[[!meta title="Known issues"]]

[[!toc levels=2]]

Problems starting Tails
=======================

This section lists known problems with specific hardware. To report a problem
with different hardware see our [[report guidelines when Tails does not
start|doc/first_steps/bug_reporting#does_not_start]].

<a id="problematic-usb-sticks"></a>

Problematic USB sticks
----------------------

<a id="sandisk"></a>

### SanDisk

Many SanDisk USB sticks are configured by the
manufacturer as a fixed disk, and not as a removable disk. As a consequence,
they require removing the `live-media=removable` boot parameter. See troubleshooting section about
Tails not starting entirely on [[PC|install/debian/usb#start-tails]] or
[[Mac|install/mac/usb#start-intermediary]].

* SanDisk Cruzer Edge 8GB
* SanDisk Cruzer Extreme USB 3.0 16GB, 32GB and 64GB
* SanDisk Cruzer Fit USB 2.0 8GB, 16GB, and 32G
* SanDisk Cruzer Force 8GB
* SanDisk Cruzer Glide 4GB, 8GB and 16GB
* SanDisk Cruzer Switch USB 2.0 8GB and 32GB
* SanDisk Cruzer USB 3.0 64GB
* SanDisk Cruzer Blade 4GB, 8GB, and 32GB
* SanDisk Cruzer Facet
* SanDisk Cruzer Orbiter 32GB (hangs at installation time but boots fine afterwards)
* SanDisk Ultra 16GB, 32GB

SanDisk had begun the production of flash drives configured as fixed disk in
2012 to meet new requirements for Windows 8 Certification, and ended it in mid-2014. The flash drives that
comply with this certification will have the Windows 8 logo on their packaging.
If a flash drive does not have the Windows 8 logo on its packaging, then that
drive will function as a removable disk and should work with Tails.

See also [[!tails_ticket 6397]].

<a id="pny"></a>

### PNY

When installing Tails, PNY USB sticks have problems with the constant write load
and are prone to failure.

<a id="aegis"></a>

### Aegis

* Aegis Secure Key USB 2.0

During the boot process, USB is briefly powered off, that causes Aegis hardware-encrypted USB sticks to lock down, and the PIN must be entered again (fast) in order to complete the boot.

* Aegis Secure Key USB 3.0

This USB stick doesn't start Tails at all, the USB 2.0 workaround is not working for that hardware.

### Other vendors

* Staples Relay USB 2.0 16GB, suffers from the same problem as [[some SanDisk USB sticks|known_issues#sandisk]].

Acer Travelmate 8573T-254G50M
-----------------------------

Booting from DVD works fine, but does not start on USB sticks created
using Tails Installer.

This problem might be corrected in Tails 1.1 and newer: please report
your test results back to us.

Acer Aspire 5315-ICL50 and Acer ES-1-331
----------------------------------------

Does not start on USB sticks created using Tails Installer.

ASUS VivoBook X202E
-------------------

Legacy support needs to be enabled in order to start Tails. To enable
legacy boot support, enable 'Launch CSM' under boot (menu).

This problem might be corrected in Tails 1.1 and newer: please report
your test results back to us.

Compaq 615
----------

You need to update the firmware to its latest version in order to start from a
device installed using Tails Installer.

Dell Inc. Latitude E6430 and E6230
----------------------------------

Does not start on USB sticks created using Tails Installer.

With BIOS versions A03 06/03/2012 (and A09, A11, and A12)

Error message: `Invalid partition table!`

Workaround (at least with BIOS versions A09, A11, and A12): just hit enter
and it will continue with the boot.

This problem might be corrected in Tails 1.1 and newer: please report
your test results back to us.

Dell XPS L702X/03RG89, Samsung RV520, Samsung Series 7 Chronos
--------------------------------------------------------------

Does not start on USB sticks created using Tails Installer.

We were reported that the legacy BIOS shipped on these systems doesn't
know how to deal with the GPT partition scheme installed by Tails
Installer.

This problem might be corrected in Tails 1.1 and newer: please report
your test results back to us.

<http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19392884/20010995.aspx>

Dell Inspiron 8100
------------------

The display panel will have the wrong resolution unless `video=LVDS-1:1600x1200
nouveau.noaccel=1` is added to the boot command line. This problem might be
corrected in Tails 1.1 and newer: please report your test results back
to us.

Dell Dimension 2400
-------------------

Does not start neither from USB nor from DVD. System crashes with a blank
screen and locked up keyboard. This problem might be corrected in
newer versions: please report your test results back to us.

Fujitsu Siemens Amilo A 1667G
-----------------------------

Does not start on USB sticks created using Tails Installer.

HP Compaq dc5750 Microtower
---------------------------

Does not start Tails 1.2.3 created using Tails Installer.

HP Pavilion dv7
---------------

Since Tails 1.3, gets stuck at the boot menu, whether Tails is installed manually or using
Tails Installer.

HP ProBook
----------

With UEFI enabled, when choosing a boot device, select `Boot From EFI File` and
then `Filesystem Tails` and `EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi`.

That workaround applied to, at least, the following HP ProBook:

* 4330s
* 6560b

Lenovo IdeaPad Y410p
--------------------

Does not start Tails 1.1 from USB installed manually in Linux.

Lenovo IdeaPad z585
-------------------

Goes back continuously to boot menu on Tails installed on DVD.

Clevo W258CU, ThinkPad X220, X121e, T420i, T410, T520, W520, T530, E325, and E530
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These machines do not start on USB sticks created using Tails USB
Installer, due to a firmware limitation.

A workaround for some of these machines is to use the [[manual
installation process|install/linux/usb]].
Note, however, that this technique does not allow you to set up
a persistent volume.

This problem might be corrected in Tails 1.1 and newer: please report
your test results back to us.

<a id="mac"></a>

Mac
---

* Some Mac need [rEFInd](http://sourceforge.net/projects/refind/)
  installed to boot Tails from a USB stick.
* Any Mac with 32-bit EFI may not succeed in booting Tails USB stick
  created by Tails Installer. You can check if a given Mac is 32-bit
  or 64-bit EFI on that list:
  <http://www.everymac.com/mac-answers/snow-leopard-mac-os-x-faq/mac-os-x-snow-leopard-64-bit-macs-64-bit-efi-boot-in-64-bit-mode.html>
* MacBook Pro 5,5 does not boot with Tails in UEFI mode.
* MacBook Pro 5,1 17" (Nvidia GeForce 9400M): one must add the
  `nouveau.noaccel=1` boot parameters so that the display
  works properly.
* MacBook Air 3,2 (A1369 EMC 2392) freezes when booting Tails in
  UEFI mode.
* MacBook Pro (early 2011) fails to boot from DVD since Tails 1.1.
* Mac Pro Tower and MacBook Pro 4,1 (both from early 2008) and
  MacBook Pro 8,2 (late 2011) fail to boot from a USB stick created by
  Tails Installer.

GNOME desktop fails to start with some AMD/ATI Radeon graphic adapters
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Some computers [[!tails_ticket 11095 desc="cannot start the GNOME
desktop"]].

After the <span class="application">Tails Greeter</span> they freeze, or
sometimes fail with the message <span class="error">"Oh no! Something has gone
wrong. A problem has occurred and the system can't recover. Please contact a
system administrator"</span>.

This issue has appeared with the following graphic adapters:

- Mars XTX [Radeon HD 8790M]
- Mars XTX [Radeon HD 8790M] (rev ff)
- Cedar [Radeon HD 5000/6000 7350/8350 Series]
- Broadway PRO [Mobility Radeon HD 5850]
- RV730/M96 [Mobility Radeon HD 4650/5165]

For some models, adding `radeon.modeset=0` to the
[[startup options|/doc/first_steps/startup_options/#boot_menu]] fixes the issue.

<a id="switchable_graphics"></a>

Switchable graphics computers
-----------------------------

Some computers with switchable graphics (such as Optimus) fail to
choose a video card and end up on a black screen. This has been
reported for MacBook Pro 6,2, MacBook Pro 10,1 Retina, MacBook Pro
15-inch (early 2011) and might affect many others.

There are two possible workarounds for this issue:

* For the Mac computers, it is possible to use a third-party
  application, <http://gfx.io/>, to force integrated graphics only through OS X.
  Then restart in that special mode that works with Tails.

* Expert Linux users can also do the following:

  1. Add the `i915.modeset=0 rootpw=pass` option in the
     [[boot menu|doc/first_steps/startup_options#boot_menu]].

  2. Create a file `/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/switchable.conf` with the
     following content:

         Section "Device"
             Identifier "Device0"
             Driver "nouveau"
             BusID "1:0:0"
         EndSection

  4. Restart X with the command:

         service gdm3 restart

  5. After the GNOME session has started, change again the root password with
     the command:

         sudo passwd

For more details, see our ticket on [[!tails_ticket 7505 desc="Video is broken on dual-graphics-card apple hardware"]].

Laptops with Intel 855GM graphic card
-------------------------------------

Laptops with graphic card Intel 855GM (as Dell Inspiron 510M)
crash after Tails Greeter.

See [[!tails_ticket 11096 desc="relevant ticket"]] for more information.

<a id="chainloading"></a>

Chainloading Tails from GRUB
----------------------------

To workaround problems in booting Tails on laptops with UEFI support, it is
possible to chainload the syslinux on the ISO image from another boot loader
that is already working on the laptop, like GRUB. Be careful not to modify at
all the options of syslinux in the process.

The following commands, run from the GRUB shell, might be helpful:

    set root=(hd1)
    chainloader +1
    boot

<a id="wi-fi"></a>

Wi-Fi issues
============

<a id="broadcom-sta-dkms"></a>

Broadcom Wi-Fi network interface needing `broadcom-sta-dkms`
------------------------------------------------------------

Some Broadcom Wi-Fi interfaces require the
[`wl`](https://wiki.debian.org/wl) driver, provided by the
`broadcom-sta-dkms` Debian package, to work in Tails.

The `wl` driver is not included in Tails because it is proprietary.

To find out if your Wi-Fi interface requires the `wl` driver:

1. Execute the following command in a [[terminal|doc/first_steps/introduction_to_gnome_and_the_tails_desktop#index3h2]]:

       lspci -nn | grep Network

2. Verify if your device is in the list of devices supported by the `broadcom-sta-dkms`
package on the corresponding [Debian wiki page](https://wiki.debian.org/wl).
If you find your device in the list of supported devices, then it is
impossible to use your Wi-Fi card in Tails.

Security issues
===============

<a id="memory-wipe"></a>

Tails might not erase all the system memory on shutdown
-------------------------------------------------------

On rare systems (non-PAE with big amounts of memory), Tails does not
consistently erase all system memory as it should.

If no [[cold boot attack|doc/advanced_topics/cold_boot_attacks]]
happens directly after shutdown, the RAM empties itself in minutes,
and all data disappears.

See [[!tails_ticket 6006 desc="More efficient memory wipe"]].

<a id="video-memory"></a>

Tails does not erase video memory
---------------------------------

Tails doesn't erase the [[!wikipedia VRAM desc="video memory"]] yet.
When one uses Tails, then restarts the computer into another operating
system, that other operating system can see what has been displayed on
the screen within Tails.

Shutting down the computer completely, instead of restarting it,
might allow the video memory to empty itself.

See [[!tails_ticket 5356 desc="Erase video memory on shutdown"]].

After using Tails Installer, the "emergency shutdown" doesn't work
------------------------------------------------------------------

Tails Installer messes a bit too much with the USB devices for the
"emergency shutdown on media removal" feature to continue working after using
it. If you believe this feature is critical for the session you're running, we
advice you to restart Tails.

See
[[!tails_ticket 5677 desc="Tails Installer should not break emergency shutdown"]].

Tails DVD eject failure
-----------------------

Pressing the DVD eject button does not trigger emergency shutdown.
Also, the "normal" (non-emergency) shutdown procedure does not eject
the DVD anymore.

See [[!tails_ticket 5447 desc="Fix DVD eject at shutdown"]].

<a id="fails-to-shutdown"></a>

Tails fails to completely shutdown or restart
---------------------------------------------

When stopping Tails on some hardware, the memory wipe procedure fails to
complete: the display gets scrambled, but the computer doesn't
completely shutdown or restart. Sometimes the caps-lock button light of
the keyboard flashes.

<div class="caution">

When this happens, there is no guarantee that the memory is wiped entirely.

</div>

This issue has been reported on the following hardware:

  - Apple when booting from a USB stick:
    - MacBook Air 5,1
    - MacBook Air 5,2 (using a device installed with Tails Installer)
    - MacBook Air 6,2
    - MacBook Pro 7,1 13-inch (mid 2010)
    - MacBook Pro 9,2 13-inch (mid 2012)
    - MacBook Pro 8,1 13-inch (late 2011)
    - MacBook Pro 10,2
    - MacBook Pro Retina 11,1 (late 2013)
    - MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch (early 2015)
  - Hewlett-Packard HP ENVY x360
  - Hewlett-Packard HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook PC
  - Hewlett-Packard HP ProBook 450 G0
  - Lenovo ThinkPad X61, only on emergency shutdown when pulling out the
    USB stick
  - Lenovo ThinkPad X220
  - Toshiba Satellite C855D
  - Dell Inc. Studio 1458
  - Fujitsu Lifebook AH531/GFO, only on regular shutdown, emergency
    shutdown works
  - Samsung N150P
  - Acer Aspire e1-572
  - Dell Latitude E6230
  - Microsoft Surface Pro 3

<a id="fingerprint"></a>

Browser fingerprint
===================

There are currently no known differences between the fingerprints of
<span class="application">Tor Browser</span> inside and outside of
Tails.

<!--

OR

There are known differences between the fingerprints of <span
class="application">Tor Browser</span> inside and outside of Tails:

-->

Other issues
============

Boot menu has display issues
----------------------------

Since Tails 1.1, on some hardware (ThinkPad X230, MacBook Pro 8,1),
the boot menu is not displayed properly. Tails starts fine, though.

Connecting to FTP servers is not possible
-----------------------------------------

Public FTP servers on the Internet are not reachable using Tails.
See [[!tails_ticket 6096 desc="Fix FTP support"]] for more details.

Tails fails to connect to certain Wi-Fi networks
------------------------------------------------

This might be related to the introduction of wireless regulation support
in Tails 0.13.

The desktop crashes when run with the default QEMU emulated processor
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Due to a [bug in llvmpipe](https://freedesktop.org/patch/34445/), when
Tails runs in a QEMU virtual machine with the default emulated CPU,
the GNOME desktop crashes after login.

To workaround this problem, pass @-cpu host@ on the QEMU command-line.
If you use <span class="application">libvirt</span>, choose <span
class="guilabel">Copy host CPU configuration</span> in <span
class="application">virt-manager</span>'s processor configuration screen.

Touchpad configurations
-----------------------

### Acer TravelMate B113 - ETPS/2 Elantech Touchpad

    synclient FingerPress=256;
    synclient TapButton3=0;
    synclient Clickpad=1;
    synclient VertTwoFingerScroll=1;
    synclient FingerLow=1;
    synclient FingerHigh=1;

### Acer C720 - Cypress APA Touchpad

    synclient FingerLow=5;
    synclient FingerHigh=5;

Bluetooth devices don't work
----------------------------

Bluetooth is not enabled in Tails for security reasons. To enable it
anyway, see the documentation about
[[wireless devices|doc/advanced_topics/wireless_devices]].

<a id="browser_languages"></a>

Tor Browser is translated in a limited number of languages
----------------------------------------------------------

Since Tails 1.2, the web browser is based on Tor Browser which is
translated in less languages than before. You can see the list of
languages available in Tor Browser from the [Tor Browser
homepage](https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en).

Playing WebM videos in the Tor Browser fails on old hardware
------------------------------------------------------------

On systems that only have one CPU code, WebM videos may fail to play
in the Tor Browser, and show the error message: "Video can't be played
because the file is corrupt". You can work around this by downloading
the video and watching it in the Totem video player.

<a id="automatic_upgrade_fails"></a>

Tails does not boot after automatic upgrade
-------------------------------------------

Sometimes, after an automatic upgrade, Tails
gets blocked when booting, often after the message
'Loading, please wait...'.

To fix this problem, you can [[update your Tails
manually|doc/first_steps/upgrade/#manual]].

Note that your Persistent Volume will be safely preserved.

Slow graphics operations with recent NVidia hardware
----------------------------------------------------

Graphics display operations are slow on computers with graphics
adapters of the NVidia [[!wikipedia GeForce 900 series]], such as the
GeForce GTX 960.

This problem is likely resolved with Tails
[[!tails_ticket 10298 desc="including a newer Linux kernel"]].

<a id="restart-shell"></a>

## Icons and information located on the top right corner of the screen disappeared

Sometimes, some of the icons located on the top right corner of the
screen are not displayed entirely, or at all. For example,
the icon that allows to change to another keyboard layout
may be hidden. Other information, such as the clock, may not
be visible.

Press <span class="keycap">Alt+F2</span> and type `r` to restart GNOME
Shell, which often solves this problem.

See [[!tails_ticket 10576]] for more details.

Tor Browser search engine with security slider set to High requires a click
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The custom search engine plugin shipped in Tails to localize the search engine
in Tor Browser is still using disconnect.me, while upstream Tor Browser has
switched to duckduckgo.com by default.

Until we update the search engine plugin, users that set their Tor Browser
security slider to High and use the search box in Tor Browser will end up after
a redirection from disconnect.me on a page on duckduckgo.com asking them to
click on a link to see their result without JavaScript.

<a id="vb-apic"></a>

Tails does not boot on Virtualbox 32-bit VM
-------------------------------------------

There is a [bug in Linux 4.7](https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/9357253/)
which prevents Tails from booting without I/O APIC enabled. To enable it:

  1. Select the Tails virtual machine.
  1. Choose <span class="menuchoice">
     <span class="guimenu">Machine</span>&nbsp;▸
     <span class="guimenuitem">Settings...</span></span>.
  1. Select **System** in the left pane.
  1. In the **Extended Features** section of the **Motherboard** tab, make
     sure that **Enable I/O APIC** is enabled.
  1. Click **OK**.
