Install Tails in Virtual Machine?

Discussion:

Chris

2014-05-06 04:45:39 UTC

Dear All,

I'd like to install Tails in a virtual machine. Tails installer only
installs to a USB stick. Is it possible to modify the installer to
install in a VM? (I'd like to keep my settings persistent).

Thank you in advance.

--
Gruß,
Christian

coolnodje

2014-05-06 05:12:53 UTC

Permalink

Hi,

it works well with VirtualBox for me so far.

Use a Linux Debian(32bit) system type, in Settings->Storage create an
IDE drive with the Tails ISO and check option 'Live CD'

/nodje

6 May 2014 12:45
Dear All,
I'd like to install Tails in a virtual machine. Tails installer only
installs to a USB stick. Is it possible to modify the installer to
install in a VM? (I'd like to keep my settings persistent).
Thank you in advance.

Chris

2014-05-09 03:55:56 UTC

Permalink

Post by coolnodje
it works well with VirtualBox for me so far.
Use a Linux Debian(32bit) system type, in Settings->Storage create an IDE drive
with the Tails ISO and check option 'Live CD'

Unfortunately, this is not possible in KVM.

--
Gruß,
Christian

intrigeri

2014-05-09 07:09:40 UTC

Permalink

Post by Chris
Unfortunately, this is not possible in KVM.

It works for me, and that's how I have been developing Tails basically
forever (libvirt/qemu). Our automated test suite also runs Tails from
an ISO in a KVM. So, I have to assume there is a misconfiguration on
your side.

Cheers,
--
intrigeri
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e***@public.gmane.org

2014-05-09 08:06:29 UTC

Permalink

Post by Chris

Post by coolnodje
it works well with VirtualBox for me so far.
Use a Linux Debian(32bit) system type, in Settings->Storage create an IDE drive
with the Tails ISO and check option 'Live CD'

Unfortunately, this is not possible in KVM.
--
Gruß,
Christian

Tails works as well in VirtualBox on Mac as it does on QEmu/KVM on Linux.
Just define a libvirt domain with an IDE drive connected to the ISO

Edoardo

Chris

2014-05-09 16:42:40 UTC

Permalink

Post by e***@public.gmane.org
Tails works as well in VirtualBox on Mac as it does on QEmu/KVM on Linux.
Just define a libvirt domain with an IDE drive connected to the ISO

Sorry, I don't understand that. What do I have to select exactly? When I
select the ISO as IDE-drive libvirt says "No bootable device". Do I have
to select the ISO as CD-ROM and additionally an IDE disc? Then, how can
I make my settings persistent? The installation tool in Tails seems to
recognize USB-sticks only.

--
Gruß,
Christian

e***@public.gmane.org

2014-05-09 22:36:32 UTC

Permalink

Post by Chris

Post by e***@public.gmane.org
Tails works as well in VirtualBox on Mac as it does on QEmu/KVM on Linux.
Just define a libvirt domain with an IDE drive connected to the ISO

Christian,

Post by Chris
"What do I have to select exactly"

- that depends on which interface you use for defining libvirt domains.
I suggest you get some familiarity with libvirt, which is mostly
command line based. The GUI - whatever is called - I have seen on RHEL
is very basic compared with commercial offerings from VMWare and
VirtualBox (Oracle).

Post by Chris
"Do I have to select the ISO as CD-ROM and additionally an IDE disc?"

yes that's what I do

Chris

2014-05-09 23:43:17 UTC

Permalink

Edoardo,

Post by e***@public.gmane.org
I suggest you get some familiarity with libvirt, which is mostly
command line based. The GUI - whatever is called - I have seen on RHEL
is very basic compared with commercial offerings from VMWare and
VirtualBox (Oracle).

Yes, I'm using the gui virt-manager on CentOS.

Post by e***@public.gmane.org

Post by Chris
"Do I have to select the ISO as CD-ROM and additionally an IDE disc?"

yes that's what I do

Ok, that's also possible in the GUI. But what do I have to do then. Do
I copy the image with dd to the IDE disk? Do I have to convert the ISO
to a IDE disk with virsh / qemu tools?

--
Gruß,
Christian

e***@public.gmane.org

2014-05-10 00:00:52 UTC

Permalink

Post by Chris
Edoardo,

Yes, I'm using the gui virt-manager on CentOS.

Post by e***@public.gmane.org

Post by Chris
"Do I have to select the ISO as CD-ROM and additionally an IDE disc?"

yes that's what I do

Ok, that's also possible in the GUI. But what do I have to do then. Do
I copy the image with dd to the IDE disk? Do I have to convert the ISO
to a IDE disk with virsh / qemu tools?

Christian,
just select the IDE CDROM and click on the CONNECT button and select
the tails iso.
then boot.

intrigeri

2014-05-10 11:45:05 UTC

Permalink

Post by e***@public.gmane.org
just select the IDE CDROM and click on the CONNECT button and select
the tails iso.

... you'll also want to make sure that the user under which libvirt
runs qemu/kvm has read access to the ISO (and "x" access to the parent
directories).

Chris

2014-05-10 16:26:36 UTC

Permalink

Post by intrigeri
... you'll also want to make sure that the user under which libvirt
runs qemu/kvm has read access to the ISO (and "x" access to the parent
directories).

It's booting from CD-ROM and working fine. But I don't know howto make
settings persistent. Do I have to dd the ISO to an IDE-disk? Is there
any way to make the Tails Installer believe the IDE-disk was an
USB-Stick? Do I have to use libvirt tools to make the ISO->IDE copy
bootable?

--
Gruß,
Christian

intrigeri

2014-05-10 19:02:35 UTC

Permalink

Post by Chris
It's booting from CD-ROM and working fine.

Great!

Post by Chris
But I don't know howto make
settings persistent. Do I have to dd the ISO to an IDE-disk?

No, that won't work.

Post by Chris
Is there any way to make the Tails Installer believe the IDE-disk
was an USB-Stick? Do I have to use libvirt tools to make the
ISO->IDE copy bootable?

Chris

2014-05-11 04:03:08 UTC

Permalink

Post by intrigeri
The solution is to emulate a removable USB drive, which is possible in
libvirt 1.2 (or 1.1, I'm not sure). The libvirt doc should help. IIRC,
the corresponding controls are available in virt-manager 0.10.
Otherwise, `virsh edit'. For more details, you'll want to get in touch
with the libvirt user support channels, as this is getting out of
scope of anything specific to Tails.

That's a good approach! Thank you!

--
Gruß,
Christian

coolnodje

2014-05-16 02:59:27 UTC

Permalink

I just stumbled upon https://tails.boum.org/contribute/build/ which
explain how to build a Tail image with vagrant.

Woulnd't it be a good thing to propose a Vagrant box to run Tails in a
Virtual machine?
It seems to me the easiest way to get a Tails VM up and running.

What about faking a USB Drive with VirtualBox and Vagrant?

Cheers

11 May 2014 12:03
That's a good approach! Thank you!
11 May 2014 03:02

Post by Chris
It's booting from CD-ROM and working fine.

Great!

Post by Chris
But I don't know howto make
settings persistent. Do I have to dd the ISO to an IDE-disk?

No, that won't work.

Post by Chris
Is there any way to make the Tails Installer believe the IDE-disk
was an USB-Stick? Do I have to use libvirt tools to make the
ISO->IDE copy bootable?

The solution is to emulate a removable USB drive, which is possible in
libvirt 1.2 (or 1.1, I'm not sure). The libvirt doc should help. IIRC,
the corresponding controls are available in virt-manager 0.10.
Otherwise, `virsh edit'. For more details, you'll want to get in touch
with the libvirt user support channels, as this is getting out of
scope of anything specific to Tails.
Cheers,
--
intrigeri
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tails-support mailing list
https://mailman.boum.org/listinfo/tails-support
11 May 2014 00:26
It's booting from CD-ROM and working fine. But I don't know howto make
settings persistent. Do I have to dd the ISO to an IDE-disk? Is there
any way to make the Tails Installer believe the IDE-disk was an
USB-Stick? Do I have to use libvirt tools to make the ISO->IDE copy
bootable?
10 May 2014 19:45
... you'll also want to make sure that the user under which libvirt
runs qemu/kvm has read access to the ISO (and "x" access to the parent
directories).
_______________________________________________
tails-support mailing list
https://mailman.boum.org/listinfo/tails-support
To unsubscribe from this list, send an empty email to
10 May 2014 08:00
Christian,
just select the IDE CDROM and click on the CONNECT button and select
the tails iso.
then boot.
_______________________________________________
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https://mailman.boum.org/listinfo/tails-support
To unsubscribe from this list, send an empty email to

s***@public.gmane.org

2014-05-19 15:38:41 UTC

Permalink

I just stumbled upon https://tails.boum.org/contribute/build/ which explain how
to build a Tail image with vagrant.
Woulnd't it be a good thing to propose a Vagrant box to run Tails in a Virtual
machine?
It seems to me the easiest way to get a Tails VM up and running.
What about faking a USB Drive with VirtualBox and Vagrant?

It is already possible to run Tails inside a VirtualBox running for the
ISO image. That's how I do most of my work on Tails.

But keep in mind that the build of the guest modules, that provide
additional functionality like shared folders, resizable display, etc.
have been broken for a while.

See https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/5972

That should be fixed in the next version due on June 16.

--
sajolida

intrigeri

2014-05-25 20:36:43 UTC

Permalink

Hi,

Post by coolnodje
It seems to me the easiest way to get a Tails VM up and running.

I think it's debatable whether running a vagrant command or three in
a terminal is easier, or harder, for our target user(s), than setting
up a guest in the VirtualBox GUI. Personally, I'm unsure.

Cheers,
--
intrigeri
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