Make sure that you have installed Tails using either:

[[<i>balenaEtcher</i> from macOS|install/mac#etcher]]

[[<i>GNOME Disks</i> from Linux|install/linux#install]]

[[the Linux command line|install/expert#install]]

Plug in your Tails USB stick.

Switch on the computer.

Hold the key pressed until a list of possible startup disks appears.

Choose the USB stick and press <b>Enter</b>. The USB stick appears as an external hard disk and might be labeled <b>EFI Boot</b> or <b>Windows</b> like in the following screenshot:

Then you have to change the settings of the <em>Startup Security Utility</em> of your Mac to authorize starting from Tails.

To open <em>Startup Security Utility</em>:

Turn on your Mac, then press and hold <strong>Command(⌘)+R</strong> immediately after you see the Apple logo. Your Mac starts up from <a href="https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201314">macOS Recovery</a>.

When you see the macOS <em>Utilities</em> window, choose <strong>Utilities&nbsp;▸ Startup Security Utility</strong> from the menu bar.

In the <em>Startup Security Utility</em>:

<a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208198">Startup Security Utility</a>

The <b>Troubleshooting Mode</b> entry disables some features of the Linux kernel and might work better on some computers. You can try this option if you think you are experiencing hardware compatibility errors while starting Tails.

The <b>External Hard Disk</b> entry makes it possible to [[start from an external hard disk|doc/advanced_topics/external_hard_disk]] and some [[problematic USB sticks|support/known_issues#problematic-usb-stick]].