We are sorry that Tails 5.8 affected many of you so badly.

Thanks to your patience and feedback, we were able to solve most of these new issues.

Changes and updates

  • Update Tor Browser to 12.0.2.

  • Update the Tor client to 0.4.7.13.

  • Simplify the error screen of the Tor Connection assistant when connecting automatically.

  • Improve the wording of the backup utility for the Persistent Storage.

  • Remove the confirmation dialog when starting the Unsafe Browser.

Fixed problems

  • Fix support for some graphics cards:

    • Update the Linux kernel to 6.0.12. This improves the support for newer hardware in general: graphics, Wi-Fi, and so on. (#18467)

    • Remove from the Troubleshooting Mode 2 boot options that break support for some graphics cards: nomodeset and vga=normal. (#19321)

    Please let us know if the support for your graphics cards has been fixed or is still broken.

  • Fix starting AppImages that use the Qt toolkit like Feather and Bitcoin-Qt. (#19326)

  • Fix clipboard encryption and decryption in Kleopatra. (#19329)

  • Fix at least 2 cases of Persistent Storage not activating:

    • When activation takes longer (#19347)

    • When the Dotfiles feature includes symbolic links (#19346)

    Please keep reporting issues with the new Persistent Storage. We give them top priority!

  • Fix 3 clipboard operations with KeePassXC:

    • Copying a passphrase to unlock a database (#19237)

    • Using the auto-type feature (#19339)

    • Clearing passwords automatically from the clipboard after 10 seconds

  • Fix the display of the applications menu that was broken in some GTK3 applications installed as Additional Software. (#19371)

  • Localize the homepage of Tor Browser when started from the Tor Connection assistant. (#19369)

For more details, read our changelog.

Known issues

Please keep reporting issues with the new Persistent Storage and when starting on graphics cards that used to work with Tails.

Tor Browser has no minimize and maximize buttons (#19328)

To work around this:

  1. Right-click on the Tor Browser tab in the window list at the bottom of the screen.

  2. Choose Minimize or Maximize.

Welcome Screen and Tor Connection don't fit on 800×600 (#19324)

The top of the Welcome Screen and some button of the Tor Connection assistant are cut out on small displays (800×600), like virtual machines.

You can press Alt+S to start Tails.

Progress bar of Tor Connection gets stuck around 50% (#19173)

When using a custom Tor obfs4 bridge, the progress bar of Tor Connection sometimes gets stuck halfway through and becomes extremely slow.

To fix this, you can either:

  • Close and reopen Tor Connection to speed up the initial connection.

  • Try a different obfs4 bridge.

    This issue only affects outdated obfs4 bridges and does not happen with obfs4 bridges that run version 0.0.12 or later.

See the list of long-standing issues.

Get Tails 5.9

To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your Persistent Storage

  • Automatic upgrades are available from Tails 5.0 or later to 5.9.

    You can reduce the size of the download of future automatic upgrades by doing a manual upgrade to the latest version.

  • If you cannot do an automatic upgrade or if Tails fails to start after an automatic upgrade, please try to do a manual upgrade.

To install Tails on a new USB stick

Follow our installation instructions:

The Persistent Storage on the USB stick will be lost if you install instead of upgrading.

To download only

If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can download Tails 5.9 directly:

What's coming up?

Tails 5.10 is scheduled for February 21.