How to use Monero, the private currency, on TAILS, the private OS

First off, I'm going to preface this by saying it's (mostly) safe to run a Monero wallet on a non-tails OS, because Monero is created with privacy in mind for every aspect of it's design. The transactions are encrypted so that only the sender knows who sent it, how much it was, and to whom it was sent. The Monero network protocals hide and encrypt everything they posssibly can, including what information you are really getting from the network, so no one can see what data of the blockchain your wallet is really working with. Once project Kovri is finished, we will even be able to connect to the Monero network using i2p (another alternative network like tor), which will hide IP addresses and make sure no metadata is leaking when we connect to another computer.
Secondly, please take some time to read up on how Monero works. A couple hours of reading and maybe another half hour of messing around with the wallet a little bit goes a long way in being more comfortable and safe with your Monero use.

A Monero Introduction for Beginners - Expects user to be technology-literate, but explains the basics of Monero and how it differs from Bitcoin. It explains how Monero is private, how stealth addresses work, and what Kovri is. (15 minute read)

"That's all great, but I just want to use Monero on TAILS so that I don't need two computers and it's more convienent"

Fine, here are the actual steps:
Statements within the "<" and ">" will need to be replaced with the proper statement.

  1. Be running TAILS - properly, on a USB drive
  2. Download the wallet from the offical Monero site at: https://getmonero.org/downloads/#linux
  3. Check the SHA256 hash of the downloaded file against the one listed on the site. If it doesn't match, DO NOT USE THAT FILE, it was altered somehow

    amnesia@amnesia:~/Persistent/Tor Browser$ sha256sum <name-of-download>.tar.bz2

  4. Extract the file and place it somewhere in your /home/amnesia/Persistent/ directory or it's subfolders, otherwise it will be wiped when TAILS shuts down

    amnesia@amnesia:~/Persistent/Tor Browser$ tar -xf <name-of-download>.tar.bz2
    amnesia@amnesia:~/Persistent/Tor Browser$ mv <name-of-extracted-folder> ../
    amnesia@amnesia:~/Persistent/Tor Browser$ cd ..
    amnesia@amnesia:~/Persistent$ cd <name-of-extracted-folder>

5.(cli) This is where you make your decision on what you want to do. Do you want to download the blockchain (currently ~27GB total) to run your own node, or connect remotely to an already running node? Most of you will want to remotely connect to another node, as tor is slow af to download large files and USB drives tend to be a little small. You can find a node to connect to here: https://moneroworld.com/#nodes

amnesia@amnesia:~/Persistent/<name-of-extracted-folder>$ torsocks ./monero-wallet-cli --daemon-host <address-of-daemon>.onion  

5a. You will need to select a working and updated onion address to use for the daemon, as TAILS forces all connections through tor for security (also why it should be run with torsocks). If the port of the daemon you are connecting to is NOT 18081, you will need to include it as part of the address (<address-of-daemon>.onion:<port>), otherwise you can leave it out. At the time of writing, there is only one working onion-routed daemon listed; xmrag***. Please donate to whoever it is that is running the daemon, because otherwise this would be a lot harder to do (their wallet is listed on the page at that address)

5.(GUI) If you wish to use the GUI wallet, only this step is different and you need to run the following command instead:

amnesia@amnesia:~/Persistent/<name-of-extracted-folder>$ torsocks ./monero-wallet-qt  
or if that does not work:  
amnesia@amnesia:~/Persistent/<name-of-extracted-folder>$ torsocks ./monero-wallet-gui  

Then, click on "Use custom settings" in the daemon startup popup and then in the GUI under Settings, enter the address and port of the daemon where it says "localhost" and "18081", then click connect.

If you want to restore a wallet you have already created, add the flag "--restore-deterministic-wallet" to the end of the last command. You will be asked for the 25-word seed you should have written down or memorized. This goes for both GUI and cli wallets.

  1. Give the wallet a few minutes to sync, then your wallet should be functional and ready to use.

  2. I would recommend creating a script with the following contents to start the wallet (do NOT include --restore-deterministic-wallet):

    torsocks ./monero-wallet-cli --daemon-host <address-of-daemon>.onion

Then make it executeable

amnesia@amnesia:~/Persistent/<name-of-extracted-folder>$ chmod +x <name-of-script>.sh  

now you can run it by typing ./<name-of-script>.sh into the command line.

Another suggestion for increased anonymity, use integrated payment addresses with payment IDs as a vendor to keep track of orders. Monero doesn't tell you what address the money comes from whe you recieve it, so it can get confusing if you have many payments coming in that aren't unique amounts.
To do this in the GUI, click on Recieve, then click the "Generate" button to have your wallet randomly generate an integrated payment address and transaction ID (which you give both to buyer).
To do this in the cli, simply run the following command in the wallet: integrated_address
Many more good tutorials on using Monero here: www.monero.how

EDIT 1 Can't believe I forgot to point everyone towards /r/monero . They actually realize the DNM and embrace it as it is the perfect application of the currency. They are a great resource in learning how to use it super privately, because it is the crypto for the people who really like privacy.

EDIT 2 Fixed things a little


Comments


[24 Points] throwahooawayyfoe:

Please donate to whoever it is that is running the daemon

TFW it's OP running it.


[18 Points] None:

Thanks for posting this!


[3 Points] tyblazitar:

Thanks for this!

If the size is not a problem, is there an advantage to downloading the blockchain instead of connecting remotely? Is it something that will need to be continually updated or is it just the one-time download?


[3 Points] fuckuuunoob:

why all sub are talking about monero? looks like promo...


[2 Points] SEND_ME_CALM_NUDES:

This is great info, thank you. If using a usb isn't an option, how can I still be as safe as possible?

(I don't have a computer, just a phone)


[2 Points] tjsmith41:

why is monero "mostly" safe without tails? Why is it recommended to use tails even with a private coin like monero?


[2 Points] Midtexan:

What markets accept Monero?


[1 Points] FuckfuckySucksucky:

What would happen if you ever forget to run the torsocks command before running GUI? Would IP leak?

Can I stop the blockchain download and only connect to the node? I don't have near enough space for that.

Also in the code

amnesia@amnesia:~/Persistent/<name-of-extracted-folder>$ torsocks ./monero-wallet-qt

Whats is: ./monero-wallet-qt


[1 Points] None:

[deleted]


[1 Points] Danny-Fuckin-Dyer:

the monero GUI also works perfectly inside whonix


[1 Points] JustAnotherDrugUser:

Sorry if this is a stupid question. But I tried downloading and am not able to extract the files inside of Tails? What application do I need to use in order to extract?


[1 Points] cardmaster666:

Can anyone help me get this to work? I've been trying for days, and I still can't connect to the daemon. It's very frustrating. Everything seems to work when I put the commands in, but at the end when it tries to connect it fails.


[1 Points] None:

Great article


[1 Points] PartyTime00:

You didnt mention how to download the entire blockchain if we wish. i cant get your way to work


[1 Points] DistractedMostTimes:

My monero has to download a shit ton of blocks at every start.

Is this normal? Even though I don't save the blockchain

It takes 40+ min to get started

Any way to shorten this time?


[1 Points] SuperMarioSista:

Yeah having zero luck with any of the nodes whatsoever. Gonna try the cli version but, not optimistic. By the way once it's working on cli can you just launch the gui?


[1 Points] SuperMarioSista:

OK says i'm connected bu, meanwhile i keep getting daemon failed to start. Not ssure what gives


[1 Points] imunderthesunnow:

I have wasted about 30 hours trying to get Monero blockchain to work with Tails. It seems impossible. One error seems to disappear after trying different things and then another one appears - it's wack a mole without end. This is my latest issue:

Just tried to open terminal and execute the two lines of commands you're supposed to in Tails. Now I'm getting a "Bus Error" and it just stops doing anything.

Can someone please tell me what my USB file system/folders/files (even the hidden ones) should be if the only thing it's supposed to have on it is the Monero blockchain?

I see the a folder "lmdb" with 2 files in it: data.mdb and lock.mdb. Then outside the folder in the main usb directory I have bitmonero.log and p2pstat.bin, .Trashes, .Spotlight-V100, .fseventsd.

Are these correct for use on a Mac and for Tails on a windows computer?
Or would the files/folders/hidden files be different on a mac and windows with tails?

I ask since I'm trying to figure out how not to download the data.mdb file again. I highly doubt it is corrupted. It is 46,947,053,568 bytes (46.95 GB on disk).

I have 2 large enough USB's, so I would like to figure out how to make one of them 'right' and then copy over the data.mdb to it.

I think part of the problem was that the USB with the blockchain was working fine on my Mac where it was created. Then I tried to use the same USB on my windows computer with Tails. It didn't work, then it did, and then it didn't again. The latest was the BUS ERROR.

It now doesn't seem to work on my Mac either.

Is there anything I have to do to use the same USB with the blockchain in both the windows+tails and Mac computer with monero wallet GUI? Do I have to add or delete any of the files/hidden files?

I have wasted countless hours trying to get the Monero blockchain to work with Tails and it seems almost impossible. Are the Monero/Tails developers aware of all these issues? I noticed that some of the same error messages are in the git issue tracker as resolved, but apparently they are NOT resolved.

Thanks for any help.


[0 Points] wucydohan:

Commenting so I can find this tutorial for later & thanks for posting


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