Can't open Tor once installed from software

Hardware
1

I have just got my Librem 15 . I have downloaded Tor from within the software but cannot open it .
Do I need to put any commands in terminal or download anything else? Confused

2

I am answering as no one did so far even though I don’t know PureOS that well.

Are you familiar with Linux overall? Installing software/libraries usually doesn’t involve download from website (can be done but is not the best way) but use a package manager. PureOS being based on Debian uses apt as default package manager so you can install tor with a command (in a terminal) : sudo apt install tor (should be already installed).

Notice that PureBrowser is not setup to use Tor by default so you’ll have to change that too (I am guessing this is the same way as firefox so look for that in google, it is about setting a SOCKS proxy to localhost, aka yourself, on port 9050).

EDIT : tried quickly on Debian it is quiet easy -> at the very bottom of general option go in the settings of Network proxy. Then choose Manual Proxy and in SOCKS Host type localhost with port at 9050

1 Like
3

Thanks for the info
I’m not familiar with linux , this is my first linux laptop and I’ve had it for only a few days.
I did download Tor from within the pureos software tab
On mine I went to setting> network ( mine doesn’t have general options) and then changed the network proxy to manual and typed in local host and 9050 . It still won’t open though. Thanks again , its quite frustrating not to be able to find any help

4

Hi @david,

This forum is mostly browsed by Purism customers. Nobody has knowledge of every problem one can encounter :slight_smile:

In order to get more answers, you need to be very specific regarding what you did (e.g. what commands you input in your terminal), provide logs, etc.

Keep in mind that PureOS is Debian-based. You may find a wider community and a more reactive support on Debian forums if nobody answers you as fast as you would have expected here. We’re a community, not Purism official support, and they can’t support every software that you run on your laptop either :wink:

5

It is locahost (one word), and I am not sure about “it won’t open” as you will just browse internet as usual (checking my ip on google will reveal that you are indeed using the tor browser)

6

Thanks guys
I am a purism customer. Just received laptop few days ago.
Ok, so when I press Tor browser the Tor browser pages doesn’t itself open?
I just carry on using the purebrowser? but it’s actually tor?
I can just google my ip address and it will show a tor or not my real IP
Do I have to leave network proxy as ’ manual ’ when using Tor?
One more thing , where in network settings it says ’ ignore host ’ , I cleared that.
Do you know what or where I can find what command that should be in there?
Thanks again appreciate your help

1 Like
7

I didn’t actually do anything. I just received a librem 15 laptop from purism.
I opened or downloaded Tor from within the ’ software’ tab. It is on my laptop
now but does nothing when I click it so there must be something missing or a
command or file I have to put into Terminal.
Thanks

8

I have never used Tor but have been curious about it and so I decided to do some troubleshooting for you. It sounds like you installed from the package manager, is that correct? What I see in Package Manager is not the Tor Browser, but the ‘Tor Browser Launcher’ app to manage the Tor Browser Bundle (software bundle). I decided to try from the command line.

  • Hit the Purism button (the rectangle) and start typing Terminal, then select the Terminal app.
  • Just for fun type echo $PATH. This will show you all the directory paths your system will follow to find installed software.
  • Type sudo apt-get install torbrowser-launcher to download and install the tor package, hopefully in one of those recognized paths.
  • If your installation was successful, type which torbrowser-launcher and you will see where it was installed. For me, it just installed in /usr/sbin/tor If the install location is not in your $PATH, then your system won’t find the software.
  • Next, to run tor from the Terminal, I typed torbrowser-launcher This ran the installer, which seemed to crash.
    There seem to be some configuration steps needed to make this work from the current free repository.
  • Next, I went to this site and followed the instructions for Debian 8 “Jessie”. You will need to run these commands as super user sudo printf "deb http://deb.debian.org/debian jessie-backports main contrib\n" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jessie-backports.list and understand that this is authorizing your machine to install software from a non-free, untrusted source. That said, it was successful. You can always comment out your source in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jessie-backports.list to prevent accidentally installing other software. Hope this helps!
9

when I press Tor browser the Tor browser pages doesn’t itself open?

I guess you mean “Tor Browser window” (which doesn’t open), this seems weird but cannot be sure about how you installed tor browser. Please note that my previous answer with the command sudo apt install tor install a tor network service not the tor browser (which is a firefox set with several plugins and settings for enhanced security like PureBrowser)

I just carry on using the purebrowser?

Your choice, firefox, PureBrowser, TorBrowser are all firefox eventually but the last 2 are already set up for specific security improvement

but it’s actually tor?

For TorBrowser yes, for FF or PureBrowser you have to set the proxy to use Tor network instead of usual network

Do I have to leave network proxy as ’ manual ’ when using Tor?

Yes

’ ignore host ’ […] Do you know what or where I can find what command that should be in there?

For some specific addresses(hosts) you might don’t want to use your proxy. Default is localhost, 127.0.0.1 (both are the same they mean your own computer) and you should let it like that if your host a server or any application that will talk to your computer internally you don’t want to try to access this “loopback” host through tor network (would probably fail)

10

Guide to install and setup TorBrowser: https://tracker.pureos.net/w/pureos/tips/torbrowser/

11

I had the same problem. Downloaded Tor from their website, authenticated it and never could get it to open. I probably know the least about Linux of anyone on here. I rooted around all over this 15V3 and found a “Tails Installer”. I installed it and then went to the Tails Website and followed the directions to download it, authenticate it (which didn’t work the first time) and then loaded it onto a USB stick. I followed the directions and shut down the computer, installed the USB stick and shazaam, Tails was on the screen. Tails has the TOR browser installed in it. I installed it and now I have TOR but only if I boot with Tails which is fine by me.

I will add, that I have to press the Esc key and choose the USB stick to boot with it.

12

Thanks, mladen. Now I can install TOR on PureBrowser when I don’t want to use Tails