Non-Whonix Tor Browser
Contents
Introduction[edit]
Various wiki sections recommend that a functional Tor Browser instance is maintained outside of the Whonix platform. This is useful in various cases:
- Should Whonix ever break, users can search for a solution anonymously.
- System-wide Tor problems can be easily detected by testing connectivity outside of Whonix.
- Certain Tor / Tor Browser activities are difficult (or impossible) to configure in Whonix, but are much easier in the standard configuration. [1]
In non-Qubes-Whonix, it is recommended to have Tor Browser installed on the Linux / macOS / Windows host platform. In Qubes-Whonix, it is recommended to install Tor Browser in a debian-9 AppVM.
Easy[edit]
All Platforms: Manual Tor Browser Download[edit]
Follow these instructions to manually download Tor Browser with Firefox-ESR via the available onion service. This method is not anonymous, unless Qubes-Whonix users temporarily set sys-whonix as the NetVM for the non-Whonix AppVM.
Debian Linux Hosts[edit]
Tor Browser can optionally be downloaded with tb-updater by Whonix. This method is not anonymous.
1. Add the Whonix signing key.
sudo apt-key --keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/whonix.gpg adv --keyserver hkp://ipv4.pool.sks-keyservers.net:80 --recv-keys 916B8D99C38EAF5E8ADC7A2A8D66066A2EEACCDA
2. Add the Whonix APT repository.
echo “deb http://deb.whonix.org stretch main” | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/whonix.list
3. Update the package lists.
sudo apt-get update
4. Install tb-updater.
sudo apt-get install tb-updater
Moderate: Qubes-Whonix[edit]
 | Qubes-Whonix R4 only! This method is anonymous. |
The Qubes-Whonix R4 instructions using Whonix's tb-updater are a little more difficult because TemplateVMs are non-networked by default. Qubes R3.2 users should use one of the Easy methods outlined above. [2]
These instructions:
- Anonymously retrieve and verify the Whonix signing key.
- Copy the Whonix signing key to a debian-9 TemplateVM clone (
debian-9-tor). - Add the Whonix signing key to a list of trusted keys.
- Install apt-transport-tor in the
debian-9-torTemplateVM. - Add the Whonix onion repository.
- Install
tb-updaterfrom the Whonix stable repository. - Create a
debian-tor-browserAppVM based on the debian-9 TemplateVM clone. - Complete the anonymous installation of Tor Browser in the non-Whonix VM.
Clone the debian-9 TemplateVM[edit]
In Qube Manager: Right-click debian-9 template -> Clone qube -> Rename to debian-9-tor
anon-whonix Steps[edit]
Run the following commands in anon-whonix Konsole.
1. Add the Whonix signing key.
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver jirk5u4osbsr34t5.onion --recv-keys 916B8D99C38EAF5E8ADC7A2A8D66066A2EEACCDA
2. Display the key fingerprint.
sudo apt-key adv --fingerprint 916B8D99C38EAF5E8ADC7A2A8D66066A2EEACCDA
3. Verify the Whonix signing key fingerprint.
Compare the fingerprint to the one found here.
4. Copy the Whonix signing key to a temporary whonix.key file.
sudo apt-key export 916B8D99C38EAF5E8ADC7A2A8D66066A2EEACCDA > /tmp/whonix.key
5. Copy the whonix.key text file to the debian-9-tor TemplateVM.
qvm-copy /tmp/whonix.key debian-9-tor
debian-9-tor TemplateVM Steps[edit]
Complete the following steps in debian-9-tor Konsole.
1. Add the Whonix signing key to the list of trusted keys.
sudo apt-key add ~/QubesIncoming/anon-whonix/whonix.key
2. Install apt-transport-tor from the Debian repository. [3]
sudo apt-get install apt-transport-tor
3. Add the Whonix stable onion APT repository.
Note: tor+http does not work in this configuration.
echo "deb http://deb.dds6qkxpwdeubwucdiaord2xgbbeyds25rbsgr73tbfpqpt4a6vjwsyd.onion stretch main contrib non-free" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/whonix.list
4. Update the package lists.
sudo apt-get update
5. Install tb-updater by Whonix.
sudo apt-get install tb-updater
Note: This step will correctly install tb-updater, but when it tries to automatically download Tor Browser it will fail because the download attempt from The Tor Project is blocked by default.
debian-tor-browser AppVM Steps[edit]
1. Create an AppVM based on the debian-9-tor TemplateVM: debian-tor-browser.
In Qube Manager: Left-click Qube -> Create new qube
Use the following settings:
- Name and label: debian-tor-browser
- Type: AppVM
- Template: debian-9-tor
- Networking: default (sys-firewall)
2. Download Tor Browser.
In Konsole, run.
update-torbrowser --input gui
3. Launch Tor Browser from the AppVM menu and check it is functional.
Note: Tor Browser can be kept up-to-date using Tor Browser's internal updater. It is not necessary to run the update-torbrowser command again.
Footnotes[edit]
- ↑ For example, the Snowflake pluggable transport client is currently unavailable in Whonix.
- ↑ Qubes R3.2 reached EOL on 28 March, 2019. It is strongly recommended to upgrade to Qubes R4.0 to stay safe.
- ↑ For support in downloading APT packages anonymously via the Tor network.
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