USB images instead of ISO images

We need your help to test the simplified installation methods of Tails that we will release with 3.12 on January 29.

The method will be much simpler and faster, especially for macOS users, but for Windows users as well. Debian and Ubuntu users won't have to install a specific program anymore and the process will also be faster for other Linux users.

In short, instead of downloading an ISO image (a format originally designed for CDs) you will download a USB image that is already an image of the data as written to your USB stick by Tails Installer. So no need for Tails Installer anymore and no need for an intermediary Tails nor a second USB stick when installing from Windows or macOS.

You should be able to create a persistent volume right away.

The methods for upgrading Tails will remain the same.

Testing the beta

Download the USB image

Tails beta USB image

We don't provide any OpenPGP signature or other verification technique for this test image. Please only use it for testing.

Installation instructions

As the new instructions are not yet available on our website, please refer to the following PDFs:

• For Windows

  Download PDF instructions for Windows

  At the beginning, you will have to download a program called Etcher:

  Download Etcher (portable) for Windows

• For macOS

  Download PDF instructions for macOS

  At the beginning, you will have to download a program called Etcher:

  Download Etcher for macOS

• For Linux (all distributions)

  Download PDF instructions for Linux

Reporting about your tests

Note that the USB image doesn't make Tails work on more hardware but it might work more reliably on recent hardware than the intermediary Tails (currently created using Universal USB Installer on Windows and dd on macOS).

Make sure to specify:

• The OS you installed from.

• The model of the computer you started from.

Report your findings by email to tails-testers@boum.org. This mailing list is archived publicly.

Known issues

None yet.