telegram tdata on TAILS

Simonsim89 said:

It's possible, but it’s kinda like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, doable with some elbow grease! Tails is super strict about privacy, so you’ll need to use the https://tails.net/doc/persistent_storage/ feature to save your tdata folder between sessions.

First, set up Persistent Storage in Tails (if you haven’t already) during startup, and make sure to select the “Dotfiles” option so hidden folders (like .TelegramDesktop) are saved. Copy your tdata folder into the Persistent directory, maybe under something like /home/amnesia/Persistent/Telegram/tdata. Then, when running Telegram Portable, point it to that directory using the temp-directory flag or tweak its config files manually, though I’ve heard some folks just symlink the tdata folder to the expected location.

Tails blocks non-Tor traffic by default, and Telegram doesn’t automatically use Tor. You might need to force Telegram through Tor’s proxy (https://tails.net/doc/anonymous_internet/) in its network settings or run it with https://github.com/rofl0r/proxychains-ng. Also, Tails wipes RAM on shutdown, so double-check that your tdata is actually in Persistent and not in the volatile /home/amnesia folder.

I’d test this step-by-step—launch Tails, open Persistent, verify the tdata exists, then fire up Telegram. If it still doesn’t work, maybe try installing the https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.telegram.desktop via Tails’ https://tails.net/doc/anonymous_internet/adding_software/ feature (but that’s a whole other rabbit hole!).

And remember, Telegram on Tails isn’t super secure for sensitive stuff, metadata leaks, phone number ties, etc., so weigh your threat model.

Good luck!

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