Portable, no-admin, no-install, Win/Linux USB encryption/decryption on the go

Question

I fear from losing my USB stick. I'm looking for an encryption program that can hide my USB files in such a way that I have only one file shown on Windows Explorer when it's first inserted. When I run it, it should ask me for password. Then, it should show Windows Explorer all of the files and folders all until I unplug the USB stick or run the encryption program that will quickly lock the files.

Requirements:

• Admin privileges must not be required from the host!
• Must work on Windows and Linux (or Python, if nothing from the former, for extra compatibility)
• Must not depend on if BitLocker is built in the OS (for example, Windows Home editions don't have it and I have Windows 7 Home Premium)
• Any program running on the USB stick MUST be able to detect its apppath, other files, etc. just like any other program all while the file system is unlocked
• Same goes for any other program's File Dialog when opening the USB stick
• Program must be free and mustn't have any "sopastic NSA-like sniffer" Digital Restrictions Management

Does anyone know if such program exists?

Answer 1

The way you want the program to work is deeply flawed concerning protection of the files, as they would stay decrypted on the USB drive until the encryption program is run again.

Instead, the way to go is OTF encryption, where files are perpetually encrypted on a drive and are decrypted On The Fly (from which the acronym).

Among the most known and recommended OTF encryption software there is TrueCrypt (no longer mantained) and its fork VeraCrypt. They function by creating a container file which can be mounted as a virtual volume via a password or a keyfile. That's probably what you are looking for.