Linux Unified Key Setup based on dm-crypt
Full disk encryption
A common usage of LUKS is to provide full disk encryption, which involves encrypting the root partition of an operating system installation, which protects the operating system files from being tampered with or read by unauthorized parties.On a Linux system, the boot partition (/boot) may be encrypted if the bootloader itself supports LUKS (e.g. GRUB). This is undertaken to prevent tampering of the Linux kernel. However, the first stage bootloader or an EFI system partition cannot be encrypted (see Full disk encryption#The boot key problem).On mobile Linux systems, postmarketOS has developed osk-sdl to allow a full disk encrypted system to be unlocked using a touch screen.
For systems running systemd, the systemd-homed component can be used to encrypt individual home directories.Operating system support
The reference implementation for LUKS operates on Linux and is based on an enhanced version of cryptsetup, using dm-crypt as the disk encryption backend. Under Microsoft Windows, LUKS-encrypted disks can be used via the Windows Subsystem for Linux. (Formerly, this was possible with LibreCrypt, which currently has fundamental security holes, and which succeeded FreeOTFE, formerly DoxBox.)
DragonFly BSD supports LUKS.