• For hardware compatibility issues, refer to our known issues.

• To learn what you can do with Tails, refer to our documentation.

• For questions related to Tor, see also to the Tor support pages.

Projeto Tails

Qual é a relação entre Tor e Tails?

Tails is part of the Tor Project.

Tails was founded in 2009 and joined forces with Tor in 2024.

See also our explanation about why does Tails use Tor.

Por que o Tails é baseado em Debian e não em outra distribuição?

Nós estamos profundamente enraizados e envolvidos com o Debian. As amizades, relacionamentos e perícia técnica que existem no Debian têm muitos benefícios para o Tails, e nós não estamos prontos para construir o mesmo relacionamento com o Ubuntu, OpenBSD ou qualquer outra distribuição. Veja nossa declaração sobre nossa relação com upstream para detalhes.

Veja também o artigo Por que há tantos derivados de Debian por Stefano Zacchiroli.

Por que o Tails não é baseado em Ubuntu?

Primeiro, veja a resposta à questão anterior.

• O ciclo de desenvolvimento rápido do Ubuntu seria rápido demais para o Tails.

• Ubuntu adiciona funcionalidades de uma forma que consideramos perigosa para a privacidade. Exemplos disso são o Ubuntu One (parcialmente descontinuado) e as propagandas da Amazon e seu vazamento de dados.

• Ubuntu é mantido por uma empresa que toma as decisões mais importantes e tem o poder de fazer com que elas se tornem realidade.

• Nós geralmente incluímos kernels e drivers de vídeo do Debian backports. O resultado é comparável ao Ubuntu em termos de suporte a hardware recente.

• Nós pensamos que a qualidade geral do trabalho de manutenção feito nos pacotes é importante a partir de uma perspectiva de segurança. Os mantenedores do Debian geralmente são especialistas nos campos dos pacotes com os quais lidam; mas este geralmente não é o caso fora do número limitado de pacotes que o Ubuntu oficialmente suporta.

• We are actively working on improving AppArmor support in Tails; a security framework that is already used in a few Ubuntu applications.

• Também estamos trabalhando para adicionar opções de compilador mais robustas para mais pacotes Debian inclusos no Tails; outra funcionalidade de segurança que o Ubuntu já provê.

Why does Tails ship the GNOME Desktop?

We had users ask for LXDE, XFCE, MATE, KDE, and so on, but we are not going to change desktop. According to us, the main drawback of GNOME is that it requires quite a lot of resources to work properly, but it has many advantages. The GNOME Desktop is:

• Well integrated, especially for new Linux users.

• Very well translated and documented.

• Doing relatively good regarding accessibility features.

• Actively developed.

• Well maintained in Debian, where it is the default desktop environment.

We invested quite some time in acquiring GNOME knowledge, and switching our desktop environment would require going through that process again.

We are not proposing several desktop environments to choose from because we want to limit the amount of software included in Tails.

Instalação

Do I need a USB stick dedicated to Tails?

Yes. Tails requires a USB stick dedicated to only running Tails.

If it were possible to use the same USB stick with another operating system, for example to store files to use on Windows, a virus in the other operating system could corrupt your Tails.

That's why your Tails USB stick is not recognized in Windows and why we discourage installing other live operating systems on the same USB stick.

To store files in your Tails USB stick, use the Persistent Storage. To exchange files between Tails and another operating system, use a separate USB stick.

Posso instalar Tails permanentemente no meu disco rígido?

Não é possível fazer isto usando os métodos de instalação recomendados. Tails é projetado para ser um sistema live, executado a partir de uma mídia removível: memória USB ou DVD.

Esta é uma decisão consciente pois este modo de operação é melhor para aquilo que queremos prover para os usuários de Tails: amnésia, o fato de que Tails não deixa rastros no computador depois que uma sessão foi terminada.

Can I install Tails with UNetbootin, YUMI, Rufus, Ventoy, or another tool?

No. Those installation methods are unsupported. They might not work at all, or worse: they might seem to work, but produce a USB stick that does not behave like Tails should. Follow the download and installation documentation instead.

Should I update Tails using apt upgrade or Synaptic?

No. Upgrading whenever you get a notification from Tails Upgrader is enough.

Tails provides upgrades every 4 weeks, which are thoroughly tested to make sure that no security feature or configuration gets broken.

If you upgrade the system yourself using apt or Synaptic, you might break things.

Our team sometimes publishes emergency releases, whenever important security upgrades are available in Debian or Tor Browser before the next scheduled release.

Can I buy a preinstalled Tails USB stick or DVD?

No, we don't sell preinstalled Tails devices.

Selling preinstalled devices would in fact be a pretty bad idea:

• If burned on a DVD, then this DVD would be outdated on the next release. This means after 4 weeks at most.

• If installed onto a USB stick, then it would be impossible to verify that the Tails on the USB stick is genuine. Trusting that a Tails USB stick is genuine should be based either on cryptographic verification or on personal trust (if you know someone you trust who can clone a Tails USB stick for you). But once Tails is installed on a USB stick it is not possible to use our cryptographic verification techniques anymore. Being able to trust your Tails USB stick is something that we really care about.

Can I verify the integrity of a Tails USB stick or DVD?

It is impossible to verify the integrity of a Tails USB stick or DVD while running Tails from it. It would be like asking to someone whether they are lying: a true liar would always pretend to tell the truth.

If you worry that your Tails might be corrupted, do a manual upgrade from a trusted operating system to upgrade it to a trusted version of Tails.

Navegador Tor

Por que JavaScript está habilitado por padrão no Navegador Tor?

Many websites today require JavaScript to work correctly. As a consequence JavaScript is enabled by default in Tails to avoid confusing many users. But Tor Browser takes care of blocking dangerous JavaScript functionalities.

Tor Browser also includes a security level and the NoScript extension to optionally disable more JavaScript. This might improve security in some cases. However, if you disable JavaScript, then the fingerprint of your Tor Browser differs from most users. This reduces your anonymity.

Nós pensamos que ter JavaScript habilitado por padrão é o melhor balanço entre usabilidade e segurança neste caso.

Can I install other add-ons in Tor Browser?

Installing add-ons in Tor Browser might break the security built in Tails.

Extensões podem fazer muitas coisas com o navegador, e mesmo que todo o tráfego de rede saia através do Tor, algumas extensões poem interagir de forma ruim com o resto da configuração ou vazar informação privada.

1. Elas podem rastrear e revelar informações sobre seu comportamento de navegação, histórico de navegação, ou informações do sistema, seja de propósito ou por engano.

2. They can have bugs and security vulnerabilities that can be remotely exploited by an attacker.

3. Elas podem ter bugs que quebram a segurança oferecida por outras extensões e assim quebrar seu anonimato.

4. Elas podem quebrar seu anonimato ao tornar seu comportamento de navegação distinguível entre outros usuários do Tails.

A menos que se prove o contrário, nenhuma extensão além daquelas que já estão inclusas no Tails foi seriamente auditada e deve ser considerada seguras para ser usada neste contexto.

Should I manually update add-ons included in Tor Browser?

No.

Tails provides upgrades every 4 weeks, which are thoroughly tested to make sure that no security feature or configuration gets broken.

Updating add-ons in Tor Browser might break the security built in Tails.

Como analisar os resultados dos testes online de anonimidade?

Fingerprinting websites, such as https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/, try to retrieve as much information as possible from your browser to see if it can be used to identify you.

As explained in our documentation about the fingerprint of Tor Browser in Tails, Tails provides anonymity by making it difficult to distinguish a particular user amongst all the users of Tor Browser (either in Tails or on other operating systems).

So, the information retrieved by such fingerprinting websites is not harmful for anonymity in itself, as long as it is the same for all users of Tor Browser.

For example, the user-agent string of Tor Browser includes Windows NT but this value preserves your anonymity even if you run Windows NT. On the other hand, changing this value makes you distinguishable from other users of Tor Browser and, as a consequence, weakens your anonymity.

Além disso, verificamos o resultado daqueles sítios web antes de cada lançamento de versão, veja nosso conjunto de testes.

Rede

Posso usar Tails com uma VPN?

Currently, Tails does not work with VPNs.

Tor provides anonymity by making it impossible for a single point in the network to know both the origin and destination of a connection.

Unlike Tor, VPNs don't provide strong anonymity because the VPN provider can see both where you are connecting from and where you are connecting to.

But VPNs have clear benefits over Tor in some situations where strong anonymity is not needed, for example:

• To access websites that block Tor or can only be accessed from a given country

• To use videoconferencing tools like Jitsi or Zoom

• To access private VPN services like intranets or share folders

• To browse the Internet at higher speeds than Tor

We are now considering adding VPN support to Tails, either:

• By adding another browser that would use a VPN instead of Tor. (#19465 or #19942)

• By giving the option to use a VPN instead of Tor for the whole system and still having Tor Browser to use Tor only (#19901)

Para mas informação, veja nosso planejamento sobre suporte a VPN.

Can I choose the country of my exit nodes or further edit the torrc?

Editing the Tor configuration file, also called torrc, to modify how Tor creates circuits can weaken your anonymity in ways that are hard to understand and explain. That is why we don't explain how to modify the Tor configuration file in Tails, for example, to choose the country of your exit nodes or exclude some entry guards.

Still, you can close a given circuit and trigger Tor to create a new one using the New Tor circuit for this site button of Tor Browser or the Onion Circuits utility.

Why does Tails automatically connect to websites when starting?

The clock of the computer needs to be set at the correct time to both:

1. Be able to connect to the Tor network in the first place

   The computer clock is fixed a first time, approximately, before connecting to Tor, either automatically or manually.

2. Protect your anonymity while using Tor

   The computer clock is fixed a second time, precisely, to prevent a website from identifying you by analyzing minor differences of your computer clock with the correct time.

   This second synchronization is made by sending HTTPS queries through Tor to several websites and deducing a correct time from their answers. You can see the list of websites that Tails can connect to in /etc/default/htpdate.pools.

See also our design document on time synchronization.

Can I help the Tor network by running a relay or a bridge in Tails?

It is currently impossible to run a Tor relay or bridge in Tails.

Can I run a Tor onion service from Tails?

You can use OnionShare to share files, websites, and chat rooms from Tails using onion services.

It is technically possible to use Tails to create other onion services, but it is complicated and not documented yet.

Can I use ping in Tails?

It is impossible to use ping in Tails, because ping uses the ICMP protocol while Tor can only transport TCP connections.

Included software

Meu programa favorito pode ser incluído no Tails?

Primeiro, tenha certeza de que este programa já está disponível no Debian, pois esta é uma condição para que ele seja incluído no Tails. Adicionar ao Tails programas que não estão no Debian implica uma carga de trabalho adicional que poderia comprometer a sustentabilidade do projeto. Além disso, há diversas vantagens para um programa que está no Debian:

• Ele é incluído nos processos de atualizações de segurança e novas versões do Debian.

• Ele é autenticado usando assinaturas OpenPGP.

• Ele está sob o escrutínio da comunidade Debian e seus muitos usuários e derivados, incluindo o Ubuntu.

Para verificar se um programa está no Debian, faça uma busca em https://packages.debian.org/. Se ele ainda não estiver disponível no Debian, você deve perguntar a seus desenvolvedores por que ele ainda não foi incluído.

Segundo, tal programa pode não ser útil para atingir nossos objetivos de projeto. Veja nossos documentos de projeto para entender quais são os casos de uso pretendidos e sobre quais suposições o Tails está baseado.

Nós também tentamos limitar a quantidade de programas inclusos no Tails, e somente adicionamos um programa novo quando temos uma razão muito boa para fazê-lo:

• We try to limit the growth of the images and automatic upgrades.

• Um maior número de programas implica um maior número de questões de segurança.

• Nós evitamos propor diversas opções para realizar a mesma tarefa.

• Se um pacote precisar ser removido depois de sua inclusão, por exemplo por causa de problemas de segurança, isto pode ser problemático porque os usuários podem depender dele.

After considering all this, if you still think that this software is a good candidate to be included in Tails, please explain us your proposal on GitLab.

Aqui estão alguns dos programas que frequentemente nos pedem para incluir no Tails:

• monero: not in Debian (#17823)

• bitmessage: não está no Debian

• retroshare: não está no Debian

• rar/unrar: not Free Software

Can I do voice or video calls from Tails?

Not yet.

• Videoconferencing tools that work in web browsers, like Jitsi or Zoom, don't work in Tor Browser yet.

  They rely on the WebRTC technology, which uses UDP connections. But, the Tor network only supports TCP connections, like the ones used for HTTP and email.

  The Tor Project is working on supporting UDP traffic over Tor, which should remove this limitation.

• Proprietary applications like Skype or Zoom will never be available in Tails because they are not Free Software.

• Mumble is the only voice chat application that we know works from Tails. You can use the Additional Software feature to add Mumble to your Tails.

  Wahay is a decentralized voice chat application based on Mumble. If you are a Debian developer, please help us get Wahay in Debian.

Posso fazer downloads usando BitTorrent no Tails?

O Tails não vem com nenhum programa de BitTorrent e é pouco provável que algum venha a ser incluído no futuro.

O problema com o uso de BitTorrent sobre Tor é duplo:

• É tecnicamente difícil de fazê-lo da forma correta, veja: https://blog.torproject.org/bittorrent-over-tor-isnt-good-idea.

• Isto compromete a rede, veja https://blog.torproject.org/why-tor-slow-and-what-were-going-do-about-it.

Can I download videos from websites?

You can install youtube-dl as Additional Software. youtube-dl allows downloading videos from more than 700 websites.

For example, to download a YouTube video, execute the following command in a terminal:

torsocks youtube-dl "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWII85UlzKw"

For more information, refer to the official youtube-dl website.

Can I use Monero in Tails?

Yes. You can install the Feather Monero wallet as an AppImage.

Tails currently does not include a Monero wallet. However, we are interested in making it easier to use Monero in Tails in the future. See #17823 for a list of unofficial guides on how to use Monero in Tails.

Does Tails need an antivirus?

No, as other Linux systems, Tails doesn't require an antivirus to protect itself from most malwares, such as viruses, trojans, and worms. There are various reasons why Linux operating systems generally don't need antivirus softwares, including the permission design of Linux systems.

See the Wikipedia page on Linux malware for further details.

Why does Tails include old versions of software?

The Tails 6 series is based on Debian 12 (Bookworm).

The version of each application included in Tails corresponds to the version available in this version of Debian. Even though some versions might be old, the Debian Security Team provides security updates.

Newer versions of all applications will be available starting from Tails 7.0, which will be based on Debian 13 (Trixie). Until then, you cannot update any of the applications included in Tails to a newer version.

You can see which version of a software package is available in each version of Debian on https://packages.debian.org/.