Free open-source disk encryption
software for Windows 7/Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux
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Main features:
- Creates a virtual
encrypted disk within a file and mounts it as a real disk.
- Encrypts an entire
partition or storage device such as USB flash drive or hard
drive.
- Encrypts a partition
or drive where Windows is installed (pre-boot
authentication).
- Encryption
is automatic, real-time (on-the-fly)
and transparent.
- Parallelization and pipelining allow
data to be read and written as fast as if the drive was not encrypted.
- Encryption can
be hardware-accelerated on
modern processors.
- Provides plausible
deniability, in case an adversary forces you to reveal the
password:
Hidden volume (steganography) and hidden operating system.
More information about the features of TrueCrypt may be found in
the documentation.
7.1a
February 7, 2012
Improvements
and bug fixes:
- Minor
improvements and bug fixes (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
7.1
September 1, 2011
New
features:
- Full
compatibility with 64-bit and 32-bit Mac OS X 10.7 Lion
Improvements and bug fixes:
- Minor
improvements and bug fixes (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
7.0a
September 6, 2010
Improvements:
- Workaround for a
bug in some custom (non-Microsoft) drivers for storage device controllers
that caused a system crash when initiating hibernation on
TrueCrypt-encrypted operating systems. (Windows
7/Vista/2008/2008R2)
- Other minor
improvements (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
Bug fixes:
- Minor bug fixes
(Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
7.0
July 19, 2010
New
features:
- Hardware-accelerated
AES (for more information, see the chapter Hardware
Acceleration).
Note: If you want to disable hardware acceleration, select Settings > Performance and disable the option 'Accelerate AES encryption/decryption by using the AES instructions of the processor'. - A volume can now
be configured to be automatically mounted whenever its host device gets
connected to the computer (provided that the correct password and/or
keyfiles are supplied). (Windows)
Note: For example, if you have a TrueCrypt container on a USB flash drive and you want to configure TrueCrypt to mount it automatically whenever you insert the USB flash drive into the USB port, follow these steps: 1. Mount the volume. 2. Right-click the mounted volume in the drive list in the main TrueCrypt window and select 'Add to Favorites'. 3. The Favorites Organizer window should appear. In it, enable the option 'Mount selected volume when its host device gets connected' and click OK.
Also note that TrueCrypt will not prompt you for a password if you have enabled caching of the pre-boot authentication password (Settings > 'System Encryption') and the volume uses the same password as the system partition/drive. The same applies to cached non-system volume passwords. - Partition/device-hosted
volumes can now be created on drives that use a sector size of 4096, 2048,
or 1024 bytes (Windows, Linux). Note: Previously
only file-hosted volumes were supported on such drives.
- Favorite Volumes
Organizer (Favorites > 'Organize Favorite Volumes'
or 'Organize System Favorite Volumes'), which allows you to set
various options for each favorite volume. For example, any of them can be
mounted upon logon, as read-only or removable medium, can be assigned a
special label (which is shown within the user interface instead of the
volume path), excluded from hotkey mount, etc. The order in which favorite
volumes are displayed in the Favorites Organizer window can be changed and
it is the order in which the volumes are mounted (e.g. when Windows starts
or by pressing the 'Mount Favorite Volumes' hotkey). For more
information, see the chapters Favorite Volumes and System
Favorite Volumes. (Windows)
- The Favorites menu
now contains a list of your non-system favorite volumes. When you select a
volume from the list, you are asked for its password (and/or keyfiles)
(unless it is cached) and if it is correct, the volume is mounted. (Windows)
Security improvements:
- In response to
our public complaint regarding the missing API for encryption of Windows
hibernation files, Microsoft began providing a public API for encryption
of hibernation files on Windows Vista and later versions of Windows (for
more information, see the section TrueCrypt 5.1a in this version history).
Starting with this version 7.0, TrueCrypt uses this API to encrypt
hibernation and crash dump files in a safe documented way. (Windows 7/Vista/2008/2008R2)
Note: As Windows XP and
Windows 2003 do not provide any API for encryption of hibernation files,
TrueCrypt has to modify undocumented components of Windows XP/2003 in order to
allow users to encrypt hibernation files. Therefore, TrueCrypt cannot guarantee
that Windows XP/2003 hibernation files will always be encrypted. Therefore, if
you use Windows XP/2003 and want the hibernation file to be safely encrypted,
we strongly recommend that you upgrade to Windows Vista or later and to
TrueCrypt 7.0 or later. For more information, see the section Hibernation File.
Improvements:
- Many minor
improvements. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
Bug fixes:
- Minor bug fixes.
(Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
Removed features:
- TrueCrypt no
longer supports device-hosted volumes located on floppy disks. Note: You
can still create file-hosted TrueCrypt volumes on floppy disks.
6.3a
November 23, 2009
Improvements
and bug fixes:
- Minor
improvements and bug fixes. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
6.3
October 21, 2009
New
features:
- Full support for
Windows 7.
- Full support for
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
- The ability to
configure selected volumes as 'system favorite volumes'. This is useful,
for example, when you have volumes that need to be mounted before system
and application services start and before users start logging on. It is
also useful when there are network-shared folders located on a TrueCrypt
volume and you need to ensure that the network shares will be restored by
the system each time it is restarted. For more information, see the
chapter System
Favorite Volumes. (Windows)
Improvements and bug fixes:
- 'Favorite'
volumes residing within partitions or dynamic volumes will no longer be
affected by changes in disk device numbers, which may occur, e.g., when a
drive is removed or added. Note: If you use a favorite volume list saved
by TrueCrypt 6.2a or earlier and you want to take advantage of this
improvement, you need to resave the list using TrueCrypt 6.3. (Windows)
- Many other minor
improvements and bug fixes. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
6.2a
June 15, 2009
Improvements
and bug fixes:
- Improved file
container creation speed on systems having issues with write block sizes
greater than 64 KB. (Windows)
- The 'Device not
ready' error will no longer occur when the process of decryption of a
system partition/drive is finished. (Windows)
- Other minor
improvements and bug fixes. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
6.2
May 11, 2009
New
features:
- The I/O pipeline
now uses read-ahead buffering, which improves read performance especially
on solid-state drives, typically by 30-50%. (Windows)
Improvements, bug fixes, and security enhancements:
- The boot loader
now supports motherboards with BIOSes that reserve large amounts of base
memory (typically for onboard RAID controllers). Note: In order to be able
to take advantage of this improvement under Windows Vista, you will have
to install Service Pack 1 or higher first. Service Pack 1 for Windows
Vista resolved an issue causing a shortage of free base memory during
system boot. (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
- Mounting using
the 'Auto-Mount
Devices' feature may take significantly less time as
partitions containing unencrypted filesystems are now skipped. (Windows)
- When volumes
that are mounted as read-only or removable are saved as favorite volumes,
they are mounted as read-only and/or removable when 'Mount Favorite
Volumes' is used.
- When a
multiple-pass wipe algorithm is selected when performing in-place
encryption of a non-system volume, the header areas will be wiped before
the encrypted headers are written to the disk. Note: On an existing
volume, you can perform such an operation by changing its password and/or
keyfiles. (Windows Vista/2008)
- Many other minor
improvements, bug fixes and security enhancements. (Windows,
Mac OS X, and Linux)
6.1a
December 1, 2008
Improvements,
bug fixes, and security enhancements:
- Minor
improvements, bug fixes, and security enhancements. (Windows, Mac
OS X, and Linux)
6.1
October 31, 2008
New
features:
- Ability to
encrypt a non-system partition without losing existing data on the
partition. (Windows Vista/2008)
Note: To encrypt a non-system partition in place, click 'Create Volume' > 'Encrypt a non-system partition' > 'Standard volume' > 'Select Device' > 'Encrypt partition in place' and then follow the instructions in the wizard. Please note that this is not supported on Windows XP/2000/2003 as these versions of Windows do not natively support shrinking of a filesystem (the filesystem needs to be shrunk to make space for the volume header and backup header). - Support for
security tokens and smart cards (for more information, see section Security
Tokens and Smart Cards in chapter Keyfiles).
- The TrueCrypt
boot loader can be prevented from displaying any texts (by selecting Settings >System
Encryption and enabling the option 'Do not show any texts in
the pre-boot authentication screen').
- The TrueCrypt
boot loader can now display a custom message (select Settings > System
Encryption and enter the message in the corresponding field)
either without any other texts or along with the standard TrueCrypt boot
loader texts.
- Pre-boot
authentication passwords can now be cached in the driver memory, which allows
them to be used for mounting of non-system TrueCrypt volumes (select Settings > System
Encryption and enable the option 'Cache pre-boot
authentication password').
- Linux and Mac OS
X versions:
The ability to mount a Windows system partition encrypted by TrueCrypt and
to mount a partition located on a Windows system drive that is fully
encrypted by a Windows version of TrueCrypt.
Improvements:
- Protection
against memory corruption caused by bugs in certain versions of some
BIOSes, which prevented the TrueCrypt boot loader from working properly. (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
- During the
process of creation of a hidden
operating system, TrueCrypt now securely erases the entire
content of the partition where the original system resides after the
hidden system has been created. The user is then prompted to install a new
system on the partition and encrypt it using TrueCrypt (thus the decoy
system is created).
Note: Although we are not aware
of any security issues (connected with decoy systems) affecting the previous
versions of TrueCrypt, we have implemented this change to prevent any such
undiscovered security issues (if there are any). Otherwise, in the future, a
vulnerability might be discovered that could allow an attacker to find out that
the TrueCrypt wizard was used in the hidden-system-creation mode (which might
indicate the existence of a hidden operating system on the computer) e.g. by
analyzing files, such as log files created by Windows, on the partition where
the original system (of which the hidden system is a clone) resides. In
addition, due to this change, it is no longer required that the paging file is
disabled and hibernation prevented when creating a hidden operating system.
- Many other
improvements. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
Bug fixes:
- Many minor bug
fixes and security improvements. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
6.0a
July 8, 2008
Resolved
incompatibilities / bug fixes:
- On systems where
certain inappropriately designed chipset drivers were installed, it was
impossible to encrypt the system partition/drive. This will no longer
occur.
(Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003) - Other minor bug
fixes. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
6.0
July 4, 2008
New
features:
- Parallelized
encryption/decryption on multi-core processors (or multi-processor
systems). Increase in encryption/decryption speed is directly proportional
to the number of cores and/or processors.
For example, if your computer has a quad-core processor, encryption and decryption will be four times faster than on a single-core processor with equivalent specifications (likewise, it will be twice faster on dual-core processors, etc.)
[View benchmark results] - Ability to
create and run an encrypted hidden
operating system whose existence should be impossible to
prove (provided that certain guidelines are followed). For more
information, see the section Hidden
Operating System. (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
For security reasons, when a hidden operating system is running, TrueCrypt ensures that all local unencrypted filesystems and non-hidden TrueCrypt volumes are read-only. (Data is allowed to be written to filesystems within hidden TrueCrypt volumes.)
Note: We recommend that hidden volumes are mounted only when a hidden operating system is running. For more information, see the subsection Security Requirements and Precautions Pertaining to Hidden Volumes. - On Windows Vista
and Windows 2008, it is now possible to encrypt an entire system drive
even if it contains extended/logical partitions. (Note that on Windows XP
you can encrypt an entire system drive too, but it must contain only
primary partitions.)
- New volume
format that increases reliability, performance and expandability:
- Each volume created by this or
later versions of TrueCrypt will contain an embedded backup header
(located at the end of the volume). Note that it is impossible to mount a
volume when its header is damaged (the header contains an encrypted
master key). Therefore, embedded backup headers significantly reduce this
risk. Also note that a backup header is not a copy of
the original volume header because it is encrypted with a different
header key derived using a different salt. For more information, see the
subsection Tools >
Restore Volume Header.
Note: If the user fails to supply the correct password (and/or keyfiles) twice in a row when trying to mount a volume, TrueCrypt will automatically try to mount the volume using the embedded backup header (in addition to trying to mount it using the primary header) each subsequent time that the user attempts to mount the volume (until he or she clicks Cancel). If TrueCrypt fails to decrypt the primary header but it successfully decrypts the embedded backup header at the same time, the volume is mounted and the user is warned that the volume header is damaged (and informed as to how to repair it). - The size of the
volume header area has been increased to 128 KB. This will allow
implementation of new features and improvements in future versions and
ensures that performance will not be impaired when a TrueCrypt volume is
stored on a file system or device that uses a sector size greater than
512 bytes (the start of the data area will always be aligned with the
start of a host-filesystem/physical sector).
For more information about
the new volume format, see the section TrueCrypt Volume
Format Specification.
Note: Volumes created by previous versions of TrueCrypt can be mounted using this version of TrueCrypt.
Note: Volumes created by previous versions of TrueCrypt can be mounted using this version of TrueCrypt.
- Parallelized header
key derivation on multi-core processors (one algorithm per core/thread).
As a result, mounting is several times faster on multi-core processors.
(Windows)
- Ability to
create hidden volumes under Mac OS X and Linux.
- On Linux,
TrueCrypt now uses native kernel cryptographic services (by default) for
volumes encrypted in XTS mode. This increases read/write speed in most
cases. However, the FUSE driver must still be used when the volume is
encrypted in a deprecated mode of operation (LRW or CBC), or when mounting
an outer volume with hidden-volume protection, or when using an old
version of the Linux kernel that does not support XTS mode.
Improvements:
- Up to 20% faster
resuming from hibernation when the system partition/drive is encrypted. (Windows
Vista/XP/2008/2003)
- Many other
improvements. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
Removed features:
- Encrypted system
partitions/drives can no longer be permanently decrypted using the
TrueCrypt Boot Loader (however, it is still possible using the TrueCrypt Rescue Disk).
(Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Note: This was done in order to reduce the memory requirements for the TrueCrypt Boot Loader, which was necessary to enable the implementation of support for hidden operating systems.
Bug fixes:
- When Windows XP
was installed on a FAT16 or FAT32 partition (as opposed to an NTFS
partition) and the user attempted to encrypt the system partition (or
system drive), the system encryption pretest failed. This will no longer
occur.
- Many other minor
bug fixes and security improvements (preventing e.g. denial-of-service
attacks). (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
Note: TrueCrypt 4.3a and 5.1a have been repackaged to contain
the latest version of the TrueCrypt License introduced with TrueCrypt 6.0
(the original application and driver binaries of those old versions have not
been modified; however, the installer used for those new packages was
compiled using the source code of TrueCrypt 6.0, not TrueCrypt 5.1a).
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5.1a
March 17, 2008
Improvements:
- Faster booting
when the system partition/drive is encrypted (typically by
10%). (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
- Other minor
improvements. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
Resolved incompatibilities:
- On computers
with certain hardware configurations, resuming from hibernation failed
when the system partition was encrypted. Note: If you encountered this
problem, the content of RAM may have been saved unencrypted to the
hibernation file. You can erase such data, for example, by decrypting the
system partition/drive (select System > Permanently
Decrypt System Partition/Drive) and then encrypting it again. (Windows
Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Remark: As Microsoft does not provide any API for handling hibernation, non-Microsoft developers of disk encryption software are forced to modify undocumented components of Windows in order to allow users to encrypt hibernation files. Therefore, no disk encryption software (except for Microsoft's BitLocker) can guarantee that hibernation files will always be encrypted. At anytime, Microsoft can arbitrarily modify components of Windows (using the auto-update feature of Windows) that are not publicly documented or accessible via a public API. Any such change, or the use of an untypical or custom storage device driver, may cause any non-Microsoft disk encryption software to fail to encrypt the hibernation file. We plan to file a complaint with Microsoft (and if rejected, with the European Commission) about this issue, also due to the fact that Microsoft's disk encryption software, BitLocker, is not disadvantaged by this.
[Update 2008-04-02: Although we have not filed any complaint with Microsoft yet, we were contacted (on March 27) by Scott Field, a lead Architect in the Windows Client Operating System Division at Microsoft, who stated that he would like to investigate our requirements and look at possible solutions. We responded on March 31 providing details of the issues and suggested solutions.]
[Update 2009-05-10: Since April 2008, we have been working with Microsoft to explore possible ways to solve this issue. We have private access to a draft version of a document specifying the future API, which should allow us to solve the issue on Windows Vista and later versions of Windows. Note: We have been asked not to disclose the content of the document to any third parties, so please do not ask us to send you a copy of the document.]
[Update 2010-07-19: Microsoft began providing a public API for encryption of hibernation files on Windows Vista and later versions of Windows. Since version 7.0, TrueCrypt has used this API and therefore has been able to safely encrypt hibernation files under Windows Vista and later versions of Windows. Therefore, if you use Windows XP/2003 and want the hibernation file to be safely encrypted, we strongly recommend that you upgrade to Windows Vista or later and to TrueCrypt 7.0 or later.] - Workaround for a
bug in the BIOS of some Apple computers that prevented users from entering
pre-boot authentication passwords and controlling the TrueCrypt Boot
Loader. (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Bug fixes:
- When the system
partition/drive is decrypted under Windows, the original partition table
will not be restored. Note: This issue affected users who repartitioned an
encrypted system drive and then decrypted it under Windows. (Windows
Vista/XP/2008/2003)
- Other minor bug
fixes. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
5.1
March 10, 2008
New
features:
- Support for
hibernation on computers where the system partition is encrypted (previous
versions of TrueCrypt prevented the system from hibernating when the
system partition was encrypted). (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
- Ability to mount
a partition that is within the key scope of system
encryption without pre-boot authentication (for example, a
partition located on the encrypted system drive of another operating
system that is not running). (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Note: This can be useful e.g. when there is a need to back up or repair an operating system encrypted by TrueCrypt (from within another operating system). - Command line
options for creating new volumes. (Linux and Mac OS X)
Improvements:
- Increased speed
of AES encryption/decryption (depending on the hardware platform, by
30-140%). (Windows)
- Faster booting
when the system partition/drive is encrypted. (Windows
Vista/XP/2008/2003)
- When the system
partition/drive is encrypted, the TrueCrypt Boot Loader is now stored in a
compressed form and is, therefore, smaller. If a non-cascade encryption
algorithm is used (i.e., AES, Serpent, or Twofish), the TrueCrypt Boot
Loader is now small enough so that a backup of the TrueCrypt Boot Loader
can be (and is) stored in the first drive track. Whenever the TrueCrypt
Boot Loader is damaged, its backup copy is run automatically
instead.
As a result of this improvement, the following problem will no longer occur: Certain inappropriately designed activation software (used for activation of some third-party software) writes data to the first drive track, thus damaging the TrueCrypt Boot Loader. The affected users had to use the TrueCrypt Rescue Disk to repair the TrueCrypt Boot Loader. This will no longer be necessary after upgrading to this version of TrueCrypt (provided that the system partition/drive is encrypted using a non-cascade encryption algorithm, i.e., AES, Serpent, or Twofish).
Note: If your system partition/drive is currently encrypted using a non-cascade encryption algorithm (i.e., AES, Serpent, or Twofish), a backup copy of the TrueCrypt Boot Loader will be automatically stored in the first drive track when you upgrade to this version of TrueCrypt. - The minimum
memory requirements for the TrueCrypt Boot Loader (AES) have been reduced
from 42 KB to 27 KB (twenty-seven kilobytes). This allows users
to encrypt system partitions/drives on computers where the BIOS reserves a
large amount of memory (provided that the AES encryption algorithm is
used). (Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003)
- Many other minor
improvements. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
Resolved incompatibilities:
- On some
computers, when performing the system encryption pretest, Windows failed
to display the log-on screen. This will no longer occur. (Windows
Vista/XP/2008/2003)
Bug fixes:
- On some systems,
drive letters were not correctly assigned to newly mounted non-system
volumes. This will no longer occur. (Windows)
- Many other minor
bug fixes. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
5.0a
February 12, 2008
Improvements:
- The memory
requirements for the TrueCrypt Boot Loader have been reduced by 18 KB
(eighteen kilobytes). As a result of this improvement, the following
problem will no longer occur on most of the affected computers: The memory
requirements of the TrueCrypt Boot Loader 5.0 prevented users of some
computers from encrypting system partitions/drives (when performing the
system encryption pretest, the TrueCrypt Boot Loader displayed the
following error message: Insufficient memory for encryption).
Bug fixes:
- On computers
equipped with certain brands of audio cards, when performing the system encryption
pretest or when the system partition/drive is encrypted, the sound card
drivers failed to load. This will no longer occur. (Windows
Vista/XP/2003)
- It is possible
to access mounted TrueCrypt volumes over a network. (Windows)
- TrueCrypt Rescue
Disks created by the previous version could not be booted on some
computers. This will no longer occur. (Windows Vista/XP/2003)
Note: If your TrueCrypt Rescue Disk created by TrueCrypt 5.0 cannot be booted on your computer, please upgrade to this version of TrueCrypt and then create a new TrueCrypt Rescue Disk (select 'System' > 'Create Rescue Disk'). - Many other minor
bug fixes. (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux)
5.0
February 5, 2008
New
features:
- Ability to
encrypt a system partition/drive (i.e. a partition/drive where Windows is
installed) with pre-boot authentication (anyone who wants to gain access
and use the system, read and write files, etc., needs to enter the correct
password each time before the system starts). For more information, see
the chapter System
Encryption. (Windows Vista/XP/2003)
- Pipelined
operations increasing read/write speed by up to 100% (Windows)
- Mac OS X version
- Graphical user
interface for the Linux version of TrueCrypt
- The TrueCrypt
Volume Creation Wizard now allows creation of hidden volumes within NTFS
volumes. (Windows Vista/XP/2003/2008)
- XTS mode of
operation, which was designed by Phillip Rogaway in 2003 and which was
recently approved as the IEEE 1619 standard for cryptographic protection
of data on block-oriented storage devices. XTS is faster and more secure
than LRW mode (for more information on XTS mode, see the section Modes of
Operation).
Note: New volumes created by this version of TrueCrypt can be encrypted only in XTS mode. However, volumes created by previous versions of TrueCrypt can still be mounted using this version of TrueCrypt. - SHA-512 hash
algorithm (replacing SHA-1, which is no longer available when creating new
volumes).
Note: To re-encrypt the header of an existing volume with a header key derived using HMAC-SHA-512 (PRF), select 'Volumes' > 'Set Header Key Derivation Algorithm'.
Improvements, bug fixes, and security enhancements:
- The Linux
version of TrueCrypt has been redesigned so that it will no longer be
affected by changes to the Linux kernel (kernel upgrades/updates).
- Many other minor
improvements, bug fixes, and security enhancements. (Windows and
Linux)
If you are using an older version of TrueCrypt, it is strongly recommended that you upgrade to this version.
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