Run Linux Mint entirely from encrypted usb stick

We have one laptop in our home that all 4 of us want to share. We fight constantly over browser bookmarks, desktop settings, etc.

I want to buy four 64gb microsd keychain usb sticks and install linux mint onto each then encrypt everything on the usb stick so that if it got stolen nobody could read anything (the contents, files, pgp keys, etc) on the stick.

Other than the cost of the 4 usb stick keychains, is there a free way of doing this? Can someone please help me, step by step? What do I download after Linux Mint? How do I then encrypt it all? Anything else this new-to-Linux guy should know? I'm a M$ convert and absolutely loving Linux and want my family to learn it as well :)

Thanx in advance :) -ken

Welcome to the forum!

*Thread moved to the Mint sub-forum.*

While you are very welcome to post here, and I am sure someone will be able to help you, Linux Mint is not one of the official derivatives of Ubuntu, and they have their own lively forum at http://forums.linuxmint.com/ .

during the install process you should have the option to encrypt your home directory, the stronger your password the strong the encryption been a while since i installed mint, but i would expect it to be there just link it is when installing ubuntu just be sure it is set to install the boot loader/mbr onto the correct disk during the install, made that mistake more time than i care to count

Ken,

Linux is a proper multi user system. Why not simply create 4 user accounts, one for each person? They will have their own home folder, the apps (and browsers) will create a config folder for each individual user in their home folder so they will have their own bookmarks etc. and they wont be able to see or delete another persons stuff if setup correctly.

maybe try to create a partition on your usb ? 1st partition must be atleast 2Gb , put here your linux mint installer , then the other one is your usb storage partition where your linux mint installer will installed or transfer their system files and folder , just an speculation but it might work :)

mips said: Why not simply create 4 user accounts, one for each person?

Yeah, this has been a dilemma for me, should I buy 4 chromeboxes (so our settings/bookmarks etc are freely stored in the cloud) or go with 4 linux nano pc's of some flavor. I think all of our digital actions should be encrypted, decentralized and distributed. google does not provide decentralization, so the usb stick idea came to me, but even that might become cumbersome if they want their bookmarks on their smartphones etc. I guess I'm at an impasse here, which direction to go. PGP is important. Data portability is important. Hanging the pc behind a flatscreen is (now) important. Having a laptop is not so important. Maybe just get some 4gb usb keychains for private key storage and user settings/bookmarks sync? I guess this brainstorm has given me some direction, thank you all for your insights! I long for encrypted/decentralized/distributed filesystem. Can anyone suggest a chromebox style linux pc that I can hang or stick to the back of an hdmi flatscreen tv? I know that question strays off-topic but just thought I might get lucky on that too, thanx everyone :) -ken

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