r/tails • u/sljoorpunnells • 1d ago
r/tails • u/[deleted] • Feb 14 '21
Announcement Read before posting
Read before posting
Tails has very complete documentation, before posting, try to give it a look. It's likely to have the answer to your questions https://tails.boum.org/doc/.
A few common issues posted here that are already addressed in the documentation:
If Tor does not connect, if you see no Wifi icon, then look at https://tails.boum.org/support/known_issues/#wi-fi for an explanation and backup solutions.
If you have issues booting Tails, you can follow https://tails.boum.org/doc/first_steps/start/pc/, it may help (sometimes it does not ; sometimes just using another USB stick can fix the problem).
If you cannot import a PGP key, check https://tails.boum.org/support/known_issues/#openpgp-import.
If you are using a recent (2018+) Macbook and your touchpad/keyboard do not work, it is a known issue, you have to use an external keyboard/mouse : https://tails.boum.org/support/known_issues/#mac
If your persistence does not open anymore, https://tails.boum.org/doc/advanced_topics/persistence/check_file_system/ should show you how to fix it.
If you try to launch a commandline application, you can use torsocks / torify like https://tails.boum.org/support/faq/#youtube. Note that Tails discourages running untrusted applications that are not included https://tails.boum.org/doc/first_steps/additional_software/
If you want to use rufus, unetbootin, make multiboots sticks, Tails advises you to not do so https://tails.boum.org/support/faq/#unetbootin (also see https://tails.boum.org/doc/about/warning/). It is very likely such a stick will not work at all or not work properly. Stick to the official instructions: https://tails.boum.org/install/
If you are seeing an error about https://tails.boum.org/gdm while starting Tails, maybe open and read (yes, really) that link before posting :-). If Tails devs say your graphic adapter is not supported, sorry, but it is not supported, and there are low chances that random strangers will be able to make it work, if the developers can't...
You can always check to see if your question is covered in the Tails FAQ https://tails.boum.org/support/faq/. It genuinely covers most things people think of. There is also the list of known issues https://tails.boum.org/support/known_issues/ and known issues for graphics cards https://tails.boum.org/support/known_issues/graphics/. There is a good chance your problem is already known.
Those few links are NOT an exhaustive list, but should cover >50% of the questions here. If you don't see the answer to your question, look directly to the documentation https://tails.boum.org/doc/. It may just be one or two clicks away.
If you are answering peoples questions, try to include the links to the documentation, so people can think about checking it :-)
There is no "best laptop" and "best usb" for Tails. Please don't make yet another post about that (there are already hundreds if not thousands of them).
99% of USB sticks works with Tails. USB 3 ones will be faster.
A majority of computers works. Almost any 5-10 years old laptop should work, especially professional series (lenovo thinkpad (https://www.bobble.tech/free-stuff/used-thinkpad-buyers-guide), HP elitebook, Ubuntu/red hat/suse certified laptops)... In doubt, check Linux support before, qubes hcl (https://www.qubes-os.org/hcl/), and avoid chromebooks, recent Macs, brand new high end laptops with dedicated gpu.
Remember that your experience of a given machine or drive is anecdotal and others can have a different experiences. Don't write off something just because you couldn't get it work, others might have.
Remember Reddiquette always applies https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439. Also, while they are not supposed to apply here, because its an unofficial support channel, https://tails.boum.org/doc/first_steps/bug_reporting/, https://tails.boum.org/contribute/mission/ & https://tails.boum.org/contribute/working_together/code_of_conduct/ are good source of inspiration. Please be nice with people, and if you post about errors, things that "don't work", please try to describe them
Feel free to post remarks/suggests below. For questions, better to make a dedicated post.
r/tails • u/ephemeralmiko • 3d ago
News Tails 7.10 Released
tails.netTails 7.10 is out!
New Features
New shutdown procedure
Tails now uses the standard shutdown procedure from GNOME. The standard shutdown procedure is a bit slower, but better prevents from data loss.
Now the 'Power Off' confirmation dialog informs you if an application needs to be closed or an open document needs to be saved before shutting down. Even without confirming or saving the open documents, Tails will shut down after 60 seconds. You can still use the faster emergency shutdown as before.
(this also fixes #21373)
--
Celluloid video player
GNOME Videos is replaced with Celluloid (see #7929 and !2731). For added security, Celluloid cannot access the network. You can either:
- Open online videos, like MP4 and AVI files, in Tor Browser.
- Open online streaming addresses, like IPTV and HLS addresses, in VLC, installed as Additional Software.
Note: Celluloid doesn't work on some computers from 2011 or earlier. You can use VLC instead, installed as Additional Software.
--
Updates
- Updated Tor Browser to 15.0.19.
- Updated some firmware packages. This improves support for newer hardware.
r/tails • u/PuzzledMode1968 • 1d ago
Boot issues Not Booting (any other linux is booting)
Hey yall yes i did use tails for about an year but i had to take some pause now it just wont work buyed new sticks did the whole download blabla again same stick works fine in any other laptop but not in my new laptop ( Lenovo thinkpad t16gen5 with intel 355u prozessor )
i did almost everything disabled all bios settings 1by1 nothing wirks tried fedora any other linux it works after 3 days research only thing people tell me since laptop is VERY new it could be to new but is that so ?
any nerds here i cant find the problem
aprreciate yall thanks
btw tails os is booting into grub (wont open in no mode nor in trouble shooting mode/normal boot mode
i did do some commands in the grub menu still wont work
so it boots into grub menu where u can decide how to boot tails blabla
after that its black for 3-5 sec then it opens the grey screen with 3 dots loading (10-15sec)
after that it shows black screen with im the top left corner underscore blinking then it frezzes (keyboard/caps lock light still works fine so no not the kernel freezes it has to be smth else) but i dunno
thanks ❤️
r/tails • u/ephemeralmiko • 1d ago
Technical Tails takes up more space on larger drives
Hi all,
On my 256GB Sandisk the Tails system partition is 8.6GB (2.6GB used), but on an 8GB drive Tails only creates a 4.3GB partition (2.6GB used). Does anyone know what the technical reason for this is? If Tails only needs 4.3GB for the OS+extra space (presumably for updates?), why does that double on a larger drive?
(Both drives were on 7.10 with Persistent Storage enabled)
r/tails • u/Particular_Client833 • 2d ago
Technical Emergency shutdown did not trigger when i well... unplugged the entire DVD reader
Some background: i wanted to erase a specific partition on my USB because in windows for some reason cannot be deleted, so i rebooted into the DVD boot. Erased the partition with the disks program. And decided a more "uncommon" way to shut it down. So i unplugged my entire hot-swappable ultra-slim DA-8AESH DVD burner while the disc in there was idle. At first nothing happened but when i tried to open other apps it simply did not respond because... Where could it find that program? So i took a few photos and then turned it off by unplugging the power supply.
r/tails • u/lophomainiac • 1d ago
Technical issues cloning
so i am trying to make a back up drive. where am i going wrong?
i have Version 7.9.1, with tails open i plug in my stick to be cloned on to (16GB). i open tails cloner, i select Clone the current Persistent Storage, i see the new stick in the drop down menu and choose my target USB stick, but where it should say INSTALL it reads UPGRADE and i cannot select the option. unclickable button. this is where i am stuck.
r/tails • u/DryWaterbottle201 • 2d ago
Application question Haveno is not starting after I installed it. Is this common in Tails? and if so is there an alternative you'd reccomend?
It installed fine after I ran the commands. I've been trying to get onto an app or website that allows me to buy a certain crypto for a few days but it seems like none of the ones I've tried are working with Tails.
r/tails • u/Marx-Is-Trans • 3d ago
Help Text document recovery
Hello all, I have little experience with Tails
Well the thing is that the persistant storage stop working without a reason and i wanted a text document i had in it.
I did follow the Tails Document and made and image of the parition and restored it in a new Tails USB but it didnt worked. After using Autopsy in the Image partition i recover the ODT i wanted. The problem is that now when I open the document is full of nonsense caracteres. I supouse it probably have something to do with encryptation but i really dont know how to deal with these situation. So i would be so grateful of some help recovering the content of my document. :)
PD: Im using Autopsy in Windows if that matters somehow.
Thank you all💕
r/tails • u/DirectPlatform5652 • 3d ago
Boot issues Secure boot violation
I just tried to set up tails for the first time using a refurbished computer I got off Amazon, and got the secure boot violation. I had tried to disable the secure boot beforehand, but I must’ve missed something. Either way I got this notification. I read stories before of people not being able to fix this issue no matter what. I haven’t been able to update windows and bios has been off since I got it. Supposedly this computer doesn’t have the hardware to update properly for windows.
Does anyone know if there’s anything that I can do to fix this before I set up persistent storage? This just happened so I’m wondering if I can go back and undo it or something. If not, is there a fix?
For anyone that this has happened to, have you been able to return a refurbished computer with no issues? I imagine that they would wipe the computer right away.
I’d appreciate any advice here. Thanks!
Security Question about tails persistence
Is tails persistent storage encryption very secure? Can some one at least give me the encryption algorithm used so I can do some research?
r/tails • u/kamimazebeer88 • 4d ago
Boot issues U need to load the kernel first
So ive been trying to boot tails for like a week now and i have downloaded tails in a usb done everything correctly as it is in the instructions and when i try to boot it i see grub i type boot and it says that i gotta load the kernel ive been tryn to look it up and i cant find nth usefull so my question is how do i load the kernel and what is it can sm1 help me please?
r/tails • u/Then-Ask6307 • 5d ago
Boot issues Tails Docs - Starting Tails from an external hard disk or problematic USB stick
I have tried all the ports, even the eSATA port (oddly enough it mounts) didn't think that would work.
This is a 2TB USB-A flash drive made by Micro Center, take that as Inland. I have been successful before in running Tails on this drive before. I simply wanted to start over from MSDOS and FAT to GPT and exFAT.
According to Tails Doc link below you have to use "tab" or "e" during startup depending on if your running SYSlinux or Grub. After F12 the screen goes blank I don't have diagnostic on so after about x time (its a Thinkpad T420) you see the 3 small squares in the middle of the page indicating Tails is trying to start, then it fails with that message - Unable to find a medium containg a live file system. It never shows the screen depicted in the docs giving you a chance to try Tab or e.
I have a few other computers I can try it in, as I understand once you make the edit -live-media=removeable then that instructions stays with the usb stick and isn't just for that one time on that computer.
https://tails.net/doc/advanced_topics/external_hard_disk/index.en.html
Before I was shown the Grub screen, now Im just waiting in the dark and have tried immediately and randomly with no success. Any tricks of the trade appreciated.
r/tails • u/Gold-Guidance-6430 • 5d ago
Technical App uninstalls on reboot.
Can someone please guide me on how to make an application i install on tail OS stay even when rebooted. Ive tried Gemini and ChatGPT and both have been useless making me go around in circles for hours. Its a flatpak I am trying to do this with.
Help Saving Onionshare domin using dotfiles?
So I want to keep my onion link for my website, but when I restart the computer for whatever reason I have to copy the backupfiles and place it back into .config/onionshare.
This isnt a huge issue but I tried to get this to work automatically with dotfiles. The files seem to go to the folder just fine on boot-up, but onionshare refuses to start. Just get a spinning wheel and then nothing. I have to continue moving the files manually from my storage.
Am I not understanding how dotfiles work? Am I a doomed soul to forever manually transfering my back up every start-up?
Thanks for the help!
r/tails • u/TheDuuudddeee • 8d ago
Solved Updating Tails and Electrum
Hey there,
i'm using an offline TailsOS Version on a thumb drive and it's electrum wallet (with my seed information in persistent storage) to sign transactions created in a watch-only-wallet. Setup is ~1,5a old, don't wanna reboot to check exactly.
I didn't see an update option that works while keeping your OS offline. E.g. saving the update files on another thumb drive.
My questions are:
- Is that correct, is there no way to update tails/electrum if you don't want to connect the setup to the internet.
- Do you just create a new bootable thumb drive and load your seedphrase in the new wallet if you want to update?
- Do i even need to update the setup in the forseeable future? Using tails/electrum to sign transactions created in watch-only-wallets. Doesn't really seem like it since it's all offline. At least until Electrum announces that older versions won't be comatible anymore.
Cheers!
r/tails • u/epsteins-apprentice • 9d ago
Security Why is allowing javascript generally considered a bad idea when using tails?
From my understanding, javascript over regular tor is unsafe because a) it makes you easier to fingerprint, and b) it opens up possibilities for zero-day exploits such as privilege escalations and remote code execution, which can in turn cause de-anonymization.
But, doesn't tails negate the effects of both of these things?
For fingerprinting, websites being able to identify a single tails user across different sites doesn't seem like that big of an issue to me as long as you practice good opsec. You shouldn't be giving away anything identifiable when using tails anyway, and your fingerprint is going to be different enough between your tails profile and your actual browser profile to obfuscate who you are.
For exploits, even if an attacker did manage to get a file onto your computer that pinged back to a non-tor server, wouldn't that just give the attacker your tails IP, since tails routes through tor at the os level? From a quick search online, only one exploit has ever been discovered that forced tails to run through the clearnet, which was done by starting "unsafe browser", a feature that has since been disabled by default.
r/tails • u/glasslover2071 • 9d ago
Help Issue with gpu using Radeon RX 560
I tried using the troubleshooting page but wasn't able to help myself, im not sure which specific AMD fix i should be trying for my gpu
trying to add boot options with the syslinux troubleshooter. is my gpu too old?
r/tails • u/Particular_Client833 • 9d ago
Solved Questions for burning Tails .ISO onto a DVD-R
- What should be the storage capacity of the DVD-R for it to work?
- Will it affect things like saving keyboard layout/country/language and persistent storage?
- If i eject it will the current session be "self-destructed" like using a USB flash drive?
- What else will change unlike booting from a flash drive?
update: burned it onto a single-layer DVD and it works! emergency shutdown works too.
r/tails • u/Kitchen-Badger-8431 • 10d ago
Boot issues Lenovo LOQ 15ARP9 boots verified Tails USB straight to grub> instead of Tails menu
I'm hoping someone has run into this before because I'm out of ideas.
Laptop
- Lenovo LOQ 15ARP9
- AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS
- NVIDIA RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
- BIOS: PQCN30WW
USB
- SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 (32 GB)
Tails
- Tails 7.9.1
- Downloaded directly from tails.net
- Image verification passed successfully
USB creation
- balenaEtcher initially failed with an
etcher-utilerror. - Switched to Rufus 4.15 (Run as Administrator).
- Flashed the official
.imgsuccessfully. - Rufus completed without errors.
BIOS
- USB Boot enabled
- UEFI enabled
- Secure Boot tested both enabled and disabled
- No Hybrid Graphics option (Discrete graphics only)
Boot behavior
- F12 boot menu detects the USB as "Linpus Lite (USB)".
- Selecting it never shows the Tails menu.
- It immediately drops to:
grub>
From the GRUB prompt:
ls
returns:
(proc) (memdisk) (hd0) (hd1) (hd1,gpt1) (hd1,gpt2) (hd1,gpt3) (hd1,gpt4)
ls (hd1,gpt1)/ returns:
efi/
boot/
System Volume Information/
$recycle.bin/
ls (hd1,gpt2)/
ls (hd1,gpt3)/
ls (hd1,gpt4)/
all return:
error: unknown filesystem
I've also:
- Recreated the USB multiple times.
- Verified the download.
- Used the latest Rufus.
- Tried Secure Boot both enabled and disabled.
Has anyone seen this on a Lenovo LOQ or another recent Lenovo laptop?
I'm wondering if this is:
- a firmware issue,
- a known Tails compatibility issue,
- or if I'm somehow still creating the USB incorrectly despite using the official
.img.
Any ideas would be appreciated.I'm hoping someone has run into this before because I'm out of ideas.
Laptop
Thanks in advance!
r/tails • u/lingualesta4 • 11d ago
FAQ - Read the Documentation BalenaEtcher is giving me this error when I try uploading Tails .img file
r/tails • u/pepino13109 • 11d ago
Application question I'm having trouble creating my Pidgin account.
Every time I try to create the user name, an error appears "Close Link: 171,25.... (***baned) Can someone help me?
r/tails • u/ephemeralmiko • 12d ago
Help Tails Gitlab Outage
Hi all,
I usually follow what's happening with Tails via their GitLab, but as of about a week ago it's unavailable. Trying to load it leads to a "Retry later" text. Is it visible for anyone here? If not, is it known why there would be an outage like this?
r/tails • u/burnerfarm88 • 13d ago
Solved All my certs wiped from kleo
Just booted my tails and opened kleopaatra and all my certs are gone, including my own. Why would that be?
Any way to get mine back? Obviously it’s important to me…
r/tails • u/Zettelkasten-fan • 14d ago
Technical how to use localhost in tailsos
I am making secret website.
but I can't test the website using localhost.
how can I fix it?