Uninstalling Tails using Linux

To uninstall Tails from a USB stick, and use it for something else, you have to format it.

The content of the USB stick is lost in the operation, but an attacker might still be able to tell that Tails was installed on that USB stick using data recovery techniques.

  1. Start on Linux or Tails.

    To uninstall a Tails USB stick while running Tails from that same USB stick, add the toram boot option in the Boot Loader. See uninstalling Tails using Tails itself.

  2. Install GNOME Disks.

    • If you are using the GNOME desktop environment, GNOME Disks should be installed by default.

    • Otherwise, install the gnome-disk-utility package using the usual installation method for your distribution.

  3. Make sure that the USB stick that you want to uninstall is unplugged.

  4. Open GNOME Disks (also called Disks).

    For example, you can press the Super () key, then enter disks and select Disks.

    The storage devices in the computer are listed in the left pane.

  5. Plug in the USB stick that you want to uninstall.

    A new device appears in the list of storage devices. Select it.

  6. In the right pane of the window, verify that the device corresponds to the USB stick that you want to uninstall, its brand, its size, etc.

    You might overwrite any hard disk on the computer.

    If you are not sure about the device, stop proceeding.

  7. To format the USB stick, select the Drive Options button in the title bar and choose Format Disk to erase all the existing partitions on the device.

  8. In the Format Disk dialog:

    • If you want to overwrite all data on the device, choose Overwrite existing data with zeroes in the Erase menu.

    • Choose Compatible with all systems and devices (MBR/DOS) in the Partitioning menu.

  9. Click Format.

  10. In the confirmation dialog, click Format to confirm.

  11. To make sure that all the changes are written to the USB stick, select the Power Off this Disk button in the title bar.