I'd try: ecryptfs-setup-private --undo But other user suggest a longer method: 1st thing to do : BACKUP YOUR HOME I can't say it louder... basically undoing encryption is equivalent to resetting (rm -rf) your home, which is in fact hidden by a mount. 2nd step : log out of any desktop manager and go to a virtual console (CTRL-ALT-F1) Finally : for details : ecryptfs-setup-private --undo In the event that you want to remove your eCryptfs Private Directory setup, you will need to very carefully perform the following actions manually: Obtain your Private directory mountpoint PRIVATE=cat ~/.ecryptfs/Private.mnt 2>/dev/null || echo $HOME/Private Ensure that you have moved all relevant data out of your $PRIVATE directory Unmount your encrypted private directory ecryptfs-umount-private Make your Private directory writable again chmod 700 $PRIVATE Remove $PRIVATE, ~/.Private, ~/.ecryptfs Note: THIS IS VERY PERMANENT, BE VERY CAREFUL rm -rf $PRIVATE ~/.Private ~/.ecryptfs Uninstall the utilities (this is specific to your Linux distribution) sudo apt-get remove ecryptfs-utils libecryptfs0 I would say step 5 is a bit wrong : there's no need to delete $PRIVATE, which was for me my home.... After .Private and .ecryptfs deletion, just restore your home :]