[[!meta title="Startup options"]]

When starting Tails, you can specify startup options to alter some of its basic
functioning. The two ways of specifying startup options are the following:

[[!toc levels=1]]

<a id="boot_menu"></a>

Using the <span class="application">boot menu</span>
====================================================

The <span class="application">boot menu</span> is the first screen to appear
when Tails starts.

<div class="tip">

The <span class="guilabel">failsafe</span> mode disables some features of the
kernel and might work better on some computers. You can try this option if you
think you are experiencing errors related to hardware compatibility while
starting Tails.

</div>

1.  To add a boot option, press <span class="keycap">Tab</span> when the
    <span class="application">boot menu</span> appears. A list of boot options
    appears at the bottom of the screen.

[[!img boot-menu-with-options.png link=no alt="Black screen with Tails
artwork. 'Boot menu' with two options 'Live' and 'Live (failsafe)'. At the
bottom, a list of options ending with 'noautologin quiet_'"]]

2.  Press <span class="keycap">Space</span>, and type the boot option that you
    want to add.

3.  If you want to add more than one boot option, type them one after the
    other, and separate them by a <span class="keycap">Space</span>.

4.  Then press <span class="keycap">Enter</span> to start Tails.

Here is a list of options that you can add to the <span class="application">boot
menu</span>:

  - <span class="command">i2p</span>, to enable
    [[I2P|anonymous_internet/I2P]]

<a id="greeter"></a>
<a id="tails_greeter"></a>

Using <span class="application">Tails Greeter</span>
====================================================

<span class="application">Tails Greeter</span> is the set of dialogs that
appear after the <span class="application">boot menu</span>, but before the
<span class="application">GNOME Desktop</span> appears. This is how to first
screen of <span class="application">Tails Greeter</span> looks like:

[[!img tails-greeter-welcome-to-tails.png link=no alt="Welcome to Tails. More
options? Yes, and No toggle button, and Login button."]]

**To start Tails without options**, click on the
<span class="button">Login</span> button, or just press
<span class="keycap">Enter</span>.

**To start Tails in languages other than English**, select the one you
want from the menu at the bottom of the screen. You can also adapt
your country and keyboard layout. When you do that, <span class="application">Tails Greeter</span> itself
switches language.

**To set more options**, click on the <span class="button">Yes</span> button.
Then click on the <span class="button">Forward</span> button.

Here is a list of options that you can set using <span class="application">Tails
Greeter</span>:

  - [[Administration password|administration_password]]
  - [[MAC address spoofing|mac_spoofing]]
  - [[Network configuration|network_configuration]]
    - [[Tor bridge mode|bridge_mode]]
    - [[Disabling all networking (offline_mode)|offline_mode]]
  - [[Encrypted persistence|doc/first_steps/persistence/use]]
