How to Use VeraCrypt Encryption Software

The Need for Encryption

The data you store on your computer is probably not as secure as you think it is. You may have protected your computer with a log-in screen and a password, but this will deter only casual snoopers. For serious criminals, or anyone with a reasonable level of technical knowledge and sufficient motivation, a log-in password may not be much of a barrier.

Everyone has something on their computer that they would prefer to keep secret:

• A list of secure passwords that need to be written down because they are too complex to remember.
• Personal financial details.
• Confidential business information.

You can make sure it remains secret by storing it inside an encrypted area on either your computer’s hard drive or a device that you plug into your computer, such as a USB memory stick. (Of course, every important item of information should be stored on at least two separate devices, and ideally at two separate locations.)

Getting Started with VeraCrypt

Several programs exist that will allow you to create a securely encrypted area on a device, but VeraCrypt has the benefit of being both particularly good and completely free of charge (although donations are welcome).

VeraCrypt is very straightforward to use, once you know how to use it. The VeraCrypt website contains instructions, but their use of a certain amount of jargon may not be helpful to some users. The instructions you are reading are an attempt to make the process easier to understand by using standard English.

The process is the same for Windows, Mac and GNU/Linux. The illustrations here are from the Linux Mint version; certain minor details may look slightly different in other systems.

The only technical knowledge you need is the ability to install software on your computer.

How to Create an Encrypted Area, known as a ‘Volume’, on a Hard Drive or External Device

1 : Download and Install VeraCrypt

Go to https://www.veracrypt.fr/en/Downloads.html. Find the link that applies to your computer and operating system. Download the appropriate version of the software, and install it in the usual way for your system.

If there appears to be more than one version that seems to match your system, and you are unsure which of them should be used, you could either search online for more information about your system or simply try one and see if it works; if it doesn’t, try another.

2 : Open VeraCrypt

Once you have installed the VeraCrypt software, open it as you would open any other software. The VeraCrypt window will look something like this:

It is important to note that VeraCrypt does not encrypt individual files. Instead, it encrypts all or part of a storage device such as a hard drive or memory stick, allowing individual files to be placed within the encrypted area, which is protected by a password.

In VeraCrypt terminology, an encrypted area is called a ‘volume’. So click ‘Create Volume’.

3 : Choosing What to Encrypt

You will see the ‘VeraCrypt Volume Creation Wizard’ window:

This gives you the option of encrypting different types of areas:

• a portion of a drive,
• an entire drive,
• or a partition within a drive.

The option ‘Create an encrypted file container’ should already be selected. This is the basic option: it allows you to encrypt a portion of your computer’s hard drive or a portion of a device such as a USB memory stick or a recordable DVD. If you intend to encrypt all or part of an external device, ensure that the device is plugged into the computer before you go any further.

For the purpose of this tutorial, we shall keep things simple and stay with the default setting. Click ‘Next’.

4 : Select the Type of Encrypted Area

You will see the ‘Volume Type’ window:

This gives you the option of creating either a normal encrypted area or one that is hidden by being enclosed within another encrypted area. The default option, ‘Standard VeraCrypt volume’, is perfectly fine for most purposes.

Political dissidents, a category which these days includes many ordinary people travelling to countries with authoritarian regimes, may want to create what VeraCrypt calls a ‘hidden volume’ on a laptop or other portable device. The process to create a hidden volume is much the same as the standard process, so we will stick with the default settings for this tutorial. Click ‘Next’.

5 : Choose a Location and Name

You will see the ‘Location’ window:

You now need to choose a location and a name for the encrypted area, so click ‘Select File’.

Your computer’s normal file manager window should appear on top of the VeraCrypt ‘Location’ window. Its appearance will be specific to the computer’s operating system, so yours may not look much like the following example, which is the Linux Mint Cinnamon edition’s file manager. But they all perform the same funcions in much the same way:

1. Select a location for the new encrypted area on your computer’s hard drive or on an external device. As the instructions on the ‘Location’ window mention, you will be able to move the encrypted area to a new location once it is created, if you want to. (As the VeraCrypt text states, what you will actually be creating is a container for the encrypted area. Don’t worry about this technical distinction!)
2. Choose a name for the encrypted area. Note: do not choose the name of a file that already exists in the part of the device where you want to place the encrypted area. If you do, that file will be overwritten and its original contents will be deleted.
3. Click ‘Select’ or ‘Open’ or ‘Save’ or whatever other term your operating system’s file manager uses.
4. The name and location of the encrypted area, which does not yet exist, will appear in the box on the ‘Location’ window.

If you are happy with these settings, click ‘Next’.

6 : Select a Type of Encryption

You will see the ‘Encryption Options’ window:

Again, the default settings are perfectly OK for normal use. Unless you are an expert in cryptography, just click ‘Next’.

7 : Choose a Size

You will see the ‘Volume Size’ window:

1. Choose a suitable size for the encrypted area. It can occupy as much or (almost) as little of the available space as you like, but bear in mind that you will not be able to change the size once the encrypted area has been created. Note also that the usable part of the encrypted area will be fractionally less than the size you select.
2. Click ‘Next’ (as you can see in the illustration, the ‘Next’ button won’t work until you have specified a size for your encrypted volume).

8 : Choose a Password

You will now see the ‘Volume Password’ window:

Read the information in the window about choosing a suitably complex password. You may want to tick (or ‘check’, if you are American) the ‘Display password’ box so that you can see what you are typing. As in the previous window, the ‘Next’ button won’t work until you have correctly typed your password twice.

If VeraCrypt thinks that your password is too short, you will see a message like this:

A password will always be the weakest link in this sort of chain. It really is worth making your password as strong as possible!

When both you and the software are happy with your password, click ‘Next’.

9 : Large files

You will now see the ‘Large Files’ window:

In order for it to be recognised by your computer, the volume must be formatted with one of several available file systems, some of which only work with files up to a specific size. If you think there is any possibility that you will want to store files larger than 4 Gigabytes, select ‘Yes’, and VeraCrypt will use a file systen which will work with all sizes of file. Otherwise, leave the default ‘No’ option selected.

10 : Volume Format

Click ‘Next’, and you will see the ‘Volume Format’ window:

It is safe to assume that the file system specified here will be suitable. Unless you have any reason to think otherwise, leave things as they are and click ‘Next’.

11 : Encrypt the Chosen Area

The ‘Volume Format’ window will now look like this:

This is the exciting bit, which allows you to do more than just tick boxes and click buttons. Note that this is the final point at which you can change your mind about creating an encrypted area (by clicking ‘Cancel’).

Follow the instructions on the screen. After jiggling the mouse around for several minutes, click ‘Format’.

VeraCrypt will now encrypt the area you have specified. The time this takes will depend on the size of the VeraCrypt volume and the specifications of your computer, and may be many minutes. When the process is finished, you may be asked whether you want to create another volume.

Getting Access to an Encrypted Area, Known as a ‘Volume’, on a Hard Drive or External Device

Once you have created an encrypted area, you will be able to store your confidential business information, or whatever else you don’t want other people to see, secure from prying eyes.

You can only get access to the encrypted area by using the VeraCrypt software. If your encrypted volume is on a portable device such as an external hard drive or USB stick, and if you want to use that encrypted volume on more than one computer, you will need to install VeraCrypt on each computer.

To get access to an encrypted volume, open the VeraCrypt software in the usual way. You will see the standard introductory window:

If your encrypted volume is on an external device, ensure that the device is plugged into your computer.

1 : Choose a Number

The numbers in the left-hand column are to identify the volume or volumes you have created. You can have more than one VeraCrypt volume open at the same time, but each volume will have to be opened individually. To begin the process, select one of the numbers by clicking it once. It doesn’t matter which one (in this example, it’s ‘5’):

Technical note: these numbers refer to virtual, not physical, drives. VeraCrypt must use one of these virtual drives each time you open one of your encrypted areas; i.e. each time you ‘mount’ a ‘volume’, in VeraCrypt terminology.

2 : Select an Encrypted Area

Now you need to find and select the encrypted area that you want to open.

1. Click ‘Select File…’.
2. Your computer’s normal file selection window will appear. Use it to go to your hard drive or external device, and select the encrypted area.
3. Click ‘Select’ or ‘Open’ or ‘Save’ or whatever other term your operating system uses.

The location of the encrypted area will be displayed to the left of the ‘Select File’ button:

3 : Find the Password Screen

To get access to this encrypted area, you need to enter the appropriate password.

You will notice that there is no mention on the VeraCrypt window that a password is required. Indeed, there is no obvious indication of what you should do next. This may be a security feature, or it may just be poor design.

To be able to enter a password, you first need to display the window in which you can enter the password, and to do this you need to click the button labelled ‘Mount’.

‘Mount’ is a piece of technical jargon. When an external device is plugged into a computer, it is described as being ‘mounted’ onto the computer. VeraCrypt volumes also need to be ‘mounted’ onto a computer, and for that to happen you need to supply the appropriate password.

Click the button labelled ‘Mount’, and VeraCrypt will allow you to type the volume’s password:

4 : Type the Password

1. It may be a good idea to tick (or check) the ‘Display password’ box. VeraCrypt will alert you if you try to activate an incorrect password, but this can be a slow process.
2. Type the password and click ‘OK’.
3. Depending on your computer’s operating system, you may also be asked to enter the password you use to obtain access to the computer. If, for example, your computer uses the Linux Mint operating system, you might see something like this:

5 : Use the Encrypted Area

The VeraCrypt window will now show the location of the encrypted area next to the number you allocated to the virtual drive:

To get access to the encrypted area, simply double-click the highlighted row. On some systems, the location will open in its own window automatically. You can also use your computer’s normal file navigation mechanism; the encrypted area will be identified using the terms in the column labelled ‘Mount Directory’, which in the above image is ‘/media/veracrypt5’.

You will now be able to move files in and out of the encrypted area, and open any files that you have stored within the encrypted area.

6 : Close the Volume

To return the encrypted area to its password-protected state, go to the VeraCrypt window, highlight the volume, and click ‘Unmount’, or ‘Unmount All’ to close more than one volume simultaneously.