Open these instructions on another device

In the next step, you will shut down the computer. To be able to follow the rest of the instructions afterwards, we recommend you either:

• Open this page on your smartphone, tablet, or another computer (recommended).

• Print the rest of the instructions on paper.

• Take note of the URL of this page to be able to come back later:

  https://tails.boum.org/install/clone?back=1 https://tails.boum.org/install/win/usb?back=1 https://tails.boum.org/install/mac/usb?back=1 https://tails.boum.org/install/mac/clone?back=1 https://tails.boum.org/install/expert/usb?back=1 https://tails.boum.org/install/linux/usb?back=1 https://tails.boum.org/upgrade/clone?back=1 https://tails.boum.org/upgrade/tails?back=1

Restart on the intermediary Tails

Restart on the other Tails

Restart on Tails

1. Shut down the computer while leaving the USB stick plugged in.

   Shut down the computer.

   Plug in the other Tails USB stick that you want to install upgrade from.

   Unplug your Tails USB stick while leaving the intermediary USB stick plugged in.

2. Switch on the computer.

   Immediately press-and-hold the Option key (Alt key) until a list of possible startup disks appears.

   

   Choose the USB stick and press Enter. The USB stick appears as an external hard disk and might be labeled EFI Boot or Windows like in the following screenshot:

   

3. If the computer starts on Tails, the Boot Loader Menu appears and Tails starts automatically after 4 seconds.

   Most computers do not start on Tails by default. If it does you are lucky. Otherwise, if the computer starts on Debian, Ubuntu, or Linux Mint Windows, Linux, Windows or Linux, refer to the troubleshooting section about Tails not starting at all.

   Troubleshooting: Tails does not start at all

   The following section applies if the Boot Loader Menu does not appear when starting on a USB stick.

   It is quite common for computers not to start automatically on a USB stick with Tails installed. Here are some troubleshooting techniques. You should try them one after the other.

   Getting to the boot menu

   On most computers, you can press a boot menu key to display a list of possible devices to start from. The following instructions explain how to display the boot menu and start on the USB stick. The following screenshot is an example of such boot menu:

   

   1. Shut down the computer.

   2. Make sure that the first USB stick is plugged in the computer.

   3. Identify the potential boot menu keys for the computer depending on the computer manufacturer in the following list:

      Manufacturer	Key
      Acer	Esc, F12, F9
      Asus	Esc, F8
      Dell	F12
      Fujitsu	F12, Esc
      HP	Esc, F9
      Lenovo	F12, Novo, F8, F10
      Samsung	Esc, F12, F2
      Sony	F11, Esc, F10
      Toshiba	F12
      others…	F12, Esc

   4. Switch on the computer.

      Immediately press several times the first potential boot menu key identified in step 3.

      1. If a boot menu with a list of devices appears, select your USB stick and press Enter.

      2. If the computer starts on another operating system, then:

         1. Shut down the computer.

         2. Press-and-hold the potential boot menu key identified in step 3.

         3. Switch on the computer again while holding the potential boot menu key pressed.

            1. If a boot menu with a list of devices appears, select your USB stick and press Enter.

            2. If the computer starts on another operating system or returns an error message, then shut down the computer again and repeat step 4 for all the potential boot menu keys identified in step 3.

   If none of the potential boot menu keys identified in step 3 work or if the USB stick does not appear in the list, then try the second troubleshooting technique described below.

   Check our list of known issues

   Similar problems might have been reported already for your model of computer in our list of known issues.

   Edit the BIOS settings

   You might need to edit the BIOS settings of the computer.

   Search for the user manual of the computer on the website of its manufacturer to learn how to edit the BIOS settings:

   • Acer
   • Asus
   • Dell
   • Fujitsu
   • HP
   • Lenovo
   • Samsung
   • Sony
   • Toshiba

   In the BIOS settings, try to apply the following changes one by one and restart the computer after each change. Some changes might not apply to certain computer models.

   Take note of the changes that you apply to the BIOS settings, to be able to revert them if they prevent the computer to start on its usual operating system.

   1. Edit the Boot Order. Depending on the computer model you might see an entry for removable devices or USB media. Move this entry to the top of the list to force the computer to try to start from the first USB stick before starting from the internal hard disk.

   2. Disable Fast boot.

   3. If the computer is configured to start with legacy BIOS, try to configure it to start with UEFI. Else, if the computer is configured to start with UEFI, try to configure it to start with legacy BIOS. To do so, try any of the following options if available:

      • Enable Legacy mode
      • Disable Secure boot (see the Microsoft documentation)
      • Enable CSM boot
      • Disable UEFI

   4. Try to upgrade the BIOS to the latest version provided by the manufacturer.

   Report the problem to our support team

   If none of these options work, we are sorry but you might not be able to use Tails on this computer.

   Please, send an email to our support team, including the following information:

   1. Which version of Tails are you trying to start?

   2. How did you verify the USB image?

   3. Which is the brand and model of the computer?

   4. What exactly happens when trying to start? Report the complete error message that appears on the screen, if any.

   5. Which program did you use to install your USB stick:

      • Etcher,
      • GNOME Disks,
      • Tails Installer, or
      • dd on the command line?

      Note that these are the only supported installation methods.

   6. Have you been able to start Tails successfully on this computer before, from another USB stick or DVD, or with another version of Tails? If so, which ones?

   7. Does the same USB stick start successfully on other computers?

   

   If your computer fails to start on the USB stick, then it might currently be impossible to start Tails on your Mac model.

4. After 30–60 seconds, another screen called Tails Greeter appears.

   If the computer display the error message Error starting GDM with your graphics card, refer to our list of known issues with graphics cards.

   If the computer stops responding or displays other error messages before getting to Tails Greeter, refer to the troubleshooting section about Tails not starting entirely.

   Troubleshooting

   Tails does not start entirely

   The following section applies if the Boot Loader Menu appears but not Tails Greeter when starting Tails.

   1. Restart the computer on the first USB stick.

   2. In the Boot Loader Menu, choose the Troubleshooting Mode which might work better on some computers.

   3. If the Troubleshooting Mode does not work better, restart the computer again on the first USB stick.

   4. In the Boot Loader Menu, press TAB. A command line with a list of boot options appears at the bottom of the screen.

      

   5. Press the Backspace key several times to remove the quiet option from the command line.

   6. If Tails previously failed to start and displayed the Probing EDD (edd=off to disable)... error, then type edd=off to add this option to the command line.

   7. Type debug nosplash to add these options to the command line.

   8. To start Tails, press Enter.

   9. Hopefully, error messages now appear when starting Tails. You can send them to our support team by email, for example by taking a picture of the last screen and error messages.

   10. If the error message is /bin/sh: can't access tty; job control turned off followed by (initramfs), then try removing the live-media=removable option from the boot command line.

       If removing live-media=removable allows you to start Tails, please report the problem to our support team. This contributes to improving the list of problematic USB sticks. Then try installing Tails on another USB stick.

   Removing the live-media=removable option might be dangerous. If an adversary had access to the computer and installed a malicious Tails on an internal hard disk, the computer might start on the malicious Tails instead of on the USB stick.

   

5. In Tails Greeter, select your language and keyboard layout in the Language & Region section. Click Start Tails.

6. Após 15–30 segundos, a área de trabalho do Tails aparece.

   

Verifique se o outro Tails está atualizado

Para evitar instalar atualizar para uma versão desatualizada do Tails com falhas de segurança conhecidas, ceritifique-se de que o Tails que você está instalando atualizando é a última versão:

1. Selecione Aplicativos ▸ Tails ▸ Sobre o Tails.

2. Verifique se você está rodando Tails 3.12.1 lançado em

2019-02-13:

1. . Se você está rodando a versão 3.12.1 , então você pode continuar com o próximo passo.

2. . Se você não está rodando a versão 3.12.1 , então conecte-se à Internet e aguarde o Tor estar pronto. Após um minuto ou dois, o Atualizador do Tails aparecer com instruções sobre como atualizar. Faça todas as atualizações conforme proposto.

   If at some point it is impossible to do automatic upgrades, then we recommend you choose a different installation method. choose a different installation method. upgrade from Tails instead.

Install Tails

Upgrade your Tails

In this step, you will upgrade your Tails from the other intermediary Tails using Tails Installer.

1. Plug the new your Tails USB stick in the computer.

   All the data on this USB stick will be lost.

2. Choose Applications ▸ Tails ▸ Tails Installer to start Tails Installer.

   

   

3. Choose the new your USB stick in the Target USB stick drop-down list.

4. To start the installation, click on the Install button. upgrade, click on the Upgrade button.

   The persistent storage of your Tails USB stick will be preserved.

   The persistent storage of the other Tails will not be copied.

5. Read the warning message in the confirmation dialog. Click Yes to confirm.

   The installation upgrade takes a few minutes.

   The progress bar usually freezes for some time while synchronizing data on disk.

6. After the installation finishes, close Tails Installer.

   

Restart on the new Tails

1. Shut down the computer.

   

2. Unplug the other USB stick and leave the new USB stick plugged in.

3. Switch on the computer.

   Immediately press-and-hold the Option key (Alt key) until a list of possible startup disks appears.

   

   Choose the USB stick and press Enter. The USB stick appears as an external hard disk and might be labeled EFI Boot or Windows like in the following screenshot:

   

4. The Boot Loader Menu appears and Tails starts automatically after 4 seconds.

   

5. After 30–60 seconds, Tails Greeter appears.

6. In Tails Greeter, select your language and keyboard layout in the Language & Region section. Click Start Tails.

7. After 15–30 seconds, the Tails desktop appears.

Test your Wi-Fi

Problems with Wi-Fi are unfortunately quite common in Tails and Linux in general. To test if your Wi-Fi interface works in Tails:

1. Open the system menu in the top-right corner:

   

2. Choose Wi-Fi Not Connected and then Select Network.

3. After establishing a connection to a network:

   • If you can already access the Internet, Tor is automatically started.

   • If you need to log in to a captive portal before being granted access to the Internet, see our documentation about logging in to captive portals.

If your Wi-Fi interface is not working, either:

• There is no Wi-Fi option in the system menu:

  

• The interface is disabled when starting Tails or when plugging in your USB Wi-Fi adapter:

  

  In this case, you can disable MAC spoofing to get your Wi-Fi interface to work in Tails. Disabling MAC spoofing has security implications, so read carefully our documentation about MAC spoofing before doing so.

To connect to the Internet, you can try to either:

• Use an Ethernet cable instead of Wi-Fi if possible. Wired interfaces work much more reliably than Wi-Fi in Tails.

• Buy a USB Wi-Fi adapter that works in Tails:

  Vendor	Model	Size	Speed	Price	Buy offline	Buy online
  Edimax	EW-7811Un	Nano	150 Mbit/s	$10	No	Amazon
  Panda Wireless	Ultra	Nano	150 Mbit/s	$12	No	Amazon
  Panda Wireless	PAU05	Small	300 Mbit/s	$14	No	Amazon

  If you find another USB Wi-Fi adapter that works in Tails, please let us know. You can write to tails-testers@boum.org (public mailing list) or tails@boum.org (private email).

Create an encrypted persistent storage (optional)

You can optionally create an encrypted persistent storage in the remaining free space on your new Tails USB stick to store any of the following:

• Personal files
• Some settings
• Additional software
• Encryption keys

The data in the encrypted persistent storage:

• Remains available across separate working sessions.
• Is encrypted using a passphrase of your choice.

Create the persistent storage

1. Choose Applications ▸ Tails ▸ Configure persistent volume.

2. Specify a passphrase of your choice in both the Passphrase and Verify Passphrase text boxes.

   We recommend choosing a long passphrase made of five to seven random words. Learn more.

3. Click on the Create button.

4. Wait for the creation to finish.

5. The assistant shows a list of the possible persistence features. Each feature corresponds to a set of files or settings to be saved in the encrypted persistent storage.

   We recommend you to only activate the Personal Data persistence feature for the time being. You can activate more features later on according to your needs.

6. Click Save.

   

Restart and activate the persistent storage

1. Shut down the computer and restart on your new Tails USB stick.

2. In Tails Greeter:

   

   • Select your language and keyboard layout in the Language & Region section.
   • In the Encrypted Persistent Storage section, enter your passphrase and click Unlock to activate the encrypted persistent storage for the current working session.
   • Click Start Tails.

3. After 15–30 seconds, the Tails desktop appears.

4. You can now save your personal files and working documents in the Persistent folder. To open the Persistent folder choose Places ▸ Persistent.