GNOME Boxes

GNOME Boxes aims at providing a simple interface to create and use virtual machines for Linux with GNOME. GNOME Boxes does not allow the use of a Persistent Storage.

Running Tails inside a virtual machine has various security implications. Depending on the host operating system and your security needs, running Tails in a virtual machine might be dangerous.

The following instructions have been tested on Debian 12 (Bookworm).

Installation

To install GNOME Boxes in Debian or Ubuntu, execute the following command:

sudo apt install gnome-boxes

Running Tails from an ISO image

  1. Download Tails as an ISO image, instead of a USB image.

  2. Start GNOME Boxes.

  3. Select the New button in the top-left corner.

  4. In the menu Create new virtual machine, select Install from File.

  5. Choose the ISO image that you want to start from.

  6. In the New Virtual Machine dialog:

    1. In the field Name, enter a name of your choice.

    2. In the field Operating System, enter Debian 13.

    3. In the field Memory, enter at least 3.0 GB.

  7. Select Create.