Installing Whonix 15 leaves sys-whonix on Whonix 14

[andrewdavidwong]

Qubes OS version

R4.0

Affected component(s) or functionality

Whonix 15 installation

Brief summary

Installing Whonix 15 with Whonix 14 already installed results in sys-whonix still on Whonix 14.

To Reproduce

1. Have Whonix 14 installed.
2. Follow the instructions to install Whonix 15. (Note: My UpdateVM uses sys-whonix for network access.)
3. At the end, sys-whonix is still based on whonix-gw-14.

Expected behavior

Either sys-whonix is automatically switched over to whonix-gw-15, or there are instructions that state what to do.

Maybe it is as simple as changing the TemplateVM of the pre-existing sys-whonix from whonix-gw-14 to whonix-gw-15, or maybe this is dangerous and sys-whonix should instead be re-created, or maybe re-creating sys-whonix is inadvisable due to entry guard change fingerprinting. Who knows?

Actual behavior

sys-whonix is still based on whonix-gw-14.

Relevant documentation you've consulted

• https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Qubes/Install
• https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Upgrading_Whonix_14_to_Whonix_15

Related, non-duplicate issues

None found.

[iprid23]

Well, isn't it logical to inspect the /rw of sys-whonix and see if there are any files?

[andrewdavidwong]

Well, isn't it logical to inspect the /rw of sys-whonix and see if there are any files?

I'm not sure what you mean. What do the contents of /rw on sys-whonix have to do with this?

[adrelanos]

Related:
#6904

[adrelanos]

Made an edit here:
https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Qubes/Install#Remove_Old_Versions

Does it look good? Consider hitting the [edit] button if not.

Can this be considered documented and therefore closeable?

Any further improvements would be covered by #6904 (unspecific to Qubes-Whonix), I think.

[andrewdavidwong]

Closing as resolved. If you believe this issue is not yet resolved, or if anyone is still affected by this issue, please leave a comment, and we'll be happy to reopen it. Thank you.

[DiagonalArg]

Made an edit here: https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Qubes/Install#Remove_Old_Versions

Does it look good? Consider hitting the [edit] button if not.

Can this be considered documented and therefore closeable?

That link is now broken, but proper documnetation is here:
https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/templates/#switching

I am unable to edit the whonix wiki, or I would have added it there, but footnote 4 there does point, in what was a circular fashion, here.

[adrelanos]

https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Qubes/Install#Remove_Old_Versions is now https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Qubes/Install#Notices. Added an anchor just now.

But anyhow. When reading https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Qubes/Install from top to buttom, this is mentioned.

As for footnotes, see:
https://forums.whonix.org/t/wiki-footnotes/12861

I am unable to edit the whonix wiki

https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Contribute#Documentation

We're having many edits from editors with and even without account every week.

[DiagonalArg]

@adrelanos - The relevant quote is:

After the Qubes-Whonix ™ installation has finished, it is recommended to manually change the setting of any App Qubes still using Qubes-Whonix ™ 15 Templates to the Qubes-Whonix ™ 16 Templates. [4]

That points to footnote 4, which points here. I don't see the following sequence of commands, which are here, present on the wiki:

Base the disposable template on the new template.

qvm-create -l red -t <NEW_TEMPLATE> <NEW_DISPOSABLE_TEMPLATE>
qvm-prefs <NEW_DISPOSABLE_TEMPLATE> template_for_dispvms True
qvm-features <NEW_DISPOSABLE_TEMPLATE> appmenus-dispvm 1
qubes-prefs default-dispvm <NEW_DISPOSABLE_TEMPLATE>

That wasn't sufficient. I also needed the following prior to deleting the old dispvm:

qvm-prefs anon-whonix default_dispvm whonix-ws-16-dvm

Not sure why I couldn't edit the wiki. Maybe an addon? I'll look into it.