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NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | REPORTING BUGS | SEE ALSO | CRYPTSETUP |
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CRYPTSETUP-ERASE(8) Maintenance Commands CRYPTSETUP-ERASE(8)
cryptsetup-erase, cryptsetup-luksErase - erase all keyslots
cryptsetup erase [<options>] <device>
cryptsetup luksErase [<options>] <device>
Erase all keyslots, removing the volume key. Unless the device is
configured with OPAL self-encrypting drive support, you do not
need to provide any password for this operation.
This operation is irreversible. Unless you have a header backup,
all old encrypted data in the container will be permanently
irretrievable. Header backup cannot be used to recover data from
OPAL self-encrypting drives, as the keys are permanently removed
from hardware.
The erase does not wipe or overwrite the data area. It only
removes all active keyslots from the LUKS device. See the
cryptsetup FAQ for more information on how to wipe the whole
device, including encrypted data.
Note that the --hw-opal-factory-reset option for OPAL
self-encrypting drive will erase ALL data on the drive, regardless
of the partition it is run on.
<options> can be [--header, --disable-locks,
--hw-opal-factory-reset, --key-file].
--batch-mode, -q
Suppresses all confirmation questions. Use with care!
If the --verify-passphrase option is not specified, this
option also switches off the passphrase verification.
--debug or --debug-json
Run in debug mode with full diagnostic logs. Debug output
lines are always prefixed by #.
If --debug-json is used, additional LUKS2 JSON data structures
are printed.
--disable-locks
Disable lock protection for metadata on disk. This option is
valid only for LUKS2 and is ignored for other formats.
WARNING: Do not use this option unless you run cryptsetup in a
restricted environment where locking is impossible to perform
(where /run directory cannot be used).
--header <device or file storing the LUKS header>
Use to specify a detached LUKS2 header when erasing OPAL
self-encrypting drive.
--help, -?
Show help text and default parameters.
--hw-opal-factory-reset
Erase ALL data on the OPAL self-encrypting drive. The option
does not require a valid LUKS2 header to be present on the
device to run. After providing the correct PSID via
interactive prompt or via --key-file parameter the device is
erased.
PSID is usually printed on the OPAL drive label (either
directly or as a QR code). PSID must be entered without any
dashes, spaces or underscores.
PSID should be treated as sensitive information as it allows
anyone with remote access to the OPAL drive to destroy data
even if the device is locked. Be sure you do not leak PSID
through transparent packaging during transport or images of
the drive posted online.
--key-file, -d file (LUKS2 with HW OPAL only)
Read the Admin PIN or PSID (with --hw-opal-factory-reset) from
the file, depending on options used.
If the name given is "-", then the secret will be read from
stdin. In this case, reading will not stop at newline
characters.
--usage
Show short option help.
--version, -V
Show the program version.
Report bugs at cryptsetup mailing list
<cryptsetup@lists.linux.dev> or in Issues project section
<https://gitlab.com/cryptsetup/cryptsetup/-/issues/new>.
Please attach the output of the failed command with --debug option
added.
Cryptsetup FAQ
<https://gitlab.com/cryptsetup/cryptsetup/wikis/FrequentlyAskedQuestions>
cryptsetup(8), integritysetup(8) and veritysetup(8)
Part of cryptsetup project
<https://gitlab.com/cryptsetup/cryptsetup/>. This page is part of
the Cryptsetup ((open-source disk encryption)) project.
Information about the project can be found at
⟨https://gitlab.com/cryptsetup/cryptsetup⟩. If you have a bug
report for this manual page, send it to dm-crypt@saout.de. This
page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
⟨https://gitlab.com/cryptsetup/cryptsetup.git⟩ on 2025-08-11. (At
that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in
the repository was 2025-08-01.) If you discover any rendering
problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is
a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
man-pages@man7.org
cryptsetup 2.8.1-git 2025-08-09 CRYPTSETUP-ERASE(8)
Pages that refer to this page: cryptsetup(8)