[[!meta title="Configure the Persistent Storage"]]

[[!inline pages="doc/first_steps/persistence.caution" raw="yes"]]

[[!toc levels=2]]

Start the persistent storage assistant
======================================

To start the persistent storage assistant, choose
<span class="menuchoice">
  <span class="guimenu">Applications</span>&nbsp;▸
  <span class="guisubmenu">Tails</span>&nbsp;▸
  <span class="guimenuitem">Configure persistent storage</span></span>.

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Creating the persistent storage
===============================

When run for the first time, or after [[deleting the persistent
storage|delete]], the assistant proposes to create a new persistent storage on
the USB stick from which Tails is running.

1. The persistent storage is an encrypted volume protected by a passphrase.
Specify a passphrase of your choice in both the
<span class="guilabel">Passphrase</span> and <span class="guilabel">Verify
Passphrase</span> text boxes.

2. Click on the <span class="guilabel">Create</span> button.

3. Wait for the creation to finish.

<div class="bug">

<strong>If the creation is interrupted before it finishes</strong>, you may not
be able to start Tails from the USB stick any more. This can happen if you
close the window of the wizard or unplug the USB stick during the creation of
the persistent storage. [[Erase|first_steps/resetting_a_usb_stick]] and
[[reinstall|first_steps/usb_installer]] Tails to fix this issue.

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  done
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</div>

Persistent Storage Features
===========================

When run from a USB stick that already has a persistent storage, the assistant
shows a list of the possible persistent features. Each feature corresponds to a
set a files to be stored in the persistent storage.

<div class="note">
<strong>Restart Tails to apply the changes</strong> after selecting or
unselecting one or several features.
</div>

<div class="bug">
Currently, if you unselect a feature that has been activated, it will be
deactivated after restarting Tails but the corresponding files will not be
deleted from the persistent storage.
</div>

<div class="icon">
<div class="image"><img src="../stock_folder.png"/></div>
<div class="text"><h2>Personal Data</h2></div>
</div>

When this feature is activated, you can save your personal files and working
documents in the <span class="filename">Persistent</span> folder.

To open the <span class="filename">Persistent</span> folder, choose
<span class="menuchoice">
  <span class="guimenu">Places</span>&nbsp;▸
  <span class="guimenuitem">Home Folder</span></span>, and open the <span
  class="guilabel">Permanent</span> folder.

<div class="icon">
<div class="image"><img src="../seahorse-key.png"/></div>
<div class="text"><h2>GnuPG</h2></div>
</div>

When this feature is activated, the OpenPGP keys that you create or import are
saved to the persistent storage.

<div class="caution">
If you manually edit or overwrite the configuration file
<span class="filename">~/.gnupg/gpg.conf</span> you may lessen your anonymity,
weaken the encryption defaults or render GnuPG unusable.
</div>

<div class="icon">
<div class="image"><img src="../seahorse-key-ssh.png"/></div>
<div class="text"><h2>SSH Client</h2></div>
</div>
    
When this feature is activated, all the files related to the secure-shell client
are saved to the permanent storage:

  - The SSH keys that you create or import
  - The public keys of the hosts you connect to
  - The SSH configuration file in <span class="filename">~/.ssh/config</span> 

<div class="caution">
If you manually edit the configuration file
<span class="filename">~/.ssh/config</span>, make sure not to overwrite the
default configuration from the file
<span class="filename">/etc/ssh/ssh_config</span>. Otherwise, you may weaken the
encryption defaults or render SSH unusable.
</div>

<div class="icon">
<div class="image"><img src="../pidgin.png"/></div>
<div class="text"><h2>Pidgin</h2></div>
</div>

When this feature is activated, all the configuration files of the
<span class="application">Pidgin</span> Internet messenger are saved to the
permanent storage:

  - The configuration of your accounts, buddies and chats.
  - Your OTR encryption keys and keyring.
  - The content of the discussions are not saved unless you configure
    <span class="application">Pidgin</span> to do so.

All the configuration options are available from the graphical interface. There
is no need to manually edit or overwrite the configuration files.

<div class="icon">
<div class="image"><img src="../claws-mail.png"/></div>
<div class="text"><h2>Claws Mail</h2></div>
</div>

When this feature is activated, the configuration and emails stored locally by
the <span class="application">Claws Mail</span> email client are saved to the
permanent storage.

All the configuration options are available from the graphical interface. There
is no need to manually edit or overwrite the configuration files.

<div class="icon">
<div class="image"><img src="../seahorse-key-personal.png"/></div>
<div class="text"><h2>GNOME Keyring</h2></div>
</div>

When this feature is activated, the secrets of
<span class="application">GNOME Keyring</span> are saved to the persistent
storage.

GNOME Keyring is a collection of components in GNOME that store secrets,
passwords, keys, certificates and make them available to applications.
For more information about <span class="application">GNOME Keyring</span> see
the [official documentation](http://live.gnome.org/GnomeKeyring).

<div class="icon">
<div class="image"><img src="../synaptic.png"/></div>
<div class="text"><h2>APT Packages</h2></div>
</div>

When this feature is activated, the packages that you install using the
<span class="application">Synaptic</span> package manager or the
<span class="command">apt-get</span> command are saved to the permanent storage.

Note that those packages are not automatically reinstalled when starting a new
Tails working session.

If you activate this feature, it is recommended to activate the
<span class="guilabel">APT Lists</span> feature as well.

<div class="icon">
<div class="image"><img src="../synaptic.png"/></div>
<div class="text"><h2>APT Lists</h2></div>
</div>

When this feature is activated, the lists of all the software packages available
for installation are saved to the permanent storage.

Those so called <span class="emphasis">APT lists</span> correspond to the files
downloaded while doing
<span class="guilabel">Reload</span> from the
<span class="application">Synaptic</span> package manager or issuing the
<span class="command">apt-get update</span> command.

<div class="icon">
<div class="image"><img src="../preferences-desktop.png"/></div>
<div class="text"><h2>Dotfiles</h2></div>
</div>

When this feature is activated, all the files in the
<span class="filename">Dotfiles</span> folder are linked in the <span
class="filename">Home Folder</span>. This allows you to save to the permanent
storage the configuration files of other programs than the ones proposed by the
existing features.

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