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Non-Whonix Tor Browser

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]


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.

These instructions:

  1. Anonymously retrieve and verify the Whonix signing key.
  2. Copy the Whonix signing key to a debian-9 TemplateVM clone (debian-9-tor).
  3. Add the Whonix signing key to a list of trusted keys.
  4. Install apt-transport-tor in the debian-9-tor TemplateVM.
  5. Add the Whonix onion repository.
  6. Install tb-updater from the Whonix stable repository.
  7. Create a debian-tor-browser AppVM based on the debian-9 TemplateVM clone.
  8. 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. [2] 

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]

  1. ↑ For example, the Snowflake pluggable transport client is currently unavailable in Whonix.
  2. ↑ For support in downloading APT packages anonymously via the Tor network.

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