[NEED HELP] USB Bootable Decoy OS + Hidden OS and Truecrypt

Hey guys,

My plan was to have a USB with two different OS on. The decoy OS (Windows XP) which I will be using with portableapps.com for office work and when I'm away from home. The Hidden OS I want to install is Tails.

When I plugin my USB drive on any computer I want it to boot up on the decoy OS where I need to write my password for the encrypted decoy OS. And also if I write the Hidden OS password it will boot to the hidden os which is Tails instead of Windows XP.

Will this make it impossible to for another people to see that I have the Hidden OS Tails installed also on the USB?

Can anyone help me with a guide for this?

Thanks in advance

 

I have done something similar with a Linux/Windows combo *installed on a hard drive*. You partition the disk in two, install Windows to the first partition, and then install Linux to the second partition *with /boot on a separate device that you boot to through the BIOS*.

Now, trying this on a *USB* could get tricky (and I've never done it, other than installing Linux to a USB3 drive).

1. Can a USB be partitioned with multiple partitions? (GParted may help here).

2. Can Tails be told where to put /boot? Even If so, you now need *two* external devices.

3. No Linux install is "Hidden". The LUKS header is identifiable. *Plain* dm-crypt, I think, looks like random data, but you lose all LUKS benefits - *And I don't think Tails allows this much granularity*.

I think you will be the guinea pig on this one, unless the Linux experts chime in with something different. And I don't really think you can hide the Linux portion anyway.

Edit: Oh, and I think trying to use TC on the Decoy is unnecessarily going to complicate things (if this can even be done in the first place). It's a decoy, and you're going to give it away anyway - why encrypt it? I don't think you are going to bank, etc... on the decoy - just let it boot when you hit the power button.

 

Thanks for your reply!

Im very new to this so there is somethings I don't understand.

This is my use case: I want Windows XP as decoy os where I will still store passwords to different websites and I want to install Portableapps on it so everytime I'm at the university I can plug my decoy os in a computer and use the programs I use at my home computer.

Then I want Trails to be hidden from others. Since I have some really important business that should only be running in that OS with TOR etc.

This is meant to be a portable solution I can store on me everytime I go out of the house.

So basicly it is not possible to have two encrypted OS on a single USB?

Also, if you where in my situation how will you handle this situation?

 

Hmm I found Whonix which is also a anonymous os but it should be runned as a virtual pc.

So I can install Windows XP on the USB as host. Then encrypt whole USB drive so everytime I try to boot Windows XP i need to place my Truecrypt password. Then install what ever programs I need to use for Windows XP like Portableapps.com -> Password manager programs, Bookmarks for webpages etc. And then install portable virtualbox inside a encrypted drive on the Windows XP and access the anonymous os from the virtualbox drive which is encrypted inside the encrypted Windows XP.

Make sense?

 

I would handle it this way:

Carry 2 tiny 32/64GB USBs on a neck lanyard. Install each OS on each drive. Better yet, Use MicroSD cards in USB adapters.

I don't know how usability would be on USB2 or MicroSD - most USB installs these days prefer USB3.

Kicker: Can you boot off USB (ie. restart the machines and get a boot menu through F8, etc...) ***on these public machines***

 

Novus,

The problem with your solution is that it will NOT be a hidden OS. If you were forced to open the encrypted flash drive using XP, then the use of virtualbox and your other OS would be evident. Analysis of the XP OS on the flash (due to massive windows trails) would "sell you out". The hidden OS feature of TC is far superior because no adversary can prove its existence unless there is operator error involved. The other suggestion for two separate flash drives also has that liability as well. You cannot accomplish what you want using a single flash drive because TC's hidden OS is only available on the windows platform and a flash can only have ONE partition using windows.

What you want would be a walk in the park with a usb external drive however because windows will allow multiple paritions on those.