[[!meta title="Enable & use the persistent volume"]]

[[!inline pages="doc/first_steps/persistence.caution" raw="yes"]]

[[!toc levels=1]]

Enable the persistent volume
============================

1. When starting Tails, in the
<span class="guilabel">Use persistence?</span> dialog of [[Tails
Greeter|startup_options#tails_greeter]], choose <span class="guilabel">Yes</span> to
enable the persistent volume for the current working session.

2. Enter the passphrase of the persistent volume in the
<span class="guilabel">Passphrase</span> text box.

3. If you select the <span class="guilabel">Read-Only</span> check box, the
content of persistent volume will be available and you will be able to modify
it but the changes will not be saved.

Use the persistent volume
=========================

To open the <span class="filename">Persistent</span> folder and access your
personal files and working documents, choose 
<span class="menuchoice">
  <span class="guimenu">Places</span>&nbsp;▸
  <span class="guimenuitem">Persistent</span></span>.

For advanced users, to access the internal content of the persistent volume
choose
<span class="menuchoice">
  <span class="guimenu">Places</span>&nbsp;▸
  <span class="guimenuitem">Computer</span></span>, and open the folders
  <span class="filename">live</span>&nbsp;▸
  <span class="filename">persistence</span>&nbsp;▸
  <span class="filename">TailsData_unlocked</span>.
