Ecryptfs problem with Spanish characters

Question

I'm using Ubuntu 22.04. I'm trying to decrypt a home directory that was encrypted on a previous install.

I'm using ecryptfs-recover-private and it's finding the .Private file I need.

However, when it comes to entering the password, I'm having big problems.

I have a Spanish keyboard and when ecryptfs asks me:

Enter your LOGIN passphrase

I think it's having problems with the Spanish characters.

When I enter the other characters, I don't see anything in the terminal except a blinking cursor.

However, when I enter

` or ´

I see the character.

These two characters are repeated consecutively three times each in my old login passphrase like this:

123456qwerty```´´´etctetc

However, in the terminal I have to type the key twice for each

` or ´

to appear. I hit the key once and I see `

I hit it again and it disappears. The same for ´ . Except sometimes I see two: ´´ .

So, I don't know if the correct password is going to ecryptfs-recover-private each time. I'm definitely using the right passphrase, but it's not working.

Is there any way I can force ecryptfs-recover-private to accept a password a different way? Or display the password it gets? Or perhaps there's another way of decrypting my home directory using my old login passphrase?

Answer 1

Solution found:

1. Download Linux Mint 20.1
2. Make minimal 24GB partition for new /
3. Delete every directory or file on original / partition except for /home.
4. Boot Live USB. Install Mint 20.1, choose "other" for install options. Tell installer to use old /. as the home directory for new install.
5. When it comes to create the user account, enter same details an dpassword as previous install.
6. Reboot and login to old home directory from newly installed OS.