I recently switched to Linux (Zorin OS) and I selected “use ZFS and encrypt” during installation. Now before I can log in it asks me “please unlock disk keystore-rpool” and I have to type in the encryption password it before I’m able to get to the login screen.
Is there a way to do this automatically like with Windows or MacOS? Zorin has biometric login which is nice but this defeats the purpose especially because the encryption password is long and tedious to type in.
Also might TPM have anything to do with this?
EDIT: Based on the responses I have to assume some of you guys live in windowless underground bunkers sealed off with concrete because door locks “aren’t secure against battering rams”. Normal people don’t need perfect encryption they just want to add an extra hurdle or two for the crackhead who steals the PC. I assumed Linux had a system similar to what Windows or MacOS has been doing for a decade but I am apparently wrong.
The TPM (trusted platform module) is a chip inside your processor (or on your motherboard) that can store cryptographic information such as encryption keys and certificates in a way that is extremely difficult to get them out without providing the proper unlock mechanism.
One method used to unlock secrets is to enter a PIN (which is alfanumeric despite the name), or by requiring an exact sequence of “measurements”. The bootloader measures “I just booted Grub”, then the kernel measures “I just started booting”, then initramfs starting is measured, etc. Combined with secure boot being configured to only boot Linux versions signed by your own key, this basically prevents the TPM from giving up its secrets unless you’ve booted the exact same operating system that stored the secure data.
These mechanisms are often combined for greater security
This automatic unlocking feature allows operating systems like Windows or Linux to encrypt the disk without ever having to enter a key. An attacker van steal the laptop, but assuming they don’t know the user password and can’t bypass the biometrics, they’ll be stuck at a secure login screen with no access to the data on disk (though LPC TPMs on the hardware can easily be eavesdropped, so this isn’t always very secure). Windows enables this mechanism by default in many configurations.
The biggest advantage is that nobody can rip out the hard drive and look at your files, nor can anyone with a boot disk just browse your files like you could back in the Windows 95-10 days.
It’s also one of the reasons Windows 11 requires modern TPMs, and doesn’t work on some relatively recent hardware without bypassing checks on the installer.