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Tails 3.x deprecated i686 32-bit support. For those of us that still use i686 it would be good to be able to continue using Tails 2.12 as the final 32-bit version.

However there appears to be no official download for anything but the latest Tails 3.x release (there used to be an obsolete directory at http://dl.amnesia.boum.org/tails but, alas, no more).

Where can I obtain a verifiable copy of Tails 2.12 ?

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  • These are intentionally not distributed, no one should ever be using old versions of Tails since they all have known vulnerabilities. It would not be "good" in any sense to continue using it.
    – cacahuatl
    Nov 3, 2017 at 23:34
  • That's true for those that can use latest 64-bit version, but if limited to 32-bits it would be nice to be able to obtain the latest (final) 32-bit version because that's as "good" as it gets for those constrained to that platform.
    – starfry
    Nov 4, 2017 at 0:05
  • It would be irresponsible of Tails to give potential users software that they know has exploits in the wild for.
    – cacahuatl
    Nov 4, 2017 at 0:32
  • Thank you for the functional link to the x86 ISO. Only have access to an old 32-bit laptop and this saves my day !
    – guest
    Sep 29, 2021 at 9:27
  • you just have to build it from sources by yourself - or switch to another custom installation. I'm sure that your task is more than solvable by the second way
    – Alexey Vesnin ♦
    Oct 1, 2021 at 20:35

6 Answers 6

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For those limited to i686 and willing to accept the risks of vulnerabilities in old versions, Tucows has Tails v2.12, both the iso and the gpg signature, and it verifies cleanly with the Tails OpenPGP Signing Key.

$ wget https://tails.boum.org/tails-signing.key
$ gpg --import tails-signing.key
key DBB802B258ACD84F:
$ $ gpg --verify tails-i386-2.12.iso.sig tails-i386-2.12.iso
gpg: Signature made Tue 18 Apr 2017 17:46:37 BST
gpg:                using RSA key BA2C222F44AC00ED9899389398FEC6BC752A3DB6
gpg: Good signature from "Tails developers <[email protected]>" [unknown]
gpg:                 aka "Tails developers (offline long-term identity key)
Primary key fingerprint: A490 D0F4 D311 A415 3E2B  B7CA DBB8 02B2 58AC D84F
     Subkey fingerprint: BA2C 222F 44AC 00ED 9899  3893 98FE C6BC 752A 3DB6

I also verified this torrent:

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:URMZDBP3K7HYCLXMR5L34CEFAU72H3GV;dn=TAILS+-+1.1.2+-+%28x86%29;tr=udp://tracker.openbittorrent.com:80/announce
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  • N.B. that obviously no one should be running Tails 2.12. For a taste of some of the vulnerabilities you're opening yourself up to getting hacked by see: mfsa2017-12, mfsa2017-22, mfsa2017-19, mfsa2017-16 and many, many others which you can read about on Tails' release announcement.
    – cacahuatl
    Nov 4, 2017 at 20:25
  • Also note that there have been critical kernel vulnerabilities patched since the release of 2.12, so an attacker can get to root by getting you to open a web page and do whatever they want to your system, including connect outside of Tor, directly to the internet and deanonymize you. I really cannot stress enough how much of a terrible idea it is to run Tails 2.12 still.
    – cacahuatl
    Nov 4, 2017 at 20:27
  • The link posted by starfry is dead now. This still works, torrent for Tails 2.12: linuxtracker.org/…
    – user40470
    Sep 23, 2018 at 20:51
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You know, all this talk about "no one should use 32 bit tails" is silly.

First of all, I'm not a child or an idiot, and neither are most others - I know the risks, and they do also, so stop patronizing. A prudent caution is useful. Telling us what we should and should not do is arrogant.

Second of all, tails is uniquely useful for non-web purposes.

It is good for booting a machine and inspecting its disk and resources without leaving a trace. If the machine you are targeting is 32-bit, you need 32-bit tails.

It is also good for disk rescue and recovery in ways other distributions are not, and again, if the machine is 32-bits, you need 32-bit tails.

Thirdly, if all you have is a 32-bit machine, the last 32-bit tails is better than the copy I downloaded two years ago.

Lastly, not everyone is all about Tor. Sure, the obsolete Tor browser is vulnerable, and so too doubtless are other critical components. But when I use tails on the web, I always use the insecure browser, simply for the sake of performance. I'm not a spook, and I don't care about anonymity most of the time. I do care about using a foreign machine without leaving a trace.

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  • I agree with this sentiment. I really only want tails for airgapped PKI setup. TAILS will be quite secure for these purposes. I want to do my airgapped PKI setup on a super old netbook with an atom processor. Either that or a RPi, but, not to many people support live booting to aarch64.
    – zbeekman
    Dec 3, 2018 at 21:30
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At your own risk. You can find it at the internet archive. It is listed as tails-i386-2.4. ISO file. https://archive.org/details/tails-i386-2.4

Currently the Tucows link only shows the 3.5 version

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The 2.12 iso image is available by following this link : https://archive.org/search.php?query=tails%20i386%20iso

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Those looking for 2.12 ISO image can also try the following from the official site https://iso-history.tails.boum.org/tails-i386-2.12/

tails-i386-2.12.iso     1143314432  2017-Apr-19 10:46
tails-i386-2.12.iso.sig 833         2017-Apr-19 10:46
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Build up a QubesOS from source - with -mtune=native -march=native CFLAGS, it will let you use all your CPU can offer, which is essential to 32-bit arch: Intel or ARM. If your CPU is unable to provide any kind of hardware virtualization - then take a look at eBay and/or Amazon for a second-hand devices. It will pay you back greatly!

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