Combining Whonix with other Distros.

jackdaniels69 · January 23, 2019, 12:28am

Hello guys.

So i have been reading about Whonix now for a while and how this OS works, especially with Qubes as a combo. Im wondering whether it is possible to combine Whonix with Tails, Qubes and maybe even Kali Linux, so that you have Qubes as a secure operating system, like ground level type of thing, secondly you have it all bootable from a USB flash, where Tails comes in, then having all the internet traffic passed through Whonix Gateway and from this point boot Distros you like, for me it would be Kali or Caine.

So my question is: Is it possible to have like distro in a distro in another distro? And having it all boot up from a single flash drive?

Id be really curious what your thoughts are on this one.

Thank for now.

0brand · January 23, 2019, 2:15am

Its called nested virtulization. Yes, nested virtulization is possible but don’t see why you want to do it with Qubes. My thoughts on this; Almost pointless IMO.

https://qube-os.org/faq/#can-i-install-qubes-in-a-virtual-machine-eg-on-vmware

And why on a USB? Why not install Qubes on HDD and then install Tails in Qubes? Or just use Qubes-Whonix with DisposableVMs?

You should read up on Qubes. Qubes-Whonix. Anyways this can be sourted out as per:https://whonix.org/wiki/Support#Free_Support_Principle

Patrick · January 23, 2019, 9:27am

Everything you mention possible in theory but unsupported.

Tails + Whonix: Perhaps Whonix Live or Disposable VMs are an alternative?

Tails through Whonix-Gateway would lead to Tor over Tor. Discouraged.
https://www.whonix.org/wiki/DoNot#Prevent_Tor_over_Tor_Scenarios
Tails using Whonix-Gateway is possible in theory but unsupported.

Kali: Allow discussion anonymous pentesting in Whonix forums?

HulaHoop · January 24, 2019, 5:25pm

Logical thinking:

Whonix supports booting in a read-only mode which redirects changes to RAM. On well designed and privacy respecting privacy OSs like Linux, this is enough to make sure nothing is written to disk. Here’s your live component.

Whonix is Debian based. The tools in other forensics distros are available in Debian repos so you can grab them and transform Whonix into the toolbox you need without having to run another distro that is not prepared to run properly under a dis-aggregated Tor proxy VM.

jackdaniels69 · January 24, 2019, 7:30pm

I want it on a USB drive because Tails doesnt leave traces on the computer. But is Qubes also bootable from a USB?

So i actually want it to be like this: I want a USB from which i boot up Qubes with whonix gateway, from this virtual OS i want to boot for example kali linux. how can i do that? just install another virtual box in qubes and boot it from there. and if i have a virtualbox inside a vistual box, will all the network traffic from the second virtual OS go throuch whonix gateway or is this saparated?

HulaHoop · January 24, 2019, 11:28pm

Bootable yes but not recommended because it will be too slow.

I don’t understand why you insist on USB when the setup I described is just as amnesic.

Patrick · January 25, 2019, 5:03am

HulaHoop via Whonix Forum:

jackdaniels69:

I want it on a USB drive because Tails doesnt leave traces on the computer. But is Qubes also bootable from a USB?

Bootable yes but not recommended because it will be too slow.

Qubes on (SSD +) USB 3.0 is fast.

0anon · January 25, 2019, 10:55am

I know a developer that first verifies updates on Qubes (installed on USB) will not break his system before installing on his Qubes (laptop SSD). I do the same thing now. I’m not sure what most people define as fast but its fast enough for me.