Gnome Encfs Manager – An ease way to create an encrypted directory in Linux

Gnome Encfs Manager (short name is GEncfsM) is a tool to manage EncFS filesystems in Linux which is best alternative for Cryptkeeper and has lots of unique features. It’s very useful when you use EncFS with cloud sync / storage services such as Dropbox, etc.,

GEncfsM is an easy to use manager and mounter for encfs stashes featuring per-stash configuration, Gnome Keyring support (standard authentication mechanism). Tray menu is inspired by Cryptkeeper. You have a option to mount the directory automatically on login.

We can’t say GEncfsM as yet another graphical front-end for encfs because it has lot of features and run more like a daemon. So, configure once and forget. It will works you expected and no need to touch again, it’s tightly integrated into the system and do lots of stuff in the background.

Suggested Read : GnuPG – An Easy Way To Encrypt/Decrypt Files From Command Line in Linux

Suggested Read : Cryptkeeper – An Easy Way To Encrypt And Decrypt Folder or Directory In Linux

Suggested Read : SiriKali – GUI Front End To Manage ecryptfs, cryfs, gocryptfs, securefs, and encfs Encrypted Folders

How to install GEncfsM on Ubuntu ?

Developer offering a PPA for GEncfsM to Ubuntu based derivatives. Just add following PPA and install it.

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gencfsm
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get -y install gnome-encfs-manager

For Debian 8.0

$ sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/moritzmolch:/gencfsm/Debian_8.0/ /' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gnome-encfs-manager.list"
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install gnome-encfs-manager
$ wget -nv http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:moritzmolch:gencfsm/Debian_8.0/Release.key -O Release.key
$ sudo apt-key add - < Release.key
$ sudo apt-get update

For Fedora 25

$ sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:moritzmolch:gencfsm/Fedora_25/home:moritzmolch:gencfsm.repo
$ sudo dnf install gnome-encfs-manager

Also follow the additional steps for Wayland user. To use GEncfsM on Gnome with Wayland, first install the following extension.

https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/615/appindicator-support

Enforce the usage of the app-indicator by executing the following command.

$ gnome-encfs-manager set_pref force_traysystem="appindicator" && gnome-encfs-manager --replace

For openSUSE Leap 42.2

$ sudo zypper addrepo http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:moritzmolch:gencfsm/openSUSE_Leap_42.2/home:moritzmolch:gencfsm.repo
$ sudo zypper refresh
$ sudo zypper install gnome-encfs-manager

How to use GEncfsM ?

Launch the GEncfsM utility from application menu. You will get the interface similar to below screenshot.

Hit on the PLUS button (+) and input the requested information like us. Choose your desired directory instead of us and leave mount directory as default, then enter the password and finally hit Create button to create a encrypted directory.

The mentioned directory has been mounted.

Instantly you can see the encrypted directory in file manager as well try icon too. If not, go to GEncfsM settings and tick the option which you want.

Tray icon screenshot.

I have added one file and folder for testing purpose.

Configure stash by double clicking on it or go to stash >> configure. Here we can configure mount options and few additional options too.

  • Mount the directory on startup
  • Mount the directory when its available
  • Save the password in keyring
  • Open the file manager, after mounting the directory
  • Show try menu for GEncfsM

I’m remounting the directory to check, whether its asking password for that.

Also asking Kryring password too, as we have enabled the option in our previous step.

Finally, its opening the encrypted directory.

I have unmounted the directory, so its not showing anything.

I have mounted the directory back and got the files too.

About Magesh Maruthamuthu

Love to play with all Linux distribution

View all posts by Magesh Maruthamuthu

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