumes: # pvcreate /dev/mapper/luks # vgcreate qubes_dom0 /dev/mapper/luks # lvcreate -n swap -L 10G qubes_dom0 # lvcreate -T -l +100%FREE qubes_dom0/pool00 # lvcreate -V1G -T qubes_dom0/pool00 -n root # lvextend -L /dev/qubes_dom0/root 8. Proceed with the installer. At the disk selection screen, select: [x] I will configure partitioning. [ ] Encrypt my data. Decrypt your partition, then assign `/`, `/boot`, and `swap`. Proceed normally from there. ## Qubes 3.2 ### Installer Defaults For reference, these are the defaults for a single disk: ~~~ Mount Point: / Desired Capacity: (your choice) Device Type: LVM Volume Group: qubes_dom0 File System: ext4 Name: root Mount Point: /boot Desired Capacity: 500 MiB (recommended) Device Type: Standard Partition File System: ext4 Mount Point: (none) Desired Capacity: 9.44 GiB (recommended) Device Type: LVM Volume Group: qubes_dom0 File System: swap Name: swap ~~~ ### Typical Partition Schemes If you want your partition/LVM scheme to look like the Qubes default but with a few tweaks, follow these examples. With a single disk, the result should look something like this: ~~~ NAME TYPE MOUNTPOINT sda disk ├──sda1 part /boot └──sda2 part └──luks- crypt ├──qubes_dom0-root lvm / └──qubes_dom0-swap lvm [SWAP] ~~~ If you're using `mdadm` software RAID, it should look something like this: ~~~ NAME TYPE MOUNTPOINT sda disk ├──sda1 part │ └──md0 raid1 /boot └──sda2 part └──md1 raid1 └──luks- crypt ├──qubes_dom0-root lvm / └──qubes_dom0-swap lvm [SWAP] sdb disk ├──sdb1 part │ └──md0 raid1 /boot └──sdb2 part └──md1 raid1 └──luks- crypt ├──qubes_dom0-root lvm / └──qubes_dom0-swap lvm [SWAP] ~~~ ### Example: LVM on LUKS on RAID0 Boot into the Qubes installer, then press `ctrl`+`alt`+`F2` to get a virtual console. 1. (Optional) Wipe both disks: # hdparm --user-master u --security-set-pass pass /dev/sda # time hdparm --user-master u --security-erase-enhanced pass /dev/sda # hdparm --user-master u --security-set-pass pass /dev/sdb # time hdparm --user-master u --security-erase-enhanced pass /dev/sdb 2. Create desired partitions: # fdisk /dev/sda # fdisk /dev/sdb 3. Create RAID devices: # mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md0 --level=mirror --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1 # mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md1 --level=mirror --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda2 /dev/sdb2 4. Create LUKS encrypted volume: # cryptsetup -v --hash sha512 --cipher aes-xts-plain64 --key-size 512 --use-random --iter-time 5000 --verify-passphrase luksFormat /dev/md1 5. Open encrypted volume: # cryptsetup open /dev/md1 luks 6. Create LVM volumes: # pvcreate /dev/mapper/luks # vgcreate qubes_dom0 /dev/mapper/luks # lvcreate -n swap -L 10G qubes_dom0 # lvcreate -n root -l +100%FREE qubes_dom0 7. Proceed with installer. At the disk selection screen, select: [x] I will configure partitioning. [ ] Encrypt my data. Continue normally from here. ## Qubes 3.1 ### Manual Encryption Configuration Qubes OS uses full disk encryption (FDE) by default. If you are an advanced user who wishes to customize your encryption parameters during installation, this page can help. The Qubes installer uses `cryptsetup` (LUKS/dm-crypt) under the hood. You can configure the encryption options while installing Qubes as follows: 01. Boot into the installer. Wait for first GUI screen to appear where it asks about language/localization . 02. Press `Ctrl+Alt+F2` on your keyboard to escape to a shell session. (If you are on a laptop, and your laptop keyboard does not work properly, you may have to plug in a USB keyboard.) 03. Check and adjust the partitioning on the drive you plan to install to with `parted`. For example, you can leave the partition table as `msdos/MBR` type, then create a 500 MB ext4 boot partition, a 10 GB swap partition, and use the rest of the drive (minus overprovisioning space for SSDs) for the root partition. 04. Run to set the LUKS options as you like and set the passphrase: # cryptsetup luksFormat For example: # cryptsetup -v --hash sha512 --cipher aes-xts-plain64 --key-size 512 --use-random --iter-time 5000 --verify-passphrase luksFormat /dev/sda2 05. (Optional) Make sure the new container works: # cryptsetup open /dev/sda2 test # mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/test # mount /dev/mapper/test /mnt/test # umount /dev/mapper/test # cryptsetup close test 06. Everything should be set with the preparation, so press `Ctrl+Alt+F7` to go back to the GUI installer. 07. Continue installing as usual. When you get to the disk partitioning/allocation part, pay attention. 08. When you select the disk, it may complain about only having a few MB of space. Uncheck the "Encrypt and ask me about the passphrase later" box and press the "Custom" button. 09. In this menu, you should see the unencrypted boot partition and the encrypted LUKS partitions you created earlier. You must unlock the LUKS partition here, i.e. enter passphrases. 10. Set the mount points on these partitions once they are decrypted. (This part may be a bit glitchy, but you should be able to get it working after a reboot.) For example, set the mount point for the primary LUKS partition as `/`. Make sure the "Encrypted" box stays checked and that you check the "Format" box (required for the root partition). Similarly, set `/boot` as the mount point for the unencrypted boot partition and `swap` as the mount point for the swap partition. 11. Now the install should complete without any other issues. When it's finished, you'll have LUKS-encrypted partitions with the options you chose above. You can verify this command in dom0: # cryptsetup luksDump For example: # cryptsetup luksDump /dev/sda2 [cryptsetup-faq]: https://gitlab.com/cryptsetup/cryptsetup/wikis/FrequentlyAskedQuestions [dm-crypt]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/dm-crypt/Device_encryption [tomb-238]: https://github.com/dyne/Tomb/issues/238