/r/tails

Photograph via //r/tails

Tails is a live operating system aimed at protecting your privacy and anonymity that you can start on almost any computer from a USB stick or a DVD.

Tails is a live operating system aimed at protecting your privacy and anonymity that you can start on almost any computer from a USB stick or a DVD. Get Tails.

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Installation

System Requirements

  • Either an internal or external DVD reader or the possibility to boot from a USB stick/SD card.

  • Tails requires a 64-bit x86-64 compatible processor: IBM PC compatible and others but not PowerPC nor ARM. Mac computers are IBM PC compatible since 2006. Tails does not run on most tablets and phones.

  • 2 GB of RAM to work smoothly. It is possible to run with less, but crashes, slowness, and strange behavior is possible.

What This Sub Is

This subreddit is for the latest news and updates regarding Tails, requesting Tails support, and discussion regarding the Tails project.

What This Sub Is Not

This is not a place for posting general privacy-related news, other privacy-focused software, or individual onion services. Please see the "Related Subreddits" list below for recommendations regarding these topics.

Related Links

Related Subreddits

/r/tails

110,730 Subscribers

1

Problem with persistent storage

First time trying out tails OS . Everything went smooth until I just couldn’t enable the option to create Persistent Storage . Why is that ?

8 Comments
2025/01/17
21:16 UTC

3

Any known issues reported with 6.11 upgrade?

Getting the “you should upgrade to tails 6.11” message. Has anyone had any issues themselves or heard anecdotally of any issues after update? Gonna do mine tonight but just curious what the word on the street is — or if there is any word at all. Maybe the upgrades gone so smoothly there may not even be a street. Knowing Tails, I’m sure it’s solid af.

7 Comments
2025/01/17
20:11 UTC

1

A DNS related issue, I guess?

I'm new to the Linux kernel entirely, so while I am reading up on it, I'm still missing a huge amount of fundamentals. Sorry for the dumb questions.

I'm trying to run a P2P application that has some sort of DNS check and it's not able to get passed it. It states that no two valid DNS TXT records were received. Also, I am just learning about networking fundamentals, so this is also going over my head.

Regardless, I started with my router by forwarding the relevant ports and changing my DNS to multiple sources, including my ISP's assigned DNS, Quad9, and Cloudflare. I didn't try Google because Google gives me the ick. Nonetheless, none of these things worked.

The same application's Windows version works just fine for me. So, to me, this points towards being an issue with my configuration of Tails or its interaction with the hardware it's installed on. I have no idea where to go next without testing if it's the hardware by trying external components (USB wifi adapter, namely.)

4 Comments
2025/01/17
02:25 UTC

6

I'm new to this subject. Help🥹

Family, I downloaded the videos, I read the step-by-step instructions on the tails website and watched some videos, I bought 2 pen drives from a different brand, but both are good, but the home screen isn't even showing, only this message appears.

20 Comments
2025/01/16
19:42 UTC

4

Privacy&Security when Using usb on another laptop that isn't mine.

Hi again. I'm on a trip with some friends that will take some time till I'm back home, and i have a backup usb of my tails OS with me. I wanted to use it on a friends laptop available but i was not sure about it. Is it bad OPSEC to use my tails usb on another laptop in terms of privacy and security? While the OS is amnesic and may be fine i still wanted to ask some experts about it beforehand.

3 Comments
2025/01/16
19:39 UTC

1

How to use tails with onboard graphics when Nvidia card is installed

I've got Tails 6.11 installed on a USB drive which works with an old laptop.

However, I'd prefer to use it with my regular pc - unfortunately, I can't get it to boot with my Nvidia RTX3070.

After the initial Tails boot screen it just goes black. I've tried all 3 options (regular, hard drive, and troubleshooting) - each one behaves the same.

My mobo is an MSI B560i Gaming Edge WiFi, with an i5-11600K cpu.

Obviously, I don't want to remove the RTX.

Is it possible to boot Tails on this pc - if so, how?

5 Comments
2025/01/16
19:30 UTC

1

Best Cheap Laptop to buy to run Tails on

I read on google that HP stream 14 may be the best for the budget options; but asking for other opinions.

35 Comments
2025/01/16
01:22 UTC

1

WiFi interface unavailable

I tried too reconfigure through the boot and used the troubleshooting instructions as well. In the WiFi settings it says “no WiFi adapter available” Any advice. Maybe I missed something. Thanks in advance.

3 Comments
2025/01/16
00:35 UTC

1

New to tails.

Hi guys, new to tails, is there a step by step guide to insalling tails on a usb so my smooth brain can process how to install and then use to browse the TOR network

2 Comments
2025/01/16
00:17 UTC

18

What are the do's and don'ts of using tails as a beginner ?

I'm a rookie user and sort of scared of almost anything I do on tails. What are somethings that I can do without worrying and what not to do on tails? what about watching Youtube, downloading files off the internet and logging on to sites?

28 Comments
2025/01/15
16:53 UTC

1

Python tails

I am a python developer and I want to now how I can do programming on tails os And I want to now how to use pip on it

4 Comments
2025/01/15
16:19 UTC

1

WiFi recognized only after restarting Tails

Hello. This is just a comment, to know if this happens to anyone else: I have an Acer Aspire which I bought about two years ago. When I load Tails, the WiFi Is not recognized, so I had to use an USB WiFi. But I noticed that if, after loading Tails, I do a 'restart', then the WiFi Is recognized and it works (no need now for a USB WiFi). That's it. Curious, isn't it?

2 Comments
2025/01/15
01:31 UTC

0

Any idea why it keeps booting like this?

8 Comments
2025/01/14
23:57 UTC

2

Wikipedia and tails

Is it possible to install Wikipedia on the same USB as tails as boots off of, and access it from tails?

9 Comments
2025/01/14
16:03 UTC

0

Problem with balena etcher

I tried to reinstall tails but after trying to load img with tails this error pops out "error 0 h request metadata is not a function" after opening balena etcher as administrator error does not show up but still img won't load its just stuck. I tried on windows 10 as well and same thing before around 3 months ago i had zero problem with balena etcher now i don't know what to do

3 Comments
2025/01/13
21:17 UTC

7

Balena Etcher issues

After selecting my file, the flash from file button turns grey and I'm unable to select a target. What's the issue? And tails img isn't downloaded onto the usb, however originally it was but I moved the file, do I just need to reinstall altogether or something?

11 Comments
2025/01/13
20:40 UTC

1

RTX patch?

Recently upgraded my graphics card in my PC to a GeForce 4060 RTX and tails won’t boot? Any idea on how to get around it or am I screwed

8 Comments
2025/01/13
17:53 UTC

2

Unplugging tails usb stick crashes the laptop and an independent pc?

Setup:

  • Laptop which booted from a usb thumb drive with the latest tails os on it

  • Separate windows pc on the same network

When both are running and I unplug the thumb drive while tails is running, the laptop running from tails crashes. My windows pc, which is not connected to the laptop in any form gets an immediate blue screen as well. How can that be the case? They only share the same network.

9 Comments
2025/01/13
16:24 UTC

1

nouveau unknown chipset

I’m aware that my laptop (Asus Zepherus G16 2024) has a 4070 which of course isn’t supported by Tails. As far as I’m aware, I’m booting with my second gpu (intel arc graphics) was wondering if my issue was with this not being supported, or an issue with my laptop being new and the motherboard not being supported.

3 Comments
2025/01/13
15:52 UTC

1

Did TAILS kill my SHDD while formatting an SD card?!

Hey guys,

I was working in TAILS and I wanted to save a document to an SD card for printing.

I started the Gnome drive manager (called Drives I think?), selected the SD card and clicked format (to FAT, with the Erase option enabled).

Right after formatting had started (like, the very same second it began) my 2TB SSHD started making weird noises. Took me a minute to figure out where exactly it came from, but it was the SSHD for sure. The sounds only stopped once the formatting had reached like 79%.

I rebooted my PC but the SSHD isn't recognized anymore. I swapped it with the other SATA drive, but the outcome is the same. When I start the PC now, there's like 3 sounds coming from the SSHD and that's it. Not exactly clicks or ticks, but more like beeps?

However, it was working fine until I started formatting. There was no indication of it being about to fail, no SMART warning or anything. I did not choose the wrong drive (even if I did, the drive would be empty but at least would be recognized by BIOS and OS).

Was it my fault to format a drive through TAILS? Does anyone have a drive to spare for testing? I know, a HDD can fail at any time, but why the heck did it fail the very moment the formatting had started? Not when I started the manager, not when formatting was done and TAILS would re-init drives, but when I clicked to start the formatting process?

7 Comments
2025/01/13
14:59 UTC

1

Keyboard does not work when booting

Problem: Keyboard works fine on an older pc, but does not work on a newer gaming laptop. Is there any way to make it work?

PS: In Kali Linux keyboard works on the laptop.

1 Comment
2025/01/13
12:44 UTC

5

Download Tails on my PC

Is it ok when I download tails from my Private PC? When the answer is no, how is the best way to download it?

15 Comments
2025/01/13
10:28 UTC

2

Overwrite persistent storage?

I hadn't used Tails in a long time so I forgot how it worked - so I skipped the persistent storage passphrase when I first logged in. Then clicked around and went to configure persistent storage, thinking that's where I would access it. I put in my passphrase and hit enter - not realizing I was now creating a persistant storage. I rebooted before it finished but now when I do it the right way at startup there is no files, no persistent folder, nothing. Did I delete my storage and lose it all?

3 Comments
2025/01/13
05:15 UTC

1

Tails OS download error

Guys I have downloaded tails os is in my USB and when I try to run it on my machine (I'm using windows 11) it started I could see the interface but it is giving an error while configuring errors were detected in the partioning of your tail USB disk now what should I do it is saying reinstall the tails os. Do I have to install it again?

4 Comments
2025/01/12
18:20 UTC

1

6.11 update issue

After loading up tails, an update popped up. I always update when it tells me to. I go to read the patch notes and saw 6.10 has some serious issues with security. I do the automatic update due to it being easier, however it states it failed. So I say fuck it and do a manual update, follow the instructions on the tails website. Everything goes fine, boot it up. It loads up and says its failed again. This time I open the log and it says something about not being able to fetch VLC. It said I could discard and reload, so I did. It fails again. After reading the entire log and discarding and reloading again, it fails again. I tried one more time and it said it works. So i power down and restart to see if i can have the issue again. I boot up and it says it installed VLC fine this time. No bugs or anything like that. But this time I opened up synaptic package manager to check on what's going on. It pops up an error that reads

E: Could not get lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock. It is held by process 14120(apt-get)

E: could not open file descriptor -1

E: unable to lock the list directory

So at this point I restart again, everything seems to load fine and I'm unsure what all this means? I'm not the best at using tails, I'm interested in learning about what happen here. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. Is this related to VLC not downloading off start or related to something else? I hope it's not related to the security issue.

1 Comment
2025/01/12
11:01 UTC

4

Tails os wont boot from usb stick

Hi guys, im having some trouble with installing/boot tails os from usb stick. I tried with balena and rufus too but at the end a have the same message/issue. My pc is lenovo thinkpad x230 and usb is sandisk pro extreme. My primary os is kali linux. Please i need some tips how to fix this. Thank you

2 Comments
2025/01/12
06:18 UTC

1

Suggest me a laptop that is compatible with tails

Buying a new laptop soon and want to make sure it’s fully compatible to boot up tails. Suggestions?

9 Comments
2025/01/12
03:53 UTC

0

Why does my Beelink pc boot Windows when I click on the correct partition that contains Tails when I boot?

What can I do to fix this? (Note I am selecting the first option shown here which contains tails on a USB drive)

5 Comments
2025/01/11
14:50 UTC

1

Unallocated memory

Basically I was trying to boot tails from my new 128gb pendrive and flashing with balena when I checked it from disk management it shows 115 gb unallocated for the same reason when I tried to boot tails it shows use atleast 8gb pendrive..

12 Comments
2025/01/11
05:53 UTC

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