Comparison of Whonix-Gateway and Whonix-Workstation

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Whonix-Gateway Xfce VM running in the VirtualBox virtualizer (illustrative image)
Whonix-Workstation Xfce VM running in the VirtualBox virtualizer (illustrative image)

The differences of Whonix-Gateway and Whonix-Workstation.

Whonix-Gateway Whonix-Workstation
Designed for Running Tor processes; Acts as a gateway for the Workstation Running user applications and online tasks securely and anonymously
Connection to other component N/A (It's the gateway itself) Connects to Whonix-Gateway
User applications Should NOT run user-centric applications Should be launched from here (e.g., Tor Browser, Thunderbird)
Network connectivity Provides Tor connectivity to the Workstation Uses either the Tor network or no connectivity; Must start Whonix-Gateway first for functional network connection
Configuration Anon Connection Wizard for Tor configuration; option to connect to public Tor network or configure Bridges, controlling Tor Pre-configured for use with Whonix-Gateway
Purpose Minimal user interaction; Mainly for Tor configuration, controlling Tor, and installing updates For running applications and general use
Link to Tor Directly runs Tor All applications use the Tor network when launched from here
Importance of Startup Sequence N/A Whonix-Gateway must be started first for online functionality. Otherwise, Whonix-Workstation can only be used offline.

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