this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2026
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How does Veracrypt work? (lemmy.ca)
submitted 3 months ago by starlight@lemmy.ca to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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I understand that if you use Veracrypt on a USB drive, unless you know the password or passphrase, you cannot access the contents of the drive. The part that is throwing me off is, do you need to have Veracrypt installed on a computer to unlock the drive? Otherwsie, you cannot access it, correct? I ask because if I wanted to access the drive on a computer that does not have Veracrypt installed, it won't work, right? If that all wrong, please kindly explain to me how it works.

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[โ€“] RamRabbit@lemmy.world 26 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (9 children)

Yes, you will need Veracrypt available on the computer in order to access the drive. However, you don't need Veracrypt installed. There is a portable version available for both Linux and Windows.

If you have Veracrypt available on all machines in question, you can keep it simple and have the whole drive encrypted.

However, you can also bring the portable versions with you on the same drive: Make a normal (unencrypted) partition the size of the whole drive. (ex-FAT if you want it to work on both Linux and Windows) Then have the portable verion(s) of the program on it as well as a Veracrypt encrypted container file. The encrypted container will be a big, unreadable file on the drive that will require your password to unlock and use. Then store the rest of everything inside the encrypted container.

[โ€“] starlight@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Oh, I didn't know Veracrypt was portable?! Since Veracrypt is portable, that means I can store the Veracrypt software and encrypt whatever files I want on the same drive, correct? Then, it wouldn't matter if Veracrypt isn't installed on the computer and I can encrypt/decrypt the, right? I apologize in advance, I just want to make sure I fully understand what you said.

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