Cannot force Tor Browser to use exit nodes from specified country

Question

I might experience a bug here. I cannot select a specific country as exit node.

I am using debian 10 with a standalone torbrowser version 11.0.11 (I will update soon, but I don't think it is a version problem).

I have edited nano /tor-browser_en-US/Browser/TorBrowser/Data/Tor/torrc and added the line ExitNodes {de} StrictNodes 1 to have a german exit node as described here and there

After I have modified the torrc I start tor_browser. The first connection I do initiate with a webserver uses a german exit node. A few seconds late, the circuit changes and I use exit node all over the world again. Rechecking /tor-browser_en-US/Browser/TorBrowser/Data/Tor/torrc shows that my modifications are deleted.

What I tried so far:

• revoke write permissions: chmod -w /tor-browser_en-US/Browser/TorBrowser/Data/Tor/torrc
• chown torrc by root and give read to others.
• instead of ExitNodes {de} StrictNodes 1 using ExitNodes {de} only

In every case the torrc file overwrites itself and loses my modifications. This shouldn't be possible when the file belongs to root while tor_browser is run by a normal non-root-user.

1. Do you have any suggestions or a solution for me?
2. Any clue what I do wrong?

Answer 1

I have edited nano /tor-browser_en-US/Browser/TorBrowser/Data/Tor/torrc and added the line ExitNodes {de} StrictNodes 1 to have a german exit node as described here and there

The StrictNodes option does not apply to ExitNodes, so it's not needed here. (From the documentation: "StrictNodes does not apply to ExcludeExitNodes, ExitNodes, MiddleNodes, or MapAddress")

Rechecking /tor-browser_en-US/Browser/TorBrowser/Data/Tor/torrc shows that my modifications are deleted.

As mentioned in https://support.torproject.org/tbb/tbb-editing-torrc/, make sure Tor Browser is closed before you edit the torrc file, otherwise Tor Browser may overwrite your changes.

What I tried so far:

• revoke write permissions: chmod -w /tor-browser_en-US/Browser/TorBrowser/Data/Tor/torrc
• chown torrc by root and give read to others.
• instead of ExitNodes {de} StrictNodes 1 using ExitNodes {de} only

In every case the torrc file overwrites itself and loses my modifications. This shouldn't be possible when the file belongs to root while tor_browser is run by a normal non-root-user.

It's true that if the file is owned by root and not writable by others, then other users can't write to the file. But other users can still delete the file and create a new file with different contents. If you want to prevent this, the directory must also not be writable by other users.

Answer 2

this is list of all code country that will help you:(just click F3 and search you are country)

AD - Andorra    FM - Micronesia (Federated States of)
AE - United Arab Emirates   KR - Korea (Republic of)
AF - Afghanistan    
AG - Antigua and Barbuda    
AI - Anguilla   
AL - Albania    
AM - Armenia    
AO - Angola 
AQ - Antarctica 
AR - Argentina  
AS - American Samoa 
AT - Austria    
AU - Australia  
AW - Aruba  
AX - Åland Islands  
AZ - Azerbaijan 
BA - Bosnia and Herzegovina 
BB - Barbados   
BD - Bangladesh 
BE - Belgium    
BF - Burkina Faso   
BG - Bulgaria   
BH - Bahrain    
BI - Burundi    
BJ - Benin  
BL - Saint Barthélemy   
BM - Bermuda    
BN - Brunei Darussalam  
BO - Bolivia (Plurinational State of)   
BR - Brazil 
BS - Bahamas    
BT - Bhutan 
BV - Bouvet Island  
BW - Botswana   
BY - Belarus    
BZ - Belize 
CA - Canada 
CC - Cocos (Keeling) Islands    
CD - Congo (Democratic Republic of the) 
CF - Central African Republic   
CG - Republic of the Congo  
CH - Switzerland    
CI - Côte d'Ivoire  
CK - Cook Islands   
CL - Chile  
CM - Cameroon   
CN - China  
CO - Colombia   
CR - Costa Rica 
CU - Cuba   
CV - Cabo Verde 
CX - Christmas Island   
CY - Cyprus 
CZ - Czech Republic 
DE - Germany    
DJ - Djibouti   
DK - Denmark    
DM - Dominica   
DO - Dominican Republic 
DZ - Algeria    
EC - Ecuador    
EE - Estonia    
EG - Egypt  
EH - Western Sahara 
ER - Eritrea    
ES - Spain  
ET - Ethiopia   
FI - Finland    
FJ - Fiji   
FK - Falkland Islands (Malvinas)    
FO - Faroe Islands  
FR - France 
GA - Gabon  
GB - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland   
GD - Grenada    
GE - Georgia (country)  
GF - French Guiana  
GG - Guernsey   
GH - Ghana  
GI - Gibraltar  
GL - Greenland  
GM - Gambia 
GN - Guinea 
GP - Guadeloupe 
GQ - Equatorial Guinea  
GR - Greece 
GS - South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands   
GT - Guatemala  
GU - Guam   
GW - Guinea-Bissau  
GY - Guyana 
HK - Hong Kong  
HM - Heard Island and McDonald Islands  
HN - Honduras   
HR - Croatia    
HT - Haiti  
HU - Hungary    
ID - Indonesia  
IE - Republic of Ireland    
IL - Israel 
IM - Isle of Man    
IN - India  
IO - British Indian Ocean Territory 
IQ - Iraq   
IR - Iran (Islamic Republic of) 
IS - Iceland    
IT - Italy  
JE - Jersey 
JM - Jamaica    
JO - Jordan 
JP - Japan  
KE - Kenya  
KG - Kyrgyzstan 
KH - Cambodia   
KI - Kiribati   
KM - Comoros    
KN - Saint Kitts and Nevis  
KP - North Korea    
KW - Kuwait 
KY - Cayman Islands 
KZ - Kazakhstan 
LA - Lao People's Democratic Republic   
LB - Lebanon    
LC - Saint Lucia    
LI - Liechtenstein  
LK - Sri Lanka  
LR - Liberia    
LS - Lesotho    
LT - Lithuania  
LU - Luxembourg 
LV - Latvia 
LY - Libya  
MA - Morocco    
MC - Monaco 
MD - Moldova (Republic of)  
ME - Montenegro 
MG - Madagascar 
MH - Marshall Islands   
MK - Republic of Macedonia  
ML - Mali   
MM - Myanmar    
MN - Mongolia   
MO - Macao  
MP - Northern Mariana Islands   
MQ - Martinique 
MR - Mauritania 
MS - Montserrat 
MT - Malta  
MU - Mauritius  
MV - Maldives   
MW - Malawi 
MX - Mexico 
MY - Malaysia   
MZ - Mozambique 
NA - Namibia    
NC - New Caledonia  
NE - Niger  
NF - Norfolk Island 
NG - Nigeria    
NI - Nicaragua  
NL - Netherlands    
NO - Norway 
NP - Nepal  
NR - Nauru  
NU - Niue   
NZ - New Zealand    
OM - Oman   
PA - Panama 
PE - Peru   
PF - French Polynesia   
PG - Papua New Guinea   
PH - Philippines    
PK - Pakistan   
PL - Poland 
PM - Saint Pierre and Miquelon  
PN - Pitcairn   
PR - Puerto Rico    
PS - State of Palestine 
PT - Portugal   
PW - Palau  
PY - Paraguay   
QA - Qatar  
RE - Réunion    
RO - Romania    
RS - Serbia 
RU - Russian Federation 
RW - Rwanda 
SA - Saudi Arabia   
SB - Solomon Islands    
SC - Seychelles 
SD - Sudan  
SE - Sweden 
SG - Singapore  
SH - Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha   
SI - Slovenia   
SJ - Svalbard and Jan Mayen 
SK - Slovakia   
SL - Sierra Leone   
SM - San Marino 
SN - Senegal    
SO - Somalia    
SR - Suriname   
ST - Sao Tome and Principe  
SV - El Salvador    
SY - Syrian Arab Republic   
SZ - Swaziland  
TC - Turks and Caicos Islands   
TD - Chad   
TF - French Southern Territories    
TG - Togo   
TH - Thailand   
TJ - Tajikistan 
TK - Tokelau    
TL - Timor-Leste    
TM - Turkmenistan   
TN - Tunisia    
TO - Tonga  
TR - Turkey 
TT - Trinidad and Tobago    
TV - Tuvalu 
TW - Taiwan 
TZ - Tanzania, United Republic of   
UA - Ukraine    
UG - Uganda 
UM - United States Minor Outlying Islands   
US - United States of America   
UY - Uruguay    
UZ - Uzbekistan 
VA - Vatican City State 
VC - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines   
VE - Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 
VG - British Virgin Islands 
VI - United States Virgin Islands   
VN - Viet Nam   
VU - Vanuatu    
WF - Wallis and Futuna  
WS - Samoa  
YE - Yemen  
YT - Mayotte    
ZA - South Africa   
ZM - Zambia 
ZW - Zimbabwe

Answer 3

Go to: Tor Browser\Browser\TorBrowser\Data\Tor\torrc-defaults

and make a copy of this text file now open "torrc-defaults" file in notepad and add below all the text this command:

EntryNodes {us} StrictNodes 1
MiddleNodes {us} StrictNodes 1
ExitNodes {us} StrictNodes 1

after you add this commands your tor use only US SERVER for normal brows but if you go to onion website it will be random servers of tor

if you like to change the country change the XX:

EntryNodes {XX} StrictNodes 1
MiddleNodes {XX} StrictNodes 1
ExitNodes {XX} StrictNodes 1 

you can change to any country server

if you like to turn off the custom server notes you just need to add : "#" in on the start of the command like that:

# EntryNodes {us} StrictNodes 1
# MiddleNodes {us} StrictNodes 1
# ExitNodes {us} StrictNodes 1 

that will make sure that you will use random server again

Answer 4

Adding my silly struggle here. I'm on Linux fyi.

Installation: Torbrowser-Launcher

I modified /etc/tor/torrc which does not work for Tor browser. That file is intended for the Tor service that you start manually in the terminal I presume.

Modifying $HOME/.local/share/torbrowser/tbb/x86_64/tor-browser/Browser/TorBrowser/Data/Tor/torrc had no effect for me.

What worked was modifying $HOME/.local/share/torbrowser/tbb/x86_64/tor-browser/Browser/TorBrowser/Data/Tor/torrc-defaults,
by adding ExitNodes {us} StrictNodes 1 at the bottom,
save file, restart Tor browser.

Installation: From website zip

(edit: 05-04-2024)

Surprisingly, installing from zip, the strategy above didn't work, rather it works like it should. I guess they fixed it.

Now, forget about torrc-defaults, and just work with torrc in (different) directory $HOME/.local/share/torbrowser/Browser/TorBrowser/Data/Tor.