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Have help in a FAT partition available after Windows installation

Now that we're distributing USB image, could we have a first FAT partition on it that would be visible on Windows and macOS and could contain some help, as text file or PDF, on:

  • Starting Tails
  • Not plugging Tails on other operating systems
  • Resetting a USB stick
  • Sharing files between Tails and other operating systems (another FAQ and reason to plug Tails in another OS)

I understand from https://tails.boum.org/contribute/design/installation/ that it's the system partition that is marked as hidden, not the entire USB stick.

An important downside to consider is that it would make it much easier to know that a USB stick is a Tails USB stick and something else (a broken USB stick) when plugged in by an adversary, for example at a border control or checkpoint.

To work around this, the FAT partition could be made editable by the user so that they could delete it and store whatever decoy documents in there.

Since Windows 11, even a FAT partition placed after the Tails system partition pops up in the Windows file browser.

We've been discussing 3 alternatives:

FAT First

We could add documentation to a 1st FAT partition before the Tails system partition.

This partition would remain on the USB stick after first starting Tails and the system partition gets resized.

Cost:

  • Most expensive as it requires handling this extra partition forever, when doing upgrades for examples.
  • Needs to take upgrades into account. Do we update the help if its content changes?
  • Are there systems that are only able to boot from the first GPT partition?

Pros:

  • Make it easier to know that a USB stick is a Tails USB stick when the user forgets. Same as Con #1

Cons:

  • Makes it easier to know that a USB stick is a Tails USB stick when plugged in by an adversary. Same as Pro #1.
    • Workaround: Make the partition editable so people could delete the doc or store decoy content. Also possibly dangerous if people use it for sensitive content.
  • Adds diversity to the partition layouts in the wild.
  • Most expensive option.

Hide Later

We could only mark the system partition as hidden on first boot. If so, the system partition would pop up in Windows after installation. The help could be in the system partition. The system partition wouldn't pop up after first boot.

Pros:

  • Cheapest option?

Cons:

  • Users get expose to the dirty content of system partition.
  • Easier for Windows (its apps and users) to modify the system partition.
  • What if we want to use Ext4 for the system partition at some point.
  • Not useful to remember which USB stick has Tails installed on it after first boot.

FAT Second

Add documentation as a 2nd FAT partition. Windows 11 would now make it appear in the files browser.

Cost:

  • Much cheaper than "FAT First" but more expensive than "Hide Later"?

Pros:

  • Cleanest option for first time users.
  • Might prevent some modification of the system partition from Windows. This can happen like #17634 (closed) or we might switch to non-FAT in the future #17751.

Cons:

  • Not useful to remember which USB stick has Tails installed on it after first boot.

User research findings

  • This came up twice during the user research on D:Sponsor03:

    • During #18074 (closed), 3 participants our of 5 had a hard time understanding how to start on the USB stick after installing. Having a FAT partition with instructions as first partition on the USB stick would probably have helped them. We already did progress by restructuring the installation instructions in #16808 (closed). We'll test the new instructions again in #18784 (closed).

    • During the interview with Lucas he thought that several of his USB sticks had been hacked because they were displaying an error message when plugged in Windows. If instead, Windows would have shown a partition with instructions, he probably would have understand than his USB sticks were still fine.

    • During #18784 (closed), 2 participants out of 4 looked for how to eject the USB stick properly in the left pane of Finder after installation. In the FAT had appeared there automatically, it would have helped them.

  • During the interview for #19472 (closed), P10, a journalist who has been carrying a Tails USB stick through checkpoints and border controls told me:

    In those places where you might be going through checkpoints or crossing borders, people are more likely to suspect a laptop or a phone, but a USB stick, which when they plug in to a normal laptop doesn't do anything, is quite innocuous and is not suspicious to a lot of people.

  • People contact tails-bugs@ quite often thinking that their USB stick has been destroyed because it doesn't show up on Windows.

  • Someone contacted support@tails.net wondering about the change of displayed capacity of the USB stick right after installing (1.6 GB) and after first boot (8.6 GB). Maybe that could be explained in this help as well if that information is quite visible on Windows, for example.

Edited by sajolida
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