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I am using tor browser on windows 10 pro, and recently I can not use it. when I start the program, I receive following message:

Tor Browser does not have permission to access the profile. Please adjust your file system permissions and try again.

best regards, Farshid

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    It sounds like something has gone wrong with the installation, something has changed permissions on your filesystem. It might be worthwhile simply removing it and reinstalling it.
    – cacahuatl
    Aug 16, 2017 at 0:58

8 Answers 8

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My Tor-Browser is installed in C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\tor-browser\tools\tor-browser\Browser\firefox.exe

What worked for me is to give your Windows User write ("change") access to C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\tor-browser\tools\tor-browser\Browser\TorBrowser\Data\Browser

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  • Thanks, I installed via chocolatey as well and this fixed it for me.
    – mberna
    Apr 13, 2020 at 18:44
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    Or if installed under Program Files give access to "C:\Program Files\Tor Browser\Browser\TorBrowser\Data\Browser"
    – Joshua
    Aug 27, 2021 at 12:13
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I was getting this error, after installation with Chocolatey, when trying to start Tor Browser:

Tor Browser does not have permission to access the profile.

I tried changing permissions on C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\tor-browser\tools\tor-browser\Browser\ and similar, as recommended here and there, but it still didn't work.

What finally did it was giving my user Write and Modify permissions to C:\Program Files\Tor Browser\Browser (as well as R&E, List, Read). (Even though I was already in a group (Administrators) that had such permissions.)

This is in Sep. 2020, with version 9.5.4.

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  • Here's a reference, just remember to add permission to YOUR USER and NOT EVERYONE youtube.com/…
    – deepGrave
    May 2, 2022 at 8:30
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I fixed this problem on a windows machine by just giving my current user full control over the folder like below.

  1. Go to where you installed the browser and right click the folder then go to properties.
  2. Choose security tab and click edit button which is below all the accounts shown on the machine.
  3. Select the user you want and then tick allow on all the permissions and mainly the full control and read and write and then apply these changes and open the browser again.
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It could most likely be your anti-virus that's causing this. Go to the anti-virus application you have installed and try turning off the "file protection" option.

On Bitdefender, this is the Safe Files option within Protection Features.

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I know this is a very old question. But for future reference, the easiest way, I believe is to run the program as administrator. You can make this a default setting from the properties>advanced section.

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    It's a really bad idea to run any browser as administrator.
    – SerG
    May 6, 2020 at 15:09
  • @SerG Why is it "a really bad idea to run any browser as administrator"? Thanks.
    – Ryan
    Jul 14, 2021 at 14:07
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    @Ryan Due to security reasons of course. Browser has big potential to be compromised as extremely complex system directly interconnected with outer world. Less rights it has in your OS => less probability to be hacked. In Windows it's restricted even on additional level of Mandatory Integrity Control except classic role based access control.
    – SerG
    Jul 20, 2021 at 11:46
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bit defender does block this, to get round it. open bit defender, there will be a 'notification' saying 'application access blocked' if you select that you can 'View application' (which will be TORbrowser. then on that page (top right by the dustbin icon) there will be a switch you can turn on to enable the application to have access to the protected profile stuff.

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If possible, I would install the browser in the first place where the profile fits. For example, in the user home directory. With Windows 10, this is sometimes under the Users folder. It could be that in this way many users will have to install the same program in a different location. So that there will be almost identical copies of the same program in the system. I guess the privacy implications outweigh this duplication.

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Uninstall Tor browser by deleting its install folder and all shortcuts. The reinstall it in a user folder. See https://tor.stackexchange.com/a/22621/22888

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