🔐 Chaos Lock Setup Guide
Secure your files with chaos-based encryption in minutes
🚀 Getting Started
Welcome to Chaos Lock! This guide will walk you through setting up your first encrypted vault. The entire process takes about 2 minutes.
What You'll Need
- A USB flash drive (any size, at least 1GB recommended)
- Optional: NFC card/tag for passkey entry
- 30 seconds of your time for entropy capture
From the dashboard, click on Level 1: Easy Mode to begin the setup wizard.
1 Choose Security Level
The wizard starts by confirming your security level. Easy Mode (Level 1) provides strong AES-256 encryption with a simple setup process.
What Easy Mode Includes
- USB Vault Drive for portable security
- Optional NFC tag support for passkey
- 30-second setup time
- Strong encryption (100,000 iterations)
- AES-256-GCM military-grade encryption
Click Next to proceed to USB selection.
2 Select USB Drive
Insert your USB drive and select it from the list. This drive will store your encrypted vault and chaos alphabet.
Use a dedicated USB drive for your vault. This keeps your encryption keys physically separate from your computer for maximum security.
If you see a warning about an existing vault, you can choose to Use Existing to continue with your current vault, or Delete & Recreate to start fresh.
3 Initialize Vault
Click the Initialize Vault button to create your encrypted vault structure on the USB drive.
The initialization process creates:
- A hidden
.chaos_vaultfolder on your USB - Vault configuration file
- Secure storage structure for your chaos alphabet
4 Set Your Passkey
Enter a passkey to secure your vault. This can be typed manually or scanned from an NFC card.
Most NFC readers work as keyboard input - just place your cursor in the passkey field and scan your card! The card's ID will be entered automatically.
Passkey Best Practices
- Use 8+ characters for strong security
- Mix letters, numbers, and symbols
- Or use an NFC card for convenience
- Remember: you'll need this to unlock your vault!
5 Chaos Capture
This is where the magic happens! Chaos Lock captures 30 seconds of environmental entropy to generate your unique 64-character "Nightmare Alphabet".
During capture, the app collects randomness from:
- System timing variations
- Memory state fluctuations
- CPU metrics
- Environmental noise
Traditional encryption uses predictable algorithms. Chaos Lock adds real-world randomness that's mathematically impossible to reproduce, making your encryption truly unique.
6 Setup Complete!
Congratulations! Your vault is ready. You can now encrypt and decrypt files using your USB drive.
What's Been Created
- Nightmare alphabet stored on USB (hidden)
- Your passkey is required to unlock the vault
- Encryption report saved to USB
Click Close Wizard to return to the dashboard and start encrypting files!
📁 Using the Folder Lock Tool
Now that your vault is set up, you can use the Folder Lock tool to encrypt and decrypt folders.
Authentication
First, authenticate with your USB vault by inserting your USB drive and entering your passkey.
Locking Folders
Select a folder and click Lock to encrypt it with your chaos alphabet.
Unlocking Folders
To access your encrypted files, select the folder and click Unlock.
File Registry
The registry shows all your encrypted files and their status.
Settings
Customize your encryption preferences in the settings panel.
