More full disk encryption issues

Question

I'll start out by saying that I've already read the other thread on full disk encryption near the top of this forum. It didn't work for me. Honestly I'm kind of annoyed at my whole experience today. This morning we received two laptops from Dell with Ubuntu pre-installed. One was a 5530 (I think) and the other is a 7530. The 5530 came with Ubuntu 18.04 and my 7530 came with 16.04. Given the nature of our work we can't be running around with a laptop that doesn't have full disk encryption. So the first order of business was to get that working. Well its now 8:17pm and I finally got it working by ditching the Dell supplied Ubuntu and installing Pop_OS. This really burns me up. Making matters even worse, I conversed with 2 Dell support folks on chat and one over the phone and none were able to help me. When I asked the guy on the phone to speak to his manager so I could find someone that actually understood the problem (Linux) he put me on hold for 15 minutes and then disconnected the phone call. How juvenile is that? Our company has paid for extra support from Dell and none was received on our first day. These aren't the first Project Sputnik laptops we've bought from Dell so we had higher expectations than this. Previously someone from the Client High Complexity Resource? Team worked with us to get our initial setup sorted out. Today none of the support folks had any idea of what I was talking about when I asked to be connected to them. I've only been using Pop!_OS for about 45 min now, but it seems ok. I was able to suspend and wake up and the trackpad seems to be working ok, along with the wifi. Not sure how to test graphics card switching at this point though. If someone at Dell knows whatever the problem is that will allow us to have full disk encryption with Dell's Linux and customizations please get back to me and let me know.   P.S. I'm digging the keyboard on this 7530, it really feels nice.... Sorry for ranting.   Derek

jnorvell · Answer

No response from anyone after a year? I just got my 7390 and I guess my frustration is just beginning...

DELL-Cares · Answer

Hello,

I am willing to assist you. Please provide us the service tag of the system along with the issue that your are facing with the system in brief so that we can assist you further.

Regards,

Muntazir Patel

DELL-Cares · Answer

Hello,   I have not heard back from you yet. Do reach out to us with the requested information at your convenience so that we can assist you further.   Regards, Muntazir Patel

DELL-Cares · Answer

Hello,

I have not heard back from you yet. Do reach out to us at your convenience so that we can assist you further, until then we shall be temporarily archiving the case at our end.

Regards,

Muntazir Patel

rs.saunders · Answer

Hi. I'm looking to buy the new XPS 13' 9300 ubuntu developer edition but this post (and others like it on the internet) concerns me because I also need full disk encryption. Does the new 9300 support full disk encryption out of the box?

EP-Guy · Answer

@rs.saunders I just got an XPS 13 9300 developer edition and it came with dell recovery 1.61. Following instructions for full disk encryption in the other thread (https://www.dell.com/community/Linux-Developer-Systems/XPS-13-9370-Ubuntu-full-disk-encryption/m-p/7394354/highlight/true#M9024) worked for me. I just grabbed dell recovery 1.62 as specified in the steps without trying it with the out of the the box version.

rs.saunders · Answer

@EP-Guy thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I was told by Dell that the 9300 doesn't have a TPM chip so they don't officially support full disk encryption. So if I follow the steps above I assume it will enable full disk encryption but you just have to enter a decryption password on boot, is that right? Not that that is a deal breaker or anything.

EP-Guy · Answer

@rs.saunderssorry for the long delay. Yes, you have to enter a decryption password on boot.

rs.saunders · Answer

@EP-Guy : My new laptop Dell 13' 9300 Ubuntu Developer Edition arrived and was pleasantly surprised to find that there is a TPM chip in it despite being told otherwise by Dell.  It's not enabled by default but i can enable it in the bios. I haven't tried to use it yet. I'll see how it goes, hopefully I can use it for password free full disk encryption.

fox342 · Answer

Hi rs.saunders! I'm considering buying this new Dell XPS 13' Dev Edition too, but if there's no TPM or it does not work as it should that would be a huge downside for me. Please share your experience. Did it work with the full disk encryption as you expected?

rs.saunders · Answer

Hi @fox342 . Sorry I can't help much unfortunately as I spent 6 months with tech support trying to sort out unrelated dock compatibility issues that I never had a chance to implement full disk encryption on it (what with all the factory resets they made me do). I still want to give it a go at some point but as of right now I haven't got the time or the energy. Since I've not had to carry the laptop around with me this past year due to covid lockdown, it's been at home so full disk encryption hasn't been a top priority for me as it once was. I think full disk encryption should be fine on it without using the TPS module , you'll just have to enter a password on boot each time. I did that for 4 years with my old system76 Ubuntu laptop without issue; You get used to it. Though I must stress I haven't tried it yet on my XPS 13 so can't guarantee it will work or is easy to set up. Good luck

fox342 · Answer

Thanks for the detailed answer, really appreciated! I think hardware FDE is slightly better than software one. So I've decided to go with another laptop because of that. I wish you good luck and a bit of motivation to try out FDE if you come to the point when you need it

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