Re: [Tails-dev] Macbook Air EFI fixed

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Author: sajolida
Date:  
To: The Tails public development discussion list, thekubiaks1
Subject: Re: [Tails-dev] Macbook Air EFI fixed
Alan Kubiak:
> There is supposedly a bug with booting Tails on Macbook Air or Macbook
> Pro due to an EFI issue.


Hi Alan, and thanks for reporting your findings.

Booting Tails on Mac is high depends on the actual Mac version. And
that's what makes supporting Mac so painful, their hardware
compatibility changes all the time.

See https://tails.boum.org/support/known_issues#index14h2 for what we
know so far. But we're also sometimes reported total success on Mac!

> According to your support channel, you
> recommend a program to install the Tails ISO on a USB drive.


Which one? Our documentation mentions the `dd` command which does an
exact copy of the ISO onto the USB stick for Mac.

See https://tails.boum.org/doc/first_steps/installation/manual/mac.html

But this method is only a bootstrapping method to get a temporary Tails
installed on the USB stick and as a way of then running Tails Installer
from that onto a second USB stick.

See https://tails.boum.org/doc/first_steps/installation.html

Note that we very much insist on people using Tails Installer because it
is the only technique that provides:

- Persistence volume.
See https://tails.boum.org/doc/first_steps/persistence.html
- Automatic upgrades.
See httos://tails.boum.org/doc/first_steps/upgrade.html

> The
> recommended program does create a Tails/USB drive but it wont boot on a
> Macbook.


Are you using one of the models mentioned on our known issue page?

> The solution is to use a different program called Rufus 2.0 to create
> the bootable USB drive from the Tails ISO. Simply format as FAT32 and
> install the ISO from RUFUS. When booting from the Mac, just boot the
> Tails USB drive from the BIOS.


Does Rufus work on Mac? It don't see that on their homepage but that
would be interesting.

Once you're on that Tails installed from Rufus, can you try to install a
second USB stick using Tails Installer. Do it boots?

--
sajolida