Veracrypt is a open-source program that allows to encrypt files. You can either full disk encryption or encrypted containers. The containers are text files that you mount using the program and shows up in your file manager as any drive would.

Veracrypt has versions for Windows, Mac and Linux. They are all the same no matter what platform you’re using but for Linux you need to install the deb file. I will be demonstrating how to create a encrypted container.

example: sudo apt install ./veracrypt-1.26.7-Ubuntu-22.04-amd64.deb 

Step 1 create volume I selected standard volume.

Step 2 select a volume location, note this must be a text file I wasted about 10 minutes being confused as to why my folder wasn’t allowed to be selected.

Step 3 select your hashing algorithm for this demonstration I went with the default SHA-512.

Step 4 select the size of your container. If you click the drop-down menu you can go up to terabyte sized volumes. I chose 10 MB for my volume size, but make your own decision based on your needs. Note there is a checkbox if selected it will take up the entire space regardless of whether it is actually full.

Note: The largest a container can be is 4GB, any larger and you have to go to full disk encryption. Kind of a bummer.

Step 5 create a password preferably something secure and memorable. Mine for the sake of this demonstration isn’t very secure. There are also other options for authentication like key files and PIM.

Step 6 encrypt the volume, this program uses the randomness of your mouse movements to strengthen the encryption so move your mouse around until the bar fills up. Note this process takes quite a while if you’re using a trackpad. Once you’re done click format and you’ll be taken back to the home screen.

Click one of the volumes from the list, click select file, click the file that you created during step two and click mount. In your file manager where you would access a flash drive you will see the encrypted volume click and drag whatever items you want to be encrypted into the window.

Useful note the file you created in step 2 can still access The encrypted volume on any device as long as it’s running the software. I ran a test to see if the volume can still be read between Windows and Linux systems, it does give me a pop up saying that there could be some errors in the data but I haven’t had any issues. I would suggest backing it up for emergencies.

One advanced feature is hidden volumes. The idea is that if you are ever forced to decrypt your volume there will be a secondary hidden volume is protected by a separate password. So you can open that one instead and have it filled with less important data. It’s an interesting feature as long as the people are very tech savvy or a 3 letter agency.

There are a few features I wish they would add. One would be the ability to hide your data inside a picture. Gives the user more options on how to secure their stuff and it can defend against somebody who is aware of the program and knows that it requires a .txt file. Additionally, when you open the file without using the program on Windows Notepad says it is not responding. I wish you could have some data in there so that if somebody was rifling through your files and start clicking on things they don’t see a text file that’s not responding and decide to investigate further. Nobody’s going to go looking for encrypted containers inside a text file that contains their grandmas famous brownie recipe. Final thing is they just need to get some sort of version running on the F droid store.

All in all a very useful program and could be a very nice companion to your Ventoy flash drive that you totally have because you clicked on this link and read about it and followed the guide that I made.

I hope this helps.