1 [[!meta title="Manual installation using Mac"]]
3 [[!inline pages="doc/first_steps/manual_usb_installation.intro" raw="yes"]]
5 This technique uses the command line.
9 <h2 class="bullet-number-one">Find out the device name of the USB stick</h2>
11 The device name should be something like `/dev/disk8`, `/dev/disk9`, etc.
13 If you are not sure about the exact device name, do the following:
15 1. Unplug the USB stick.
16 1. Open <span class="application">Terminal</span> from
17 <span class="menuchoice">
18 <span class="guimenu">Applications</span> ▸
19 <span class="guisubmenu">Utilities</span> ▸
20 <span class="guimenuitem">Terminal.app</span>
22 1. Execute the following command:
26 This returns a list of all the current storage devices. For example:
31 #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
32 0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk0
33 1: EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
34 2: Apple_HFS MacDrive 250.0 GB disk0s2
35 3: EFI 134.1 GB disk0s3
36 4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 115.5 GB disk0s4
39 1. Plug back the USB stick and run the same command as before:
43 A new device should appear in the list of storage devices. Check
44 that the size of the device corresponds to the size of your USB
50 #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
51 0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk0
52 1: EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
53 2: Apple_HFS MacDrive 250.0 GB disk0s2
54 3: EFI 134.1 GB disk0s3
55 4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 115.5 GB disk0s4
57 #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
58 0: FDisk_partition_scheme *4.0 GB disk1
59 1: Apple_HFS Untitled 1 4.0 GB disk1s1
62 In this example, the USB stick is 4.0 GB and the device name is `/dev/disk1`.
63 Yours are probably different.
67 If you are not sure about the device name you should stop proceeding or
68 <strong>you risk overwriting any hard disk on the system</strong>.
72 <h2 class="bullet-number-two">Unmount the USB stick</h2>
74 Execute the following command, replacing `[device]`
75 with the device name found in step 1.
77 diskutil unmountDisk [device]
79 <h2 class="bullet-number-three">Run isohybrid.pl on the ISO image</h2>
81 You need to modify the ISO image using `isohybrid` before copying it onto
84 1. Download [syslinux](https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/4.xx/syslinux-4.02.tar.gz).
85 1. Double click on the package to extract it.
86 1. Copy `isohybrid.pl` from the `/utils` folder to the desktop.
87 1. Copy the ISO image (for example `tails-i386-0.17.1.iso`) to the desktop.
88 1. To change directory into the desktop, execute:
92 1. To run `isohybrid.pl` on the ISO image, execute the following command,
93 replacing `[tails.iso]` with the path to the ISO image that you want to
96 perl isohybrid.pl [tails.iso]
98 Here is an example of the commands to execute, yours are probably different:
100 perl isohybrid.pl tails-i386-0.17.1.iso
104 If you are not sure about the path to the ISO image or if you get a
105 <span class="guilabel">No such
106 file or directory</span> error, you can first type `perl isohybrid.pl`, followed by a space, and
107 then drag and drop the icon of the ISO image from a file browser onto
108 <span class="application">
109 Terminal</span>. This should insert the correct path to the ISO image in
110 <span class="application">Terminal</span>.
111 Then complete the command and execute it.
115 <h2 class="bullet-number-four">Do the copy</h2>
117 Execute the following command, replacing `[tails.iso]` by the path to the ISO
118 image that you want to copy and `[device]` by the device name found in step
121 dd if=[tails.iso] of=[device]
123 You should get something like this:
125 dd if=tails-0.17.1.iso of=/dev/disk9
127 If you don't see any error message, Tails is being copied onto the USB
128 stick. The whole process might take some time, generally a few minutes.
132 If you get a "Permission denied" error, try executing the command with
135 <pre>sudo dd if=[tails.iso] of=[device]</pre>
137 Be careful, if the device name is wrong you might overwriting any hard disk on
142 <p>The installation is complete when the command prompt reappears.</p>
144 <h2 class="bullet-number-five">Start Tails</h2>
148 <p>After the installation completes, follow the instructions to [[start Tails on
149 Mac|first_steps/start_tails#usb-mac]].</p>
156 This method was successfully tested on the following hardware:
158 - MacBook Pro Model A1150 with OS X 10.6.8, 2006
159 - MacBook Pro Retina 15" Mid-2012 (aka MacBookPro10,1)
161 The method worked on some hardware but a bug in the video support
162 prevented Tails to start successfully:
164 - MacBook Pro Retina with OS X 10.8.3, December 2012
165 - Macbook Pro model A1150
167 Note that Tails developers are in general not very knowledgeable about
168 Mac. Any additional information is welcome.
171 An alternative method was suggested:
176 1. Source is ISO File
177 1. Destination is USB Drive