Installing Qubes

Download and Burn the Installation Media

Go through the Qubes Installation

It is highly recommended to follow DoD data destruction standards before installing Qubes to a storage device.
Upon boot, select Test Media and Install Qubes OS X.X.X
Select your language and keyboard layout
Under system, select the Installation Destination and leave it on auto configuration unless you require specific partioning.
Select I would like to make additional space then Encrypt My Data
When you click Done on this section, you will be prompted to create a Disk Encryption password. It is recommended to make this as long as possible while still retaining memory of it!
Save the Disk Encryption Password
Select Delete All and then Reclaim Space (delete’s existing partitions)
You will be redirected to the main menu where you can proceed to Date & Time and select your timezone.
Leave the root accound disabled.
Now create your user with a strong password differing from your encryption password.
Once back at the main installation screen, select Begin Installation
Wait for Qubes OS to install
Once installation is complete, select Reboot System

Go through the Qubes Configuration

Enter Qubes with Hypervisor Enabled
Decrypt your Disk
Select Qubes OS
Select your desired Qube templates to install (Fedora 36, Debian 11, and/or Whonix)
Enable Use sys-net qube for both networking and USB devices
Enable System and template updates over the Tor anonimity network using Whonix
Select Done and click Finish Configuration
Wait for default templates to install. (Do not be alarmed if the installation freezes, it’s still working, please be patient)

Get familiar with your Qubes desktop environment

Log into your user account
The Qube Manager Tray is the blue isometric cube icon in the top-right corner of your desktop. You can manage/view your currently running qubes and their resource usage.
In the Qube Manager, you may create, delete, and manage all your qubes.
The System Menu is located in the top-left corner of your desktop. Here, you can launch various tools as well as isolated application qubes.
Your Qubes Devices are located in the top-right corner of your desktop. Here you can view all your connected devices and provide passthrough to specific qubes (USB passthrough is blocked by default).
The Network Manager is located in the top-right corner of your desktop. Here you can connect to various wifi and ethernet access points.

Setup Network Devices

Open Qube Manager from the blue isometric cube icon in the top-right corner of your desktop.
Select sys-net and shutdown the qube
Once shut down, open the sys-net qube settings
Go to the devices tab and locate your USB controllers (<font color"red">keep this window open until you click ok)
Move each desired USB controller to the right panel to enable them (<font color="red"This is only recommended if you absolutely need access to USB devices such as storage controllers and network adapters)
Click Apply! <font color="red If your laptop has internal USB peripherals (not PS2) such as a keybaord, modifying these options may disable it and could break your installation if you restart. Remove each USB passthrough one at a time and restart the sys-net qube until your interal peripheral works again.
Click OK to close the USB passthrough window
Start the sys-net qube and wait for initialization
You should now have access to your external network adapter
<font color="red"Connect to the internet

Update your Qubes OS

Qubes R4.0 and before:

sudo qubes-dom0-update

Qubes R4.1 and later:

sudo qubes-dom0-update --show-output --console

This command may fail at first, a Connection Wizard popup may appear to configure your internet connection for Whonix.
Rerun the update command above and wait for the systems to update. (These updates are routed through the Tor Network and may take a long time to complete)
Once the update verifies packages, you will need to enter Y when prompted, the default is NO and if you press enter, you will need to restart the update process.

Installing Recommended Software in the Whonix Template

Open the System Menu and hover over Template: whonix-ws-XX (IMPORTANT) and open the XFCE terminal.
Update the Whonix system template

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

Install Kleopatra to use PGP encryption.

sudo apt-get install kleopatra

Close the XFCE terminal.

Installing VeraCrypt (requires a debian-11 qube)

Open the System Menu and hover over Template: debian-11 (IMPORTANT) and open the terminal.
Update the system template

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

Install VeraCrypt to use PGP encryption.

Get the VERACRYPT_DOWNLOAD_LINK from www.veracrypt.fr
Choose the Debian 11 package and copy the download link into the wget command. (<font color="red"Always verify PGP signatures before installing!)

wget VERACRYPT_DOWNLOAD_LINK -o vc.deb

Install the .DEB package

sudo dpkg -i vc.deb

Any installation errors should be fixed with

sudo apt-get --fix-broken install
sudo dpkg -i vc.deb

Open Qube Manager and select the whonix-ws-XX template.
Open Settings > Applications and move KeePassXC and Kleopatra to the right panel.
Click Apply and OK.
Shutdown the anon-whonix qube in the Qube Manager.
Open Settings > Applications and move KeePassXC and Kleopatra to the right panel.
Click Apply and OK.

I2P

Now that you have Qubes installed properly you can install and use i2p! Follow the i2p guide.