en	[[!meta robots="noindex"]]

en	Install

en	[[!img inc/infography/install-etcher.png link="no" alt=""]] [[!img inc/infography/install-etcher-with-intermediary.png link="no" alt=""]]

en	In the following steps, you will install an intermediary Tails using the Tails USB image that you downloaded earlier.

en	balenaEtcher is the Free Software tool that we recommend to install Tails from macOS.

en	<div class="attack">

en	We [[stopped recommending|news/rufus]] balenaEtcher to install Tails from Windows in 2025 because balenaEtcher shares [[!tails_ticket 16381 desc="sensitive information"]] to the Balena company that allows identifying who is installing Tails.

en	We have not updated our installation instructions for macOS yet.

en	If you are worried about being identified as a Tails user, you can instead:

en	[[!toggle id="dd" text="Install Tails using `dd` on the command line"]]. Install Tails using Raspberry Pi Imager.

en	</div>

en	[[!toggleable id="dd" text="""

en	[[!toggle id="dd" text=""""""]]

en	Make sure that your USB stick is unplugged.

en	Open the **Terminal** utility from **Applications&nbsp;▸ Utilities**.

en	Execute the following command.

en	diskutil list

en	It returns a list of the storage devices on the system. For example:

en	/dev/disk0 #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER 0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk0 1: EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1 2: Apple_HFS MacDrive 250.0 GB disk0s2 3: EFI 134.1 GB disk0s3 4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 115.5 GB disk0s4

en	Plug your USB stick into the computer.

en	Execute again the same command.

en	Your USB stick appears as a new device in the list. Check that its size corresponds to the size of your USB stick.

en	/dev/disk1 #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER 0: FDisk_partition_scheme *8.0 GB disk1 1: Apple_HFS Untitled 1 8.0 GB disk1s1

en	Take note of the device name of your USB stick.

en	In this example, the USB stick is 8.0 GB and its device name is /dev/disk1. Yours might be different.

en	<div class="caution">

en	You might overwrite any hard disk on the computer.

en	If you are not sure about the device, stop proceeding.

en	</div>

en	Execute the following command to safely eject the USB stick. Replace device with the device name found in step 6.

en	diskutil unmountDisk device

en	Execute the following commands to copy the USB image that you downloaded earlier to the USB stick. Replace:

en	tails.img with the path to the USB image

en	If you are unsure about the path to the USB image, you can insert the correct path by dragging and dropping the icon of the USB image from Finder onto Terminal.

en	device with the device name found in step 6

en	You can try adding r before disk to make the installation faster.

en	<p class="command-template">dd if=<span class="command-placeholder">tails.img</span> of=<span class="command-placeholder">device</span> bs=16m && sync</p>

en	You should get something like this:

en	<p class="command-template">dd if=/Users/me/tails-amd64-3.12.img of=/dev/rdisk9 bs=16m && sync</p>

en	If no error message is returned, Tails is being copied on the USB stick. The copy takes some time, generally a few minutes.

en	<div class="note"> <p>If you get a <code>Permission denied</code> error, try adding <code>sudo</code> at the beginning of the command:</p>

en	<p class="command-template">sudo dd if=<span class="command-placeholder">tails.img</span> of=<span class="command-placeholder">device</span> bs=16m && sync</p>

en	If you get an invalid number ‘16m’ error, try using 16M instead:

en	<p class="command-template">dd if=<span class="command-placeholder">tails.img</span> of=<span class="command-placeholder">device</span> bs=16M && sync</p>

en	The installation is complete when the command prompt reappears.

en	Click on the following button to download :

en	[[Download balenaEtcher for macOS|https://tails.net/etcher/balenaEtcher.dmg]]

en	Save your download to your usual *Downloads* folder and not to the USB stick.

en	Open the *balenaEtcher* download (DMG disk image).

en	[[!img install/inc/screenshots/install_etcher_in_mac.png class="screenshot" alt=""]]
id	[[!inline pages="install/inc/steps/install_with_etcher.inline.id" raw="yes" sort="age"]]

en	To install *balenaEtcher*, drag the *balenaEtcher* icon onto the **Applications** icon.

en	Close the installation window of *balenaEtcher*.

en	Optionally, eject the disk image of *balenaEtcher* from the sidebar of *Finder*.

en	Install an intermediary Tails using

en	[[!img install/inc/infography/install-tails.png link="no" alt=""]] [[!img install/inc/infography/install-upgrade-usb-only.png link="no" alt=""]]

en	Open Finder and choose balenaEtcher in Applications.

en	At the security warning, confirm that you want to open *balenaEtcher*.

en	*balenaEtcher* starts.

en	[[!img install/inc/screenshots/etcher_in_mac.png class="mac upgrade-mac screenshot" alt=""]]
id	[[!inline pages="install/inc/steps/install_with_etcher.inline.id" raw="yes" sort="age"]]

en	Plug in the USB stick on which you want to install Tails. the intermediary Tails.

en	All the data on this USB stick will be lost.

en	Some data might still be recovered using advanced forensics tools.

en	The Persistent Storage of your Tails USB stick will not be copied to the temporary Tails.

en	Click the **Flash from file** button.

en	Choose the USB image that you downloaded earlier.

en	<div class="note"> <p>Make sure that the USB image is called <i>[[!inline pages="inc/stable_amd64_img_filename" raw="yes" sort="age"]]</i> and has an <i>.img</i> file extension.</p>

en	<p>If the image has an <i>.iso</i> file extension, it is the wrong image. Please go back to the <span class="mac">[[download step|mac#download]].</span> <span class="upgrade-mac">[[download step|doc/upgrade/mac#download]].</span></p> </div>

en	Click the **Select target** button to select your USB stick.

en	Click **Flash**.

en	Enter your password if you are asked for it.

en	The installation takes a few minutes.

en	After installing Tails, *balenaEtcher* verifies the installation.

en	If the verification of balenaEtcher fails, try to install again or try using a different USB stick.

en	Close *balenaEtcher*.

en	If a notification about the USB stick not being readable appears, click Eject to eject the USB stick.