I just installed Tails onto a USB but can’t get the OS to start. I get to a command line screen titled “GNU GRUB version 2.12-9” with a statement
“Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists possible device or file completions. To enable less(1)-like paging, “set pager=1”.
the above is followed by a command line: “grub>”.
Anyone know how to resolve this? I’ve found youtube videos with potential solutions, but they all involve Linux. I have a Lenovo Legion 5 operating on a Windows 11 OS. I don’t want to mess up my normal login to windows on the laptop.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Okay, just to be sure, did you totally followed through the guide here to download image file tails-amd64-7.4.1.img and write it to a USB disk with Rufus, when you first created this Tails USB disk?
I can’t replicate the issue you mentioned on my computer. It booted up just fine.
Also safe boot (I think you mean “secure boot”?) shouldn’t matter even if being left on, because Tails’ bootloader (shim) is signed by Microsoft so should boot on most platforms with default secure boot setup.
@Lind - yes, I followed the guide and wrote the image to a USB disk with Rufus. At this point, I may try a different USB stick and redo the process. I’ll let you know if it works or not.
I’ve encountered the same issue as well.
I was originally using an older version of Tails OS. I’m not sure of the exact version number, but I downloaded and installed it around November 2025.
The older version of Tails OS worked normally for me.
However, when I used Rufus today to create a bootable USB with version 7.4.1, I ended up seeing the same screen as the original poster during boot.
I’ve already tried two different laptops and three different USB flash drives, but the result is the same every time.
May I ask where I can download an older version of Tails OS?
Thank you.
Was the old Tails updated, too? If so, does it still works fine?
If you already have one working Tails USB stick and need another Tails USB stick, please consider using the app “Tails Cloner” in Tails to clone Tails to a new USB stick, following the instructions here
Deliberatly installing an old version of Tails is bad for security, and I don’t know where to download older version of Tails. Tails team only makes the latest version available for download on website, and not every version is captured by web archiver.
You can also try first booting a Linux Live OS (you only need to write the ISO to USB disk with Rufus or BalenaEtcher and boot it, Live OS would let you experience Linux without changing stuff on your hard drive), and follow the instructions here on how to install Tails on Linux. Note you need 2 USB disks (1 for Live OS of your choice and 1 for Tails) to install Tails in this case.
Since the instruction uses GNOME disk utility, it’s recommended to download Ubuntu Live or Debian Live GNOME so you have all the necessary tools at hand immediately after the Live OS boots up.
I encountered the same issue and managed to resolve it.
I am using a Windows laptop.
At first, I used Rufus on Windows to flash the image, but it always booted into the GRUB command line.
Later, following Lind’s suggestion, I used another USB to install Debian Live GNOME and flash it, and it worked successfully.
From this, it seems that the 7.4.1 image itself is fine, and the problem might be caused by Rufus?
Thanks to Lind!!!
Below is the process I went through when I used Rufus to flash the image and ended up in the GRUB command line, where I tried to get ChatGPT to help me solve the problem (but failed). Hopefully, this can help others.
Running ls (hd1,gpt1) on the first partition showed filesystem type fat; all other partitions showed either “no known filesystem detected, partition start at xxxx KiB” or “unknown filesystem”
Running ls (hd1,gpt1)/ showed: efi/, System, Volume, Information/
Running ls (hd1,gpt1)/efi/ showed: Microsoft/, Boot/
Running ls (hd1,gpt1)/efi/Boot/ showed: bootx64.efi
Running ls (hd1,gpt1)/efi/Microsoft/ showed: Boot/, Recovery/
Running ls (hd1,gpt1)/efi/Microsoft/Recovery/ showed: bcd, bcd., log, BCD.LOG1, BCD.LOG2
Running ls (hd1,gpt1)/efi/Microsoft/Boot/ showed many files, which looked like language packs and system files
You now have a Tails installation. You can reformat the Linux Live USB drive, or continue experiencing Linux with it at any time, just remember that all data you saved on Linux Live OS would be lost on shutdown (unless you saved them to another hard disk).
Note that all data on these two USB drives will be COMPLETELY LOST so backup if needed.
Disclaimer: I have not used Grub command line before so take the below with a ounce of salt.
In grub command line, you’re supposed to:
Find the partition that contains Tails EFI partition. Use ls to inspect the partitions you can find (ls then ls all the (hdX,gptY) displayed) and one of them (say, it’s (hd2,gpt1)) should contain these four folders: EFI live syslinux utils.
Change root to this partition with set root=(hd2,gpt1).
(These commands are taken from Tails’ grub.cfg file)
If these don’t work and you’re seeing furthur error messages from grub, you’re better off reinstalling from Linux Live OSes.
Same problem and installing from linux live didn’t work. I discovered that the file system of my USB stick was corrupted with grub reporting “no known filesystem detected”. I know the stick is ok because my previous version of tails was fine. Anyway, I was able to repair the filesystem using testdisk (apt install testdisk in linux mint) and now it boots up fine.
Here is a portion of the log showing the steps I took in case anyone else has the same problem:
Analyse Disk /dev/sdc - 31 GB / 29 GiB - CHS 30000 64 32
hdr_size=92
hdr_lba_self=1
hdr_lba_alt=61439999 (expected 61439999)
hdr_lba_start=2048
hdr_lba_end=61439966
hdr_lba_table=2016
hdr_entries=128
hdr_entsz=128
hdr_size=92
hdr_lba_self=61439999
hdr_lba_alt=1 (expected 1)
hdr_lba_start=2048
hdr_lba_end=61439966
hdr_lba_table=61439967
hdr_entries=128
hdr_entsz=128
Bad GPT partition entries, invalid checksum.
Trying alternate GPT
1 P EFI System 2048 4001791 3999744 [Tails]
Current partition structure:
Bad GPT partition entries, invalid checksum.
Trying alternate GPT
1 P EFI System 2048 4001791 3999744 [Tails]
FAT32 at 1/0/1
FAT: cluster=2(0x2), pos=9888
EFI System 2048 4001791 3999744 [EFI System Partition] [TAILS]
FAT32, blocksize=4096, 2047 MB / 1953 MiB
Results
P EFI System 2048 4001791 3999744 [EFI System Partition] [TAILS]
FAT32, blocksize=4096, 2047 MB / 1953 MiB
Hint for advanced users: dmsetup may be used if you prefer to avoid rewriting the partition table for the moment:
echo “0 3999744 linear /dev/sdc 2048” | dmsetup create test0
Can’t open backup.log file: No such file or directory
interface_load
interface_write()
1 P EFI System 2048 4001791 3999744 [EFI System Partition] [TAILS]
write!
No extended partition
You will have to reboot for the change to take effect.
and I followed the all the steps by the book as