[[!meta title="Running Tails in a virtual machine"]]

It is sometimes convenient to be able to run Tails without having to restart your computer every time. This is possible using [[!wikipedia Virtual_machine desc="virtual machines"]].

With virtual machines, it is possible to run Tails inside a *host* operating system. A virtual machine emulates a real computer and its operating system, called a *guest*, which appears in a window on the *host* operating system.

<p>Because, <i>VirtualBox</i> works pretty badly with Tails, we stopped
advertising solutions for using virtual machines in Windows or macOS.</p>

<p>We only present below 2 solutions for Linux: <i>GNOME Boxes</i> and
<i>virt-manager</i>.</p>

When running Tails in a virtual machine, you can use most features of Tails from your usual operating system, and you can use both Tails and your usual operating system in parallel, without the need to restart the computer.

<p>We do not currently provide a solution for running a virtual machine
inside a Tails host.</p>

This is how Tails looks when run in a virtual machine on a Debian host.

Security considerations

<p>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.</p>

Both the host operating system and the [[virtualization software|virtualization#software]] are able to monitor what you are doing in Tails.

If the host operating system is compromised with a software
keylogger or other malware, then it can break the security built into
Tails.

<p>Only run Tails in a virtual machine if both the host operating
system and the virtualization software are trustworthy.</p>

<p>For example, when using virtual machines in Windows, <a
href="https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/retrace-your-steps-with-recall-aa03f8a0-a78b-4b3e-b0a1-2eb8ac48701c"><i>Microsoft
Recall</i></a> might be taking regular screenshots of your activity.</p>

Traces of your Tails session are likely to be left on the local hard disk. For example, host operating systems usually use swapping (or *paging*) which copies part of the RAM to the hard disk.

<p>Only run Tails in a virtual machine if leaving traces on the hard disk
is not a concern for you.</p>

This is why Tails warns you when it is running inside a virtual machine.

<p>The Tails virtual machine does not modify the behavior of the host
operating system and the network traffic of the host is not anonymized. The MAC
address of the computer is not modified by the [[MAC address
anonymization|first_steps/welcome_screen/mac_spoofing]] feature of Tails
when run in a virtual machine.</p>

Virtualization solutions

To run Tails inside a virtual machine, you need to have virtualization software installed on the host operating system. Different virtualization software exists for Linux, Windows, and macOS. Unfortunately, we only know of virtualization solutions for Linux that work well with Tails.