[[!meta title="Starting Tails on PC"]]

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This page describes the basic and advanced techniques to start Tails from a USB stick on PC.

[[!toc levels=2]]

<h1 id="windows-restart">Starting from Windows 8 or 10</h1>

From Windows or the sign-in screen of Windows:

[[!inline pages="install/inc/steps/windows_boot_menu.inline" raw="yes" sort="age"]]

<h1 id="boot-menu-key">Starting with the Boot Menu key</h1>

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Edit the **Boot Order**. You might see an entry for **Removable devices** or **USB media**. Move this entry to the top of the list to force the computer to start from the USB stick before starting from the internal hard disk.

<h1 id="not-at-all">Troubleshooting Tails not starting at all</h1>

[[!img install/inc/screenshots/grub.png class="screenshot" alt="Black screen ('GNU GRUB') with Tails
logo and 3 options: 'Tails' and 'Tails (Troubleshooting Mode)' and 'Tails (External Hard Disk)'."]]

<h2 id="verify">Verify your Tails USB stick</h2>

<div class="note">

<p class="code">The disc image file is corrupted.</p>

</div>

<h2 id="known-issues">Check our list of known issues</h2>

<h2 id="bios-settings">Edit the BIOS or UEFI settings (advanced users)</h2>

To learn how to edit the BIOS or UEFI settings, search for the user manual of the computer on the support website of the manufacturer.