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I am using linuxmint, trying to run Tor browser from removable usb drive, don't want to leave it on HDD. Tried to unpack Tor browser to USB, but it wont work. 'start-tor-browser.desktop' is set to home folder on HDD. is it enough to change path in that file? I am new to linux, appreciate some help. Did someone tried this? Will it leave any trace on that machine?

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Looking at the start-tor-browser.desktop (the one in tor-browser_$LANG/) it should execute itself based on the position that it is being run from and shouldn't need editing:

Exec=sh -c '"$(dirname "$*")"/Browser/start-tor-browser --detach || ([ ! -x "$(dirname "$*")"/Browser/start-tor-browser ] && "$(dirname "$*")"/start-tor-browser --detach)' dummy %k

You can just directly execute the start-tor-browser shell script and it should run fine, e.g. by running from a terminal:

/media/user/myusb/tor-browser_$LANG/Browser/start-tor-browser --detach

This should work for pretty much any directory, and it should contain itself to itself, this is that it will only affect things within its own folder.

However a strong note if you've strong requirements for anti-forensic properties is that the host operating system may swap out chunks of memory to disk (swap or pagefile.sys) or the entire contents of memory to disk (hibernation). This would necessarily include the contents of your browsing session and might violate any anti-forensic expectation you may have. If you have a strong requirement to run Tor Browser on Linux based system with anti-forensic properties, you should consider instead using the USB for use of the Tails operating system.

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  • Thanks, in this case path was allready set to home dir, so I edited path to usb and started, got this "The application launcher "start-tor-browser.desktop" has not been marked as trusted. If you do not know the source of this file, launching it may be unsafe." When I click "Launch anyway", nothing happens...
    – Jim8645
    Commented Jun 13, 2016 at 1:02
  • I've no idea what all that "marked as trusted" stuff is about, something in your DE. Running the bash script from a terminal will work.
    – cacahuatl
    Commented Jun 13, 2016 at 2:47
  • I think I fixed it, it works now. I edited that config file and changed path. Thanks for info about swap etc. I am trying to use Whonix, I like idea of isolation. I think Whonix dont use swap?
    – Jim8645
    Commented Jun 13, 2016 at 17:58
  • You are running "Whonix" as a VM. If the OS you are using Whonix on has swap, it will swap out Whonix's memory to disk, hibernate, etc. It doesn't matter what's run inside the VM.
    – cacahuatl
    Commented Jun 13, 2016 at 18:00

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