[MacUserPanther]

Does anyone know exactly where the enrypted disk image is actually mounted once this feature is turned on? I see the FileVault alias but am wondering where the image itself gets mounted on my machine.

Thanks

[dharknes]

Originally posted by MacUserPanther:
Does anyone know exactly where the enrypted disk image is actually mounted once this feature is turned on? I see the FileVault alias but am wondering where the image itself gets mounted on my machine.

Thanks

I'm not sure what you're asking but here's what I've been able to determine about FV.

The disk image living in the user encrypted home directory /Users/<USERNAME>

On login the image is mapped to a physical device such as /dev/disc2s2 and mounted on /Users/<USERNAME>

So in my case I have to user named test. At the command prompt I run the mount command to get a list of what's mounted and I see

/dev/disk2s2 on /Users/test (local, nodev, nosuid, journaled)

Hope that answers your question.

[MacUserPanther]

dharknes,

thanks for the reply. When FV is on, the home directory is blown away and replaced with an encrytped disk image. That is mounted when you log in, however that isn't mounted in the user folder. I haven't been able to determine where that actual mount is located and was wondering if anyone else has determined this. It can't be in the user directory because that is now the disk image itself and you can mount something within itself - the whole chicken & egg problem...

Thanks

[Art Vandelay]

IIRC, the image is located at /Users/.username. Thus, allowing the image to mount at /Users/username.

[MacUserPanther]

Thanks Art. I figured it was a "." hide but couldn't figure out where... will run a ls at terminal window to check this out!

Thanks

[MacUserPanther]

I checked Terminal and it only shows the alias file . . . no hidden file. How can you confirm that it is located in a .user location? Did Apple document that as the location?

Thanks

[Art Vandelay]

I just created a FileVault user and this is how it works. When the user is not logged in, their FileVault image is at /Users/username/username.sparseimage. When the user logs in, the FileVault image is moved to /Users/.username/username.sparseimage and the image mounts at /Users/username.

[MacUserPanther]

cool, thanks again Art!

Kinda neat what Apple is doing with this, eh?

[MacUserPanther]

Any idea why it can't be seen in Terminal? How were you able to find it?

Thanks

[Art Vandelay]

Originally posted by MacUserPanther:
Any idea why it can't be seen in Terminal? How were you able to find it?

Thanks

It can be seen in the Terminal. Make sure you're using the -a switch so you can see all files, i.e. 'ls -a'

[MacUserPanther]

Again, thanks! Ah yes... :-)

I need to sometimes run scipts for items in a user folder and the only problem is that I can't see what the contents of .user are ... but then I suppose that is what encryption is all about!~