Adding Tails to E2B

Tails 5.1.1 (and many other versions)

For MBR legacy boot from the ISO (DVD) file, use an extension of _.isodef.iso and E2B v2.14 or later.

For UEFI, use agFM and in the Tails grub2 menu, if you have a USB HDD, choose the 'Tails (External Hard Disk) option.

Tails 4.2, 4.6 4.28, etc.

Also see here for UEFI boot and later Tails versions with E2B .mnu support.

Tails 3.16

The Tails ISO can be downloaded from here. You can download via the Torrent or download the ISO directly.

E2B will boot from a Tails ISO on a real system from a Removable E2B Flash drive.

Booting from ISO under a Virtual Machine will not work if the VM sees the USB drive as a 'virtual IDE/SCSI hard disk. (E2B v2.14+ will boot Tails ISOs on both Removable and Fixed USB drives however).

If your E2B USB drive is a 'fixed-disk' type, then you can convert the Tails ISO to a .imgPTN file. Ensure that 'live-media=removable' is not in the kernel cheat code line (press TAB in the syslinux Tails boot menu to see the boot parameters). The latest versions of the MPI Tool Kit should remove this cheat code for you if you choose AUTO-CORRECT=Y.

The persistence option in the Desktop menu system cannot be used because Tails will only create the persistence volume on a USB drive that has been installed using Tails (has a GPT partitions with a volume name of 'Tails' - possibly only works on Removable USB media?) and so has the correct partition structure.

Tails 2

The Tails 2.2 ISO can be downloaded from here. You can download via the Torrent or use FireFox and download the ISO directly.

The Tails 1.0 and later ISOs cannot run with persistence now (unlike earlier 0.xx versions). Tails 1.0+ looks for a GPT disk and an EFI volume labelled 'Tails' (see here and here), so you must make a dedicated GPT USB Flash drive for Tails if you want persistence. If the drive wasn't 'made by Tails installer' then it will refuse to create a persistent file system for you.

If you boot from the ISO (even in E2B), you cannot install Tails to a new flash drive because Tails will only install if it is running from a USB FAT32 drive. This is a real pain!


This means if you want to create a new USB (Removable type) Flash drive from Tails, you need to first boot to a FAT32 installation of Tails (see below).

The Tails 2.2 ISO should boot using a .ISO file extension as a 'LiveCD' as long as the E2B USB drive is a Removable drive. If the E2B USB drive is a 'Fixed Disk' type or you are booting via a Virtual Machine, you will need to use a .mnu file.

The current Tails_for_USB_HDD_Persistent.mnu file will work (but persistence will not), or you can use the new Tails_2.2_for_USB_HDD.mnu menu file (will be in E2B 1.78n):

# If you have a USB HDD (or VM) you must use this .mnu as the plain .iso does not work for Tails on a USB HDD
# Note: Tails 2.2 does not support persistence unless you boot from an EFI partition!
# IMPORTANT: you MUST run WinContig (Ctrl+F2) before booting E2B.

iftitle [if exist $HOME$/tails-i386-2.2.iso] Tails (bootfrom HDD)\n Use if Easy2Boot is on a USB HDD drive
set ISO=$HOME$/tails-i386-2.2.iso

errorcheck on
debug 1
map %ISO% (0xff) || map --mem %ISO% (0xff) || map --mem --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 %ISO% (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
set Q=quiet splash
#for debug, comment out next line with a #
#set Q=nosplash
#set safe=noautologin module=Tails  noapic noapm nodma nomce nolapic nomodeset nosmp vga=normal

kernel /live/vmlinuz findiso=%ISO% apparmor=1 security=apparmor nopersistence boot=live config noprompt timezone=Etc/UTC block.events_dfl_poll_msecs=1000 splash noautologin module=Tails %Q% %safe%
initrd /live/initrd.img
boot

How to make a new Tails Flash drive

This involves two steps:

Step 1: Make a FAT32 .imgPTN file
Step 2: Boot from the .imgPTN file and wipe and install to a USB Flash drive

Notes:
1. Your E2B USB drive can be of either Removable or Fixed Disk type
2. The 2nd USB Flash drive must be of the Removable Type
3. The 2nd USB Flash drive will be completely wiped
4. You must use a REAL SYSTEM because under a VM, the drives will not be detected as a USB drive but will be detected as 'Fixed Disk' types so Tails will refuse to install.

Step 1: Make a FAT32 .imgPTN file

Note: I found a bug in MPI Tool Kit - if you try Clover booting then it 'breaks' the syslinux boot option and you can no longer MBR boot! Please use new MPI Tool Kit v0.064 or later!

1.1. Drag-and-Drop the ISO onto the MakePartImage.cmd shortcut (do NOT use the MPI_FAT32 shortcut)

1.2. Choose FAT32, and type 'Tails' as the Volume Name and choose Syslinux v.6 (otherwise it will not boot!). Say Y=yes (default) to all other questions.

1.3. Copy the .imgPTN to your E2B USB drive \_ISO\LINUX folder (can be a USB HDD or Removable drive) and run \MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS.cmd as usual.

1.4. Use \_ISO\SWITCH_E2B.exe to select the .imgPTN file and switch to it (or boot E2B and select the menu entry).

Step 2: Install to a USB Flash drive

2.1. On a REAL SYSTEM, insert both the E2B USB drive and the USB Flash drive (4GB+).

2.2. Boot from E2B and choose the standard boot option (or Clover UEFI options if you want to UEFI-boot). I used the i386 version and I could not get it to UEFI-boot however!

See here for official instruction from section 4/7 onwards.

2.3. When Tails reaches the desktop, choose Applications - Tails - Install and follow the instructions using the top 'Clone' option.


You should now be able to boot from your Tails removable USB Flash drive and enable Persistence using the Applications - Tails - Create Persistence option.

P.S. After making the USB flash drive, I found that it would only boot in UEFI mode - MBR booting did not work! It may be better to always MBR-boot in step 2.2 so that you get a flash drive that will boot in both MBR and UEFI modes. Maybe you will have better luck!