How to use a Monero wallet on Tails
An amnesic live system and a non-custodial Monero wallet are a strong privacy pair — if you decide up front where the seed lives. Here are both setups.
Why Tails and Monero fit together
Tails is an amnesic live operating system: it boots from a USB stick, routes everything through Tor and forgets the machine when you shut it down. A non-custodial Monero wallet adds private transactions on top — but the two together force one decision you cannot skip: where does the wallet and the seed phrase live, given that everything else disappears at reboot?
Two valid setups
Setup A — maximum amnesia (seed on paper only)
- Boot Tails, connect to the network (Tor is on by default).
- Get the wallet binary inside Tails — the project's own site serves downloads over Tor.
- Run it and restore your wallet from the paper seed phrase every session.
- Do what you came for, then shut down. Nothing remains on the USB stick except Tails itself.
Pros: no wallet file ever exists on disk; a seized USB contains nothing about your funds.
Cons: you must type 16 or 25 words each session, and the wallet re-syncs the chain every time (a few minutes).
Setup B — persistent storage (encrypted wallet file)
- Boot Tails and enable Persistent Storage in the welcome screen, with an encryption passphrase you actually remember.
- Create a folder under the persistent volume for wallet binaries and files.
- Install or copy the wallet there, create or restore your wallet once.
- Next session the wallet is already there — unlock with your file password.
Pros: usable every day; the wallet file is encrypted at rest inside the persistent volume.
Cons: the persistence volume is now the crown jewel — lose the USB and an attacker has an offline target. Use a strong persistent-storage passphrase and a strong wallet password together.
The rules that actually matter
- The seed never goes into persistence unless it is clearly marked and encrypted — best practice is paper only, stored physically apart from the USB stick.
- Verify the wallet binary. Downloading software on an amnesic system does not remove the need to check signatures; a fake binary would defeat the whole point.
- Keep Tails updated. The amnesia is the OS's job; an outdated Tails is a known Tails.
- Sync expectations. With a paper-seed restore each session, use a remote node over Tor instead of syncing your own — see node vs remote node.
- Clipboard and screenshots. Tails isolates the clipboard per window and screenshots can capture your seed — never take one while the phrase is on screen.
What Tails does not protect you from
It does not protect against a compromised download, a phishing copy of a wallet site, or your own exposure of the seed. Browser-based usage deserves extra care: always type the wallet address manually or use a bookmark — the Monero wallet FAQ lists the standard rules.
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