Install TOR Browser And Fix Error TOR Cant Run

What is TOR?

Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against traffic analysis, a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy.

The Tor network is a group of volunteer-operated servers that allows people to improve their privacy and security on the Internet. Tor's users employ this network by connecting through a series of virtual tunnels rather than making a direct connection, thus allowing both organizations and individuals to share information over public networks without compromising their privacy.

Along the same line, Tor is an effective censorship circumvention tool, allowing its users to reach otherwise blocked destinations or content. Tor can also be used as a building block for software developers to create new communication tools with built-in privacy features

Why anonymity matters?

TOR protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location.

1. Installing TOR in Kali Linux

Option #1: Install Tor from Kali Repository

To install TOR using Kali Linux repository, you can follow this command :

root@kurawa:~# apt-get install tor

Option #2: Install Tor from Debian Wheezy Repository

If you can’t install Tor using the first method then you may try this option. In this way we are going to add the official Tor repository according to our Debian distribution. Not to be confused, Kali is actually based on Debian and it uses the package management from “Wheezy”. So we are going to use “Wheezy” as our distribution.
Now open your terminal and follow these steps:

Step #1: Add repo to sources.list file

Lets add the distribution in the list by opening the sources.list file

leafpad /etc/apt/sources.list

Now add the following line at the bottom of the file,

deb http://deb.torproject.org/torproject.org wheezy main

Step #2: Add GPG Keys

Now we need to add the gpg key used to sign the packages by running the following commands:

gpg --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv 886DDD89

gpg --export A3C4F0F979CAA22CDBA8F512EE8CBC9E886DDD89 | apt-key add -

Step #3: Update package lists

Lets refresh our sources:

apt-get update

Step #4: Install singing keys

Now, before installing the Tor we must add the signing key,

apt-get install deb.torproject.org-keyring

Step #5: Install Tor from Debian repository

Finally,

apt-get install tor

Now Tor should be installed!
If no error occurs, follow the second step.

Option #3: Install Tor from development branch

If you are an advanced user and you want to install Tor using the development branch then this method is for you.

Step #1: Add Tor project repository to sources.list

You need to add a different set of lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list file:

deb http://deb.torproject.org/torproject.org wheezy main

deb http://deb.torproject.org/torproject.org tor-experimental-0.2.5.x- wheezy main

Step #2: Add GPG keys, keyring and install Tor

Then run the following commands at your command prompt:

gpg --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv 886DDD89

gpg --export A3C4F0F979CAA22CDBA8F512EE8CBC9E886DDD89 | apt-key add -

apt-get update

apt-get install tor deb.torproject.org-keyring

Now Tor should be installed!
If no error occurs, follow the second step.
Note: This release will provide you more features but it contains bugs too.

Option #4: Build and Install Tor from sources

If you want to build your own debs from source you must first add an appropriate deb-src line to sources.list.

deb-src http://deb.torproject.org/torproject.org wheezy main

deb-src http://deb.torproject.org/torproject.org wheezy main

deb-src http://deb.torproject.org/torproject.org tor-experimental-0.2.5.x--wheezy main

You also need to install the necessary packages to build your own debs and the packages needed to build Tor:

apt-get install build-essential fakeroot devscripts

apt-get build-dep tor

Then you can build Tor in ~/debian-packages:

mkdir ~/debian-packages; cd ~/debian-packages

apt-get source tor

cd tor-*

debuild -rfakeroot -uc -us

cd ..

Now you can install the new package:

dpkg -i tor_*.deb

2. Download and Running TOR Bundle

Second Step download the TOR Bundle. Link available below this post. Download which one compatible with your Linux Distro. Save it anywhere you want, then extract it.

root@kurawa:~# tar -xvzf tor-browser-gnu-linux-i686-2.3.25-15-dev-LANG.tar.gz

After done extracting, open the directory, change permission and then run TOR. Open your terminal, type and run by follow the command below :

root@kurawa:~/tor-browser_en-US# chmod +x start-tor-browser.desktop

root@kurawa:~/tor-browser_en-US# ./start-tor-browser.desktop 

Now you can run TOR Browser in your Kali Linux. Enjoy :-)

Error Fixing

1. The TOR Browser Bundle should not be run as root

Almost problem when running TOR Browser for first time is message “The Tor Browser Bundle should not be run as root”. To fix this problem you only need change a little code. Open start-tor-browser file using your favorite text editor. Find this code :

if [ "`id -u`" -eq 0 ]; then

complain "The Tor Browser Bundle should not be run as root.  Exiting."

exit 1

fi

Then remove that code or add # in first of all the line of code above. So it will be like this :

#if [ "`id -u`" -eq 0 ]; then

#complain "The Tor Browser Bundle should not be run as root.  Exiting."

#exit 1

#fi

Reopen Tor and banzai.... TOR will open and running in your Kali Linux.

2. TOR Browser Unexpectedly Exited

Second problem which almost happen in Kali Linux is "Tor unexpectedly exited. This might be due to a bug in Tor itself, another program on your system, or faulty hardware. Untill you start Tor, the Tor Browser will not able to reach any website". To fix this, you must change ownership. Open your terminal, type and run this command :

root@kurawa:~# chown -hR root tor-browser_en-US/

Now, reopen. Enjoy the Tor Browser :-)

Download TOR Browser