I purchased two librem laptops last year knowing full well it would be an educational pursuit. I am somewhat green and horribly accustomed to the convenience of Microsoft but also put out by lack of privacy, I fired one of the computers up last year then my daughter passed away leaving tow small kids with me so I’ve been pretty busy and the educational pursuit took back seat, well now I am ready to learn these machines and I cannot get into either one. I fired the other one up yesterday and it is asking me for the password I never even set up nor do I know how. Neither computer came with a manual or any kind of startup instructions so I just winged it and now i am stuck. Can someone help please?
I do not own any Librem laptop (like others that are about to help you here) and similarly if you do not own any personal data on this related laptop, I would start from to “build” (in OS terms) this Librem 14 by myself (from stretch like Purism does this, related to PureOS installation): https://tracker.pureos.net/w/recommendations/#preparing-to-install.
IMPORTANT: once you get to the point that you have mounted (if related password known) your current encrypted /home partition (on single laptop) you might/should check if indeed some personal leftovers available. You might want to contact @support Team as well!
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@LisaonMissouri - I want to second what @Quarnero shared. I ran into the exact same issue with my L13 a number of years ago, couldn’t remember the encryption password. So I used a Windows computer to download the PureOS ISO and wrote it to a USB stick with Rufus. After that, I hit ESC to get to the boot menu, selected the USB stick, and it was off to the races.
If you need more specific follow up, please hit us back.
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Does this mean I need to copy something from the tracker.pureos.net to gain access to the password, I’m sorry I am not understanding.
What password talking about? Pure system password? Pureboot password?
If you’ve never used the laptops and have nothing to lose, the quickest path forward would be to reinstall PureOS. One can download the ISO here: https://www.pureos.net/.
Install steps may be found here: https://tracker.pureos.net/w/installation_guide/live_system_installation/.
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I don’t understand why you recommend a reinstall so quickly. Reinstall might also have some hurdles for a beginner.
Shouldn’t this either be a default password or something Purism has specifically set?
@LisaonMissouri do you remember whether you got further when you fired one up last year? Because then either you had the password available that Purism set, or you were asked to set one yourself.
In the first case, support should be able to help you.
In the latter case, if you set it yourself, it might be one of your standard passwords, maybe the one you have on Windows. Else, I agree that reinstalling is your only real choice.
When you are asked for the password, is there a user name above it?
Or is it dying something about disk encryption?
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No user name, yes disk encryption. I do believe it is a Purism thing with a standard password. My problem with contacting support is the time frame it takes to get a response from them. I would love to get on the phone with someone who could walk me through it. Yes last year I was able to access all of the programs that come installed on the machine. I have tried all of the possible passwords and none of them work so im thinking i may or may not have set one up. Once i get this first one working I am sure the other will fall into place. I know for a fact that I have not given the second machine a password and they are both prompting for a password in the same manner. Much like the GPG card that has a standard password of 12345678, that works…I am still to green to have set up a password but I could be wrong about that. There has been a lot going on these last 8 months as I have dealt with the death of my first-born baby. She was 28, thank you so very much for your assistance and replying to my thread!
Because that’s exactly what she needs. I have run into this exact issue and know how to resolve the problem of LUKS prompting for a password she does not have.
If there was another option, it would be on the table. But no LUKS password equals a no go. Think.
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My guess is that if you changed the pw you’d remember. I’m assuming this would be the LUKS pw which is a process. Not hard, but more than just click and point. Do you remember that? Otherwise it would most likely be the default?
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I have Pure.os on a USB they sent me with each computer, there’s no way both of them could have been compromised. Problem is it is saying my librem key may have been compromised. I know I am being heavily surveilled. I am wondering if this has anything to do with my ISP
I totally understand. In my case, the LUKS password that was supposed to be pre-set as part of the out of the box experience was simply wrong. Just was. I took a couple of whacks at trying various permutations. Even tried a USB keyboard in case there was a hardware issue.
Nope - ça passé pas du tout.
So I took the easy/hard road out and reinstalled PureOS. You can try emailing support. They may have options not available that I do not have but the fundamental promise of LUKS encryption is no password, no advancement in the boot process. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.
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I suspect you may have ordered your laptops with Qubes preinstalled. If so you will get a disk unlock password at first boot and you just hit Enter to proceed to the wizard where you can set your disk passphrase. (This is a pretty common issue with Qubes-preinstall orders and these days we ship a note with Qubes orders informing customers what to do, but it sounds like your order was from back before we did that.)
[Edited to add] If you ordered two laptops and two Librem Keys, each Librem Key is paired to only one of the laptops so if you were to insert the Librem Key meant for laptop A into laptop B when booting, you would definitely get a warning about tampering and a red flashing LED instead of a green flashing one.
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May I just say that the purpose of the USB “key” might not be obvious to a “learner” 
Please add a comment if you still struggle with this.
Nothing is obvious here 
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I seriously need a tutor, thanks
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Hi @LisaonMissouri You have had a reply from the President, and conflicting suggestions, I will not jump in right here as a tutor, perhaps later once you have the devices running nicely!
As a customer I do think you should read this page
I am sure you will get some real help by sending an email along these lines
Technical Support
To: support@puri.sm
What: Any hardware or software related problem with Purism products and services
Subject: [order number] short problem description
Usual response time: under 6 hours
Conditions: Before sending email to support, please first check the troubleshooting wiki section and search issue reports if your problem is software-related!
Example email subject: New Librem 14, cannot get past password.
Good luck
Thank you, as you already know I have been conversing with you over the issue at hand. i do appreciate the support!
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I have kept the Librem Keys separate for each of the laptops. Each of them came with a Quebes USB. It has not asked me to install that one yet. I actually had one up and running last year, then it took several months to get back to it and well life happens. It would be nice if someone would talk with me on the tele and work through this I am so ready to learn. Can I post my phone number here? gonna try [phone number redacted by admin] USA
Eddy, thank you for your replay and your suggestion about using the email to communicate with customer support, something I did last year to regain entry to the first laptop. Took several weeks to get the issue sorted and the machine functional again, then more life happens. Six to nine months in here I sit with two bad ass laptops I paid a few grand for yet I cannot use and a surveillance system so far up my butt I can barely walk. The multiple thousands of emails are a swim team match I do not have time for. I AM sorry please forgive me, I love you and thank you.