r/tails

I normally use ethernet but due to some reason my router is not working and it will take few days for the isp to replace it.

So is using a mobile hotspot bad idea?

Did anyone lose thumbnails displaying in the file system after upgrading to 7.10? Seems to be only affecting video files like MP4, AVI, WMV, etc... and is there a work-around to get them back? I have a directory of news clippings from various news outlets that no longer display the thumbnail so I can't tell what subject the article is about now...

I've heard multiple times from different sources that there is a monerowallet preinstalled on tails. I couldnt find it (running tails on an USB Stick). Do you have experience with it and which wallet do you suggest toi install on tails, if there is non already installed?

I've just used Tails for the first time using a USB and a Lenovo laptop. Upon shutting down, pulling out the USB, and turning the computer on, it isn't rebooting windows as the default system.

It comes with a blue screen which says

- Use a device (I've gone through all these and no luck)

- troubleshoot

- turn off your PC

What can i do to fix this issue if anyone has been through this tedious challenge?

Yes, I am a noob btw

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.

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.

title

but wouldnt it be alot harder to trace someone down if u use telegram on tails (yes i know PGP is better but good fucking luck getting the avg person to do that)

Hi guys, I need your help.

I've already installed Tails on three different USB drives now, and that has always gone smoothly. However, whenever I turn on persistent storage, the system usually runs for a few minutes, but then freezes up completely and stops responding.

When you eventually turn off the PC and pull out the drive, it becomes virtually unusable (Windows doesn't even detect it anymore, and on Linux it can't be reformatted).

What am I doing wrong? I'm using the latest version of Tails.

please tell me what usb should i buy for tails OS, i’m looking for something near 64GB but confused which one should i buy. Fellow tails users please help me out. Thanks

Every time I try to get into tails I get past the booting stage and the get to a blue screen but I can’t use my keyboard or trackpad any ideas on what I can try?

I’m having a hard time getting it to work like I’m super confused

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 ❤️

Is tails persistent storage encryption very secure? Can some one at least give me the encryption algorithm used so I can do some research?

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?

I know TailsOS is x86-64 but there are github projects that have Tails running on Android phones using Termux. This got me thinking, ia there a way to get Tails to run on a Linux OS phone?

Wondering if Jolla bootloader will allow a USB-C SSD 2TB flash drive to boot? If it does not, would it allow it to boot if it was 1TB or on the micro SDcard? GSMarena site does not have many specs on this phone (specs from 12/2025). Specifically (comms) is thin on info, only USB-C but no further details such as OTG or 3.1 / 3.2, I'm guessing 3.0. I also hope micro SDXC card supports 1TB (usually the limit seems to be 512GB.

Being that AI is bringing a close to the personal PC market, I think we can all see the writing on the wall that personal desktops and laptops are going way a lot sooner than we would like. A simple search shows all vendors in personal PC market are suffering and not just a little, worst numbers ever. The AI overlords want us using terminal setups in our houses. It is the only way to kill/severely limit Local LLM/AI setups.

Anyway we are going to need Tails to migrate to mobile- (even old mobile tech like arm7 or maemo5) in a secure and permanent way and not via a one or two man team that will abandon it after a couple years like the current projects.

1TB requirement to run a node, since Tails already understands the importance of including electrum wallet in their basic necessities stack. I just wish it would include Chris Belchers EPS and not leave people hanging with having to connect directly the blockchain via Tor. Though I suppose you can opt for a pruned node in a pinch.

Thank you in advance for any feedback. (I cross posted to as well)

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.

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.

Every time I boot into Tails, my Additional Software fails to download/configure. When I check the system logs/protocol, it explicitly says that the Thunderbird files are corrupted.

I need to fix this, but I absolutely cannot lose my current Thunderbird private key / PGP keys stored in my persistent storage.

how do I fix this?😔

Hi, everyone. I’m new here. I just tried downloading Tail OS using my live boot, and something has me wondering. Is Tail OS better for conducting anonymous penetration testing? Or should I just use Parrot Security OS instead?

Hello im on a hp elitebook i got secure boot off i already flashed the usb drive and tried booting it using f9 and it wont boot i pressed the usb it just boots me back to windows 11 u have no idea what im doing wrong im new to this stuff

hey about a month ago after an update thunderbird mail was just uninstalled and i do not know how to fix it i tried to reset thunderbird in persistant storage but it will not work. i need help

i know i know there have been A LOT OF POSTS about this topic and I also know that I can basically use any usb stick as long as it has 16gb storage . but as I want to buy a new usb stick for tails I would like to buy a good one so I am asking you to give me so recommandations based on what you are using. thanks

btw should i be worried buying usb sticks from amazon?

I’m using a Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Chromebook. Am I going to be able to run Tails on this?

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?

So Ive run tails on this machine multiple different times, no problem. I haven't been in the game for quite a while and was thinking I might want to take advantage of the privacy this kind of OS affords oneself. Anyways I go through all the steps, right before it boots it says "SGX is disabled or unsupported by BIOS," but then in continues on booting tails. I get to the main screen, click to start a persistence and click start and it all of the sudden crashes with some text that is up then gone too quick followed by a bunch of command line looking stuff and shuts the computer down. Anyways know what I did or can do to fix this? I just managed to grab a snipped of what it says right before it shuts down looks like it says

"Broadcast message from root@amnesia (displays the current date and time in UTC)

System will power off now!" Then a bunch of command line stuff I can't capture

Hello,

I'm experiencing an issue trying to use the Tor browser on Tails. After a certain amount of time, usually less than two minutes, the browser just closes on me when trying to browse the web. There are no connection issues displayed, my network controller and GPU are not listed in the FAQ and the issue occurs with both wireless and wired connection. So far, this also only happens when using Tails. The same issue doesn't appear when using the Tor browser under Pop!, which is my main OS.

I'm at a loss as to why that happens. Any help would be much appreciated.

Hello guys. im not very familiar with tails OS but i use it quite often for browsing. i wanted so ask if teleguard or session (i prefer session) works on tails os? i find these 2 chat apps very useful and anonymous. Thanks.

I would say i’m beginner to intermediate level. I’m still understanding the basics, so sorry if there’s stupid mistakes somewhere. Thanks in advance.

So I have run tails from usb before on my laptop in 2024, but now I have the grub problem with the newer version. I’ve tried the solutions shared in the community, different usb’s and different software to flash, but none of them seem to work. I also tried the kicksecure with whonix, but I don’t have enough RAM.

My question is what is the alternative? I’m really keen on having privacy/anonymity setup. I genuinely want to have tails, so I may resort to buying a laptop only for this use. What laptop should i buy? Cheaper options would be helpful. Thanks in advance again.

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!

Hey all, I just got Tails up and running via a USB on my personal computer. I would like to access the dark web, but of course take any precautions needed.

At the moment I simply just have Tails running on my PC via the usb it’s installed on. Am I safe to connect to my home wifi? Is there anything else I should be aware of?

Apologies if this is too much of a broad question.. cheers

I tried to not into my tails usb and keep getting MISSING OS. I flashed tails on to another drive, booted it up and was able to unencrypt my faulty drive. How can I fix my old drive?

Edit: i tried to do an upgrade, but it does not show me the upgrade button. Only the install button

Many online accounts/services offer backup codes as a way to bypass passwords/2fa.

I do not have a safe place to write them down that will ensure only I have access. Neither do I trust them being on my main operating system (Ubuntu) that is online when I use it as it is probably the one most likely to suffer from an attack or die.

Is using tails (persistent storage) to store them (in a bunch of .txt files) a sensible idea for my case? What other approaches are there to storing backup codes that could work for me?

Also what about storing a backup of my Bitwarden (password manager) vault as a KeePassXC vault in there too?

Error: <Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists possible device or file completions. To enable less(1)-like paging, "set pager=1">

I verified the install, tried it about 5 times on 2 different machines and made sure to wait 3 minutes before trying to boot. Could it be a faulty USB? Or is the new tails version somehow incompatible with this device now? I always followed updates over the past year. I just wanted to wipe everything and start fresh with a new device.

Device: Kingston DataTraveler Exodia 64GB USB 3.2 Flash Drive DTX/64GB

Thanks

so recently downloaded tails on a brand new usb stick (sandisk ultra 3.0) but im having issues transporting my keys ever since i installed tails onto it

does it matter what usb I get to boot tails? can it just be a random modern 8gb bought from many store? or are there any recommended ones worth buying that actually make a difference?

Every time I try to boot Tails from a USB I get a screen with this text:

GNU GRUB version 2.12-9+deb13u2
Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported...

This seems to be a common issue but none of the solutions in other threads have helped. I've also tried:

• Three different USB drives

• Writing to the USB from two different computers

• Writing to the USB from two different operating systems (Windows, Ubuntu)

• Writing to the USB with two different programs (Rufus, balenaEtcher)

• Booting the USB from two different computers

• Using an older version (7.7 instead of 7.9)

Same result every time, even though it used to work with the same USB and computer. I'm at a loss. Any ideas? Am I dumb and missing something?

Update: the solution seems to have been to install it from my second computer through balenaEtcher. Now it works on both computers ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

i may buy a san disk ultra 256gb for tails os . maybe this seems like a dumb or not important question but i just wanted to ask it . thanks for answering

btw is the san disk ultra good for tails

Ive tried swithing usb ports and there arent thag many troubleshooting vids i havent found one that could help me
Im using. Yoga lenovo 7 pro laptop with a 3050 nvidia gpu

I have now tried booting on another pc and it worked

Worked on my lenovo after booting on another pc. Wierd

I’ve spent 6 hours trying to get this to work, it keeps getting stuck at a black screen.

My laptop specs

NB LENOVO X1 CARBON U7 355/32GB/1TB-SSD/14"2.8K/W11PRO-3y

Hi!
I’ve been using tails and kleopatra for a little bit on macOS and when I opened kleopatra today, all of my keys and certificates, including the default ones were gone. I was just using it yesterday with zero issues. I’m going to assume all of my previous keys are gone since I didn’t do a recent backup.
I am also getting a “permission denied” error message when I try to generate a new public key.
Please help!

Got a 3 pack of 32GB USB Sticks and have tried three different comptuters now! Everytime i hit download it just says disc image file is corrupted! One time on one commputer it did download, but then would not verify!

VERY NEW TO TAILS! I know this is basic stuff im not dumb with computers though I did all the troubleshooting I could!!! I figured maybe its not up to date! Tried looking on github or somewhere else for a download link!

I got 3 32GB USBs. This shouldn't be that difficult. Is there some issue with 7.9?? Everytime i hit download it just says the files corrupt! off tails.net!

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💕

When installing tails for my USB stick it auto detects my CPU as AMD but i need to transfer the USB stick to computer that uses a intel CPU, is there any workaround? I cannot install tails from the intel computer.

I am a first time user and had tried for a couple of weeks to get my 5 year old IdeaPad-5 to work. I tried multiple USB sticks. I flashed and refreshed the sticks. I turned off Secure Boot. I renumbered the priority on the drives. No matter what I did I was stuck at Bash Prompt and it just would not load. Finally this weekend I got it. The problem was the quick start from sleep. I had assumed if I held down the power button that it was fully powered off. I changed the power button from “sleep” to “shut down” and just like that it resolved. I had not seen this as
Part of the original instructions. There were lots of posts about BIOS and security and various other things. But I just had not seen that the default for the IdeaPad was always to sleep/hibernate and not to simply power off. Everything installed, no issues. I’m sure most are rolling their eyes at my noob attempt and solution (essentially turn it off and turn it on) but that simple answer was such an ah ha for this tech limited dude.

yall ever wonder how truly anonymous tails really is? like yeah it hides your ip from websites, but the entry node still sees your real IP the second you make that first handshake. that's just the network layer.
what bugs me more though is the hardware part. when you boot tails, there's a tiny window before macchanger does its thing where your real MAC address gets broadcast. that's your actual physical wi-fi card ID flying out there for anyone sniffing nearby. and once they have that, they can tie the device to you later even if you changed your IP a hundred times.
so is tails really just network-level anonymity? cause it feels like the hardware is still snitching. what do you guys think, am i overthinking this or is the mac leak a real problem?

Hi i purchased this adapter but it is not working with tails, hoping someone else has this adapter and shares the fix, Thanks!

I want the browser to save my passwords, and therefore need a master password for the browser. However, it won’t let me create a master password (I get an error message)

So I'm using etcher and was going to use ventoy like I would any other time. Windows download fails every time and when I tried Ubuntu in etcher it said it flashed without the bar moving and the iso didn't download the first time and the second time was corrupt. Anyone know why Im having issues? My hard drive that had Linux bricked so my tails usb is the only way I can use my laptop currently.

I’ve been using tailsOS on and off for several years and have never encountered this problem before. I have made a public pgp key, I even imported the public key from the website that is making me decrypt a pgp message for a code to login. Nothing works. What’s the issue here?

It’s pissing me off i never used Linux so idk ik grub is a Linux thing

I am making secret website.

but I can't test the website using localhost.

how can I fix it?

How do I add Stacher7 (and its necessary companion software like ffmpeg) and make its installation persistent on my flash drive? Also do Stacher7 downloads get routed through TOR or is this a opsec no-no?

Hello everyone,

I’m running Tails on a USB and trying to connect my HP Deskjet 5150 via USB to my computer. I’ve read that I need to download the HPLIP driver to get the printer to work, but I’m stuck on a test print that won’t print. I’ve spent the last seven hours searching for solutions, including asking AI for help, but nothing seems to work. If anyone has any advice or suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

1. What should be the storage capacity of the DVD-R for it to work?

2. Will it affect things like saving keyboard layout/country/language and persistent storage?

3. If i eject it will the current session be "self-destructed" like using a USB flash drive?

4. 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.

Tails está disponible para hardware ARM que NO es de Apple?

Hi, first time download tails. I dont have option to download it just for USB. Help?

Please someone help me

Well... that's it. I don't know what to do. I don't have any cool ilegal thing in mind.

Is there a way to fix this? I am trying to use tails from a USB stick on a laptop and, after shift-restarting and selecting boot from a USB stick, I keep getting this message. The laptop is an Acer Nitro V 15.

I looked at another reddit post where they said to go into the bios, disable secure boot and disable fast boot which I did but it hasn't fixed the problem. They also said to enable the load legacy option but I couldn't find that in the bios.

I also read that sometimes a laptop will only boot from certain USB ports so I tried all of them and still got the same message. It said that sometimes a laptop will not boot from blue USB ports and will only boot from the black ones, but all the ports on this computer are blue.

Another thing is that I have to put the USB stick in after already reaching the boot menu because if I start the laptop with the tails USB plugged in, for some reason, I get the laptop starting onto a screen with lines of code (grub>) and I don't really know what I can do from there.

Is it possible for me to boot from a USB stick on this laptop?

Any info helps

Hey!

So my last USB died and I had to go through the process of re-downloading tails, monero, etc. and relogging into all of my stuff, because I lost my persistent storage. Sadly, I lost my kleopatra PGP stuff. Therefore I got a back up usb, so I'm wondering: can I copy and paste my main USB files to my back up USB? Will that keep all of the stuff I've saved? Eg: monero, kleopatra, etc.

Hope this makes sense!

Thanks!

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.

I'm new concerning linux stuff. I wanna use tails to keep photos on a safe place and to naviguate freely since the ChatContol text got voted. I wanna get as safe as i can since im in local political actions. Excuse my bad english, consider me aware of most cybersecurity basic knowledge.

i got tails on a 32Go USB Drive aswell as microsoft if thats important?

I can check on things if needed :)

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!

Hi,

So I've just installed tales and want to know what necessities I need to have to use it to its fullest.

I want to do journalism and stay safe & anonymous when doing that.

What I need:

- safe to upload files to, that I can safely download on my phone / normal PC without linking any accounts, profiles etc.

- A safe messenger

- Anything you like to add that you think is important

Also I have questions about tails for max:

- Do you enable persistent storage?

- Do you save / even use your real Keyboard layout or just go with the standard US one? (Normally you shouldn't save it bc that easily gives clue abt your real Region. Is that the same with Tails?)

My last question is: What do people really use Tails for? Just NSFW and criminal things?

I haven't had this issue before. Running Tails on an HP Victus desktop. Running it off an SD card with a USB adapter. Been using this setup for awhile with no issues. I have persistent storage that I would like to keep. When I launch Tails the Welcome Screen doesn't appear. I get the top bar with the date, accessibility, volume, and power options but other than that just an empty blue screen. Ive tried launching it in External Hard Drive mode and Troubleshooting mode with no luck. Troubleshooting mode just gets stuck on the boot loader. I'd be willing to answer any questions you may have regarding my setup but please keep in mind that Ive had no problems with my setup up until this point

The only version where this didn’t pop for me was 7.3.1. I was wondering if there is a workaround for this? Thanks.

Device: Acer Predator Helios Neo 16s

CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

Hey guys,

had this notification for the flrst time today when I tried to boot into Tails

So I've tried to disable Secure boot through the bios settings of my computer, but its still showing off when booting into tails, how come?

Thanks !

I'm having difficulties getting tails to run from a USB drive created with Rufus. The drive path disappears so windows explorer no longer sees it and when I restart my PC I'm met with AMIBIOS American Megatrends startup screen with a GPT header corruption has been detected message. I then press F1 to enter the bios and the USB drive is there but if I boot from it I get a black screen. Does anybody know how to fix this issue? I'm using windows 11 LTSC

Edit, Solved; Setting the boot sector (MBR/GPT) recovery policy to [AUTO RECOVERY] fixed the issue. You may have to change this twice as the first time did not save. Thanks all.

Hi everyone,

I've been using Tails OS on and off for a while, but I still consider myself a beginner. I'm looking for a structured path to become much more knowledgeable and independent when using Tails.

My current situation:

• I understand the basic purpose of Tails and Tor.

• I can boot Tails from a USB drive and use the default applications.

• I know some basic privacy and security concepts, but I'm not an expert.

• My Linux knowledge is limited and I don't have a strong networking background.

• I want to learn the correct way instead of following random tutorials.

My goals are:

1. Understand how Tails works internally.

2. Learn more about Tor networking and anonymity concepts.

3. Understand operational security (OpSec) principles.

4. Learn which Linux skills are most useful for Tails users.

5. Understand common mistakes that reduce anonymity.

6. Learn how persistent storage works and when it should or shouldn't be used.

7. Learn how to verify downloads, signatures, and software integrity.

8. Understand browser fingerprinting and tracking techniques.

9. Learn how advanced users think about compartmentalization and threat modeling.

10. Become capable of troubleshooting Tails problems on my own.

A few specific questions:

• What knowledge should I learn first?

• Which Linux topics are most important for a Tails user?

• Which networking concepts should I study?

• Which books, courses, documentation, or websites would you recommend?

• What are the most common beginner mistakes?

• What skills separate an intermediate Tails user from an advanced one?

• If you had to create a 6–12 month learning roadmap, what would it look like?

I'm interested in privacy, security, Linux, networking, and understanding how everything works under the hood.

Thanks for any advice.

Hi everyone.

I recently started using tails again, and the version I had on my USB stick was last updated in 2023, and therefore couldn't be automatically updated.

I tried to clone to a newer version, but upon booting, I was met with a GRUB error. I then tried genuinely every single option I could think of, or find, online, and nothing worked. Every time, after selecting the usb stick in the f12 menu, it went straight to a black GRUB screen.

I tried:

1. Different USB stick

2. Different laptop

3. different flash software (balena etcher, rufus)

4. Triple checked all the flash settings

5. Wiped each USB stick using diskpart->clean (I have 2 to test with, one is 16gb and the other 128gb)

6. Tried every way of partitioning the sticks

7. Checked every single f2 setting, secure boot disabled.etc.

8. Tried to locate the EFI boot files while stuck in the GRUB screen through bash commands (

grub>ls (hd0,gpt1) 

grub>ls 

The final option I could think of before giving up was to install an older version of tails. I know this is very bad practise, but it still seemed like a better option than using tor on windows if there was no other alternative.

I tried installing recent versions (7.xx) and was met with the same errors. Only after installing the most recent 6.xx version, did tails boot successfully.

I know this is far from an ideal solution, but it may help someone in my position, as this was very frustrating to deal with.

I'd also welcome any other suggestions/ideas.

Cheers.

hello, i downloaded tails os for USB from the site, then modified it with “rufus” and made it readable, then put all on an USB stick. now when my PC is turned off, and i insert my USB, then i turn it o, then i push the ESC or F12 button, to find and make the USB start instead of the computer itself, the PC won’t find the USB, it just turns on like there’s no USB inserted. anyone can help me? (tell me if you didn’t understand something, i’m sorry for my english i come from Italy) (i have a Lenovo V110)

Hi, so I’ve been using tails for a little while and Kleopatra, I’ve had no issues with the program and had persistent storage enabled.

When I open Kleopatra today, all of my certificates are gone and none of the default tails keys are in there, it’s completely blank as if I just downloaded it without tails.

I’m really confused on what happened because yesterday I was using the keys I created months ago and saved, any way I can fix this?

tails gets stuck on the blackscreen/dot screen, where it just randomly freezes

im running a 4060rtx setup + the newest version of tails (i know that before on sum older versions rtx4060 wasnt supported, but somewhere on here ive read that its all good now) so idk if thats a me problem or rtx40+ just still aint supported yet. thanks for help in advance

tried all the possible commands too like nomodeset and shit

Tails worked ok ish (freezes), but after upgrading my graphics card to an RTX 5060 I get this error.

I have tried moving usb ports, disabeling secure boot etc, and also the "nomodeset nouveau.modeset=0" and it will try and boot and give me no error and get to the loading screen with the three dots, but then hangs on a black screen with the underscore in the top left corner.

Any ideas?

I'm getting the GPT header corruption error when i try to boot from my pendrive, any idea what could be the problem? Got an Asus Tuf B460, i was able to boot tails in the past but now nothing works.

Tried usb ports in the back and frontal.
Disabled fast boot.
Disabled secure boot.
Checked the ISO isn't corrupted.
Used Rufus to make the Bootable pendrive.
Pendrive is detected when GPT error occurs but is not detected when in boot settings.

How can you be sure your network card is being spoofed by Tails? I do Ip Link command, and it shows both my real Mac and a Fake one followed by the Onion circuits.

So I work with documents, and in some cases snippits of videos. These add up in terms of storage space and I find the recommended USB drives from reputable vendors to be available in relatively small (by todays standards) storage sizes. I notice TAILS does not list external SSDs as a recommended medium but am wondering if there are inherent security issues with using one? This would allow me terabytes of room for my files in the persistent storage and would make TAILS a much more usable platform for me. Anyone have any relevant thoughts on this?

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…

Im a noob and have no idea how to do this

I have just installed Tails 7.6 on a flash drive. There is no grub menu. Why has that suddenly disappeared?

Any help with that greatly appreciated.

I recently installed tor, but I am looking to install tails. It appears that because my Mac has a chip, I guess it is supposed to pose a problem. Does anyone else have any recommendations?

Consider installing Ubuntu or another Linux distro on a USB stick, then using it to install Tails onto a second USB stick. I spent hours trying to do it through Windows, but that was the only solution I found.

I'm curious. Let's say I have a tails USB key with a USB c plug or adapter, could I boot my Android phone on the USB to access the OS and the persistent storage there?

And I'm planning to switch to E/OS/, would that change anything?

I'm on Fairphone 4.

Edit : boot on Tails* of course

Machine: Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 15ABR8, AMD Ryzen 5 5625U, BIOS up to date (KYCN42WW)

Symptom: A bootable USB drive (Tails/Debian) fails to boot on this PC — error message “Unable to find a medium containing a live file system”. In the kernel logs (dmesg), I see this message repeating in a loop:
usb 1-2: reset high-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
The device is briefly detected (it shows up correctly in the F12 boot menu with its proper name), but the connection fails as soon as it needs to actually read data from it.

Tests already done:
Tried on every USB-A port → same result
USB-A extension cable → same result
USB-C to USB-A adapter → same result
Updated to the latest available BIOS version → no change
This exact same USB drive works perfectly fine on a second, identical PC (same model)
A different USB drive (borrowed from a store) works normally on my PC

My question: Since my drive works fine elsewhere, and a different drive works fine on my machine, could this be a specific electrical/timing compatibility issue between this particular drive and my USB controller, rather than a general hardware failure? Has anyone seen this kind of selective behavior before? Any software angle worth exploring (Tails kernel, controller firmware) before going the warranty route?

Thanks in advance for any input!

So I was experimenting with Tails, and I got it working on a USB. But I also tried installing it to a Samsung T7 Shield 1TB external SSD. I want that drive for regular storage now. I tried following instructions to remove Tails, but it hasn't worked. When I used CMD to clean the drive and set it to type mbr or gpt, it did not ask me to format, nor can I see any way to format. Windows now calls it "Samsung PSSD T7 Shield SCSI Disk Device" in the Device Manager, and Windows Explorer shows a BD-ROM Drive that I certainly don't have. Any help?

I want to use a dedicated Tails USB drive for Zoom and Signal video calls, as well as for tasks that require clearnet access and are blocked on Tor.

I would like to disable Tor on it permanently, since video calls don’t work well over Tor.

1. Can someone explain how to permanently disable Tor on a Tails USB drive?

2. Also, after disabling Tor, will installing Signal and Zoom be enough for them to work properly, or are additional modifications needed? If so, what modifications would be required?

"Hi. I have a 2010 Samsung laptop with 2GB of RAM. Can it run [Tails]?

At startup I set admin password, before I insert the persistent passphrase but when I try to insert it in a console or in a dialogue window (e.g Synaptic) the system says that is wrong, but I'm sure that is correct.

I've my Tails on a SanDisk USB key, could be that the issue?

All info is from the Tails Gitlab. None of this has been officially announced by the Tails team as of yet.

--

The Tails team is working on Project 202, which will allow installation of Flatpak apps in Tails. They're currently curating a list of apps to harden and confirm proper functionality for, currently including Signal, Telegram, Proton Mail, and various others. These apps would be able to save data in Persistent Storage, and we can hopefully soon™ expect an experimental release with this enabled for testing purposes ^/ .

--

^{[this has been partially contradicted by P202 6.9]}