Silk Road forums

Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: HenryC0833 on July 01, 2013, 01:40 pm

Title: Making Tails USB from within a virtual machine
Post by: HenryC0833 on July 01, 2013, 01:40 pm
I'm a big believer in VM's as a security measure; however, the Tails concept is interesting and so I made a USB stick to see how it works.

My primary computer has a link to TrueCrypt sitting right out there on the desktop, so any dope would know I'm hiding something.  So my plan was to make the USB disk in the hidden volume on my desktop, and then my other computers would stay squeaky clean and innocent looking by using Trails for secure browsing. 

My current setup is this:
1.  30gig encrypted volume on the Windows host machine
2.  TrueCrypt hidden volume setup which I mount at Z: on the host
3.  Virtual box directs to a disk image on drive Z: Linux guest
4.  Using one password, Virtual Box brings up a machine that has plain vanilla porn sites on it.  (Plausible reason for encryption)
5.  Using the other password, VB brings up a machine (vdi that has the same name and path)  that has my Silk Road stuff (browser, bookmarkes, POP email) on it.

To make a Trails bootable USB from within the VM:
1.  Make a shared folder.  Make sure the host folder is in the right TrueCrypt volume.
2.  In VirtualBox manager, click on shared folders, add, and search down the folder on the host machine.  Set it to auto-mount.
3.  The shared folder shows up in linux in the Media directory.
4.  You have to give yourself permission to use the folder by putting yourself into the vboxsf group.  Easiest way to do this in Ubuntu at least is to install the old "Users and Groups" app.  From the terminal, type  "sudo apt-get install gnome-system-tools" (without the quotes of course), enter password if you need to.  And then search for "Users and Groups" app.  Should be self-explanatory from there.  There are a couple of different ways to deal with this from the command line, but this app seemed to work the best. 
5.  You need to copy the tails iso to the shared folder.  tails-i36-0.19.iso should be in your downloads folder.  You should be able to find your shared folder in Media.  If the folder is named "Shared" on the host machine, it will be named sf_Shared on the guest.  In Ubuntu, click on "Home folder", click on "file system" then double-click Media and you should see it. 
6.  After you finish copying the .iso to the shared folder, go to the VM window, up where it says Devices.  Click on CD and mount the trails .iso.
7.  Reboot the VM and it should boot into the Trails CD image.
8.  Put your thumb drive in, go back to Devices, click USB and mount the thumb drive.
9.  At that point, you're ready to follow the instructions in the Trails documentation for setting up the USB drive. 
10.  Enjoy.

Trails is kinda cool but I still haven't decided which setup I like best.  Unless you use persistence, which I don't like, email is problematic.    You're kinda stuck with IMAP mail with the Trails USB which I don't like, although I guess if you're using encryption and Tor that shouldn't matter.  With Trails, if you can keep the USB away from prying eyes you have total deniability. 
Title: Re: Making Tails USB from within a virtual machine
Post by: basedglob on July 07, 2013, 07:10 pm
I think this setup is a bit overkill. Your just making it way too complicated. If you were setting up a carding rig i would understand but all of that is not needed. A tails usb with persistance is all you need. It keeps everything confined into an easily destroy-able usb stick. Its also low resource so you can run it on any computer without leaving a trace.
Title: Re: Making Tails USB from within a virtual machine
Post by: /I_Surf_Worm_Holes on July 07, 2013, 07:23 pm
IDK about "any computer"

I have seen, on one computer, six different usb drives and one sd card fail to boot it into tails.  They were made on that computer, from a live dvd.
Title: Re: Making Tails USB from within a virtual machine
Post by: basedglob on July 07, 2013, 08:48 pm
Yea i ment that loosely. If it failed to boot tails it has to be a problem with bios compatibility. I have yet to find a pc that doesnt boot tails but im sure they are out there. Some do need bios settings changed to work. Hell, out of curiosity i went to the  local library to test tails and it booted no problem. I gotta say the windows xp theme is perfect for an enviroment like that.