Turning on disk encryption for Whonix workstation in VirtualBox : whonix | Torhoo darknet markets
Good day! So with helping another user, I’ve discovered disk encryption in VirtualBox. I’ve turned it on as another OpSec step, and I have not noticed any slowness at all.
1. You’ll need to download the VirtualBox extension pack. Hopefully you are already on version 7.1.6 – you can get that here. https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/7.1.6/ Once you download it, run the file, and it should import into VirtualBox after a license agreement.
2. Make sure your Workstation VM is not running – shut it down if the VM is running.
3. Make sure you have a backup of your Workstation – using backups, cloning, etc.
3. Highlight the Whonix workstation and go to settings -
Click the expert tab at the top left
Go to General – Disk Encryption
Check enable Disk Encryption
Select your Disk Encryption – either 128 or 256 (I did 256)
Put in your password – like your other DN passwords, make sure it’s unique and not used on other sites!
The VM will encrypt itself, this will take a few minutes.
Now, once launched, the VM will request your VM disk encryption password, provide it when necessary.
What I do read is that the full disk size will be allocated when encrypting the disk, is that correct?
Also it is possible savestates are not encrypted, perhaps be wary of that. Probably you can still just backup your disk file, but then also the VM config files, which hold the keys.
On your second question, I think the disk size is still dynamic. Mine doesn't take up that much space, and was relatively the same size afterwards. But I'd have to follow up on that.