AuroraOS is a bootable-from-USB Linux distribution in the Tails tradition. Carry it in your pocket, boot it on any machine, and choose at startup whether to persist, vanish, or route everything through Tor.
Every power-on, the GRUB menu asks you a single question: how private do you want this session to be? The answer configures the entire system before the desktop loads.
Files, settings, and apps are written to an encrypted (LUKS) partition on the USB and restored on the next boot. A genuine daily-use OS that travels with you.
The whole OS runs from RAM. The instant you shut down, every byte evaporates. Pull the stick and the host computer holds no trace you were ever there.
All traffic is forced through the Tor network. A firewall kill-switch drops anything that can't be torified, and DNS resolves over Tor to prevent leaks.
Built on Debian bookworm — the same base Tails uses — with a modern GNOME desktop and a curated, privacy-first application set.
Click Download ISO above to fetch the prebuilt AuroraOS image (~2.4 GB). Save it
somewhere you'll find it, then verify it against the published
SHA256 checksum before flashing.
Use Rufus (Windows) or balenaEtcher (any OS) to write the ISO onto a
USB stick of 8 GB or more. This erases the stick — back it up first.
Plug into any PC, enter the boot menu (F12 / F10 / Esc), and select AuroraOS. If the
custom boot menu appears, pick Persistent, Amnesic, or Tor. Default user is aurora
(no password to log in).
Once, from any boot, run sudo aurora-persistent-setup. You'll choose a
passphrase you must remember (there's no recovery). On the next Persistent-mode
boot, type it at the prompt to unlock your files.
Prefer to build it yourself? AuroraOS is built with Debian's live-build — the full
build configuration and build.sh are available in the source repository.
# Inside WSL2/Ubuntu, project root
./build.sh # full build
./build.sh clean # wipe & restart
./build.sh config # validate config onlyaurora-status # show current mode
aurora-help # quick reference
sudo aurora-persistent-setup # create persistent volume
sudo aurora-tor start # enable Tor routing
sudo aurora-tor stop # disable Tor routingNo, and it doesn't claim to be. AuroraOS borrows Tails' ideas — amnesia and Tor routing — but is an independent, unaudited personal project. For genuine high-risk anonymity, use the real Tails.
AuroraOS is a live USB system by design — it runs from RAM and an optional encrypted partition on the stick itself. In Amnesic mode it doesn't write to the host's internal drives; like any OS it can see them if you choose to mount them.
No. It's configured in good faith (transparent proxy + firewall kill-switch + DNS-over-Tor) but has not been traffic-leak audited. Browser leaks, app telemetry, and fingerprinting can still de-anonymize you. Treat it as "better than nothing."
Any amd64 (64-bit x86) PC that boots from USB. Disable Secure Boot if boot fails — AuroraOS uses an unsigned bootloader for now.
With Debian's live-build, the same toolchain behind Tails, Kali, and Parrot. The repo holds the config; build.sh assembles a hybrid ISO.
Like Tails — not with apt, but by replacing the whole system image with a cryptographically signed one. The built-in AuroraOS Upgrader notifies you when a new version exists; one click verifies the signature and SHA-256, then atomically swaps the image on the USB (keeping the old one as a rollback). In Tor mode the download routes over Tor. An unsigned or tampered update is refused.