Idea of that entry is to gather all needed informations for person who is considering installation of QUBES. It is a big project, so it is clear that devs can't react on all issues immediately and make easy step by step tutorial for everybody. I planed to write that some time ago, but I wasn't able to gather all needed information and find time to write it down.
Qubes is OS for people who cares about security. I installed it on my ThinkPad E560 in December. From my point of view it was really good decision as templates give me more flexibility than single OS. Last month I installed it also for my wife on her x220. I had few issues with windows 7 vm but now it works flawlessly. There are many opinions and reviews of that system around the network. You can make a google run to find one that will be best for You. Like for example:
If you're serious about security, @QubesOS [https://twitter.com/QubesOS] is the best OS available today.
It's what I use, and free. Nobody does VM isolation better. https://t.co/FyX5NX47cS
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 29, 2016Link to tweet You can find many useful information in docs section
Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) It shows You which notebooks and workstations/servers are compatible with QUBES. You should also check qubes-users google group as it could be there, but not linked to main website yet.
Disks
For QUBES install You should use SSD disk, but in case that You have small ssd and bigger magnetic disk - You would like to consider that method. https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/secondary-storage/
Templates
There is a list of distros that are prepared for QUBES to be used as templates (fedora-23, fedora-24, fedora-24-minimal, debian-8, whonix, xenial, archlinux). An other that needs few modifications like blackarch. After installation of QUBES it is important to install fedora-24-template and set is as default instead of fedora-23. Probably that step won't be needed with new installer. Some hints about templates: https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/software-update-vm/ In case You will make bigger changes in Your template (like removing apps) You should use qvm-trim-template template-name to shrink it to actual size.
HVMS
In case that You would like to install other distro You can install it as hardware VM. https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/hvm/ install fedora 24-template and chnage as default
Installing Windows 7
https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/windows-appvms/ In QUBES You can install Windows 7 and use Your apps in seamless gui. It works well but there are few tricks that You need to know to avoid issues during installation. First You need to prepare iso with updates included to avoid downloading all updates (issues with disk space etc): https://www.howtogeek.com/255540/the-last-windows-7-iso-youll-ever-need-how-to-slipstream-the-convenience-rollup/
Important:
- Working install process is described on github. Last time I had an issue with custom config (not able to boot), so I temporary changed config for all HVMs /usr/share/qubes/vm-template-hvm.xml to fix it.
- Before installation of qubes-windows-tools You should run: qvm-prefs -s win_vm_name qrexec_timeout 300 as decribed here by Eva Star
-
Instead of installing newest qubes-windows-tools You should use older version (new one is too buggy)
sudo qubes-dom0-update --enablerepo=qubes-dom0-current-testing qubes-windows-tools-3.2.1-3
Fullscreen
Default settings prevent any vm from using fullscreen mode, but You can change it if it is needed for some reason. https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/full-screen-mode/
Screenshots
Really useful tool for screen-shots that allow You for example to make a screen-shot and upload it to one of Your AppVms. https://github.com/evadogstar/qvm-screenshot-tool
Ubuntu Xenial template
Ubuntu template can't be included because of restrictions connected with that distro, but You can build it as template for QUBES. Easy tutorial made by reddit user free_dom0
Signal in QUBES
If You use Signal You can have it in QUBES too: https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/signal/
Alternative firewall
Interesting idea if You would like to have light firewall replacement that use only 32 mb of ram. http://roscidus.com/blog/blog/2016/01/01/a-unikernel-firewall-for-qubesos/