Why do I see the hidden service directory in my browser?

Question

I configured Tor to set up a hidden service in "c:\webserver\www\hidden_service". When I start Tor Browser, it creates the directory "hidden_service" and the hostname and public_key files inside of it. But when I open the site in Tor Browser using the address provided in hostname (xxxxxxx.onion), I reach the directory one level up (c:\webserver\www) of the one I configured. Any ideas why is this happenig?

Config:

HiddenServiceDir C:\webserver\www\tor_hidden_service
HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:8080

Answer 1

The configuration of your Tor Onion Service and of your webserver are two separate things. When you want to start a Tor Onion Service you

1. configure your webserver. That especially means set up a document root. This is the directory where the files live that your webserver should serve.
2. configure Tor as Tor Onion Service. Here you set the option for the hidden service directory. This directory should live outside of your document root and not be accessible by the webserver.

So in your example the directory tor_hidden_service lives inside the document root and thus the webserver displays it. Just move it to another place in your filesystem and re-configure Tor.