I cleared up a space on the C drive and installed Linux on that partition. Can Windows see files in my Linux partition?

When i installed Linux, i didn’t encrypt it but it is password protected. Thanks

  • 14th_cylon@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    edit-2
    3 months ago

    If this is a security / privacy related question, there is nothing to stop a program running under Windows from reading the data

    There is also nothing to prevent anyone to just run some live Linux from USB, so consider data on that Linux partition neither secure, nor private

    • Random Dent@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      3 months ago

      I remember being really surprised when I learned this lol. My SO had an old Windows work laptop that they’d forgotten the password for, and just out of curiosity I tried running a live Linux USB to see if we could access anything, and discovered that we could see everything from every user on there, and that login passwords really didn’t do anything at all. It was a real “we should encrypt all our drives” moment.

      • 14th_cylon@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        3 months ago

        It was a real “we should encrypt all our drives” moment.

        I would say think twice whether you really need it. Encryption is another technological layer that can fail, so it is double edged sword and encrypting something “just to be on the safe side” might not be the best thing to do.

      • chevy9294@monero.town
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        True but then you actually have to remember the password. Or you can use an USB key to store keyfile or a hardware security key like Nitrokey or Yubikey to decrypt it.