19

I'm trying to use Tor as a proxy, to make other apps connect to the internet through the tor network. With Tor running and connected I opened another browser, and in the proxy settings I typed 127.0.0.1 port 9150, but when I load any page it says the proxy refused connection.

Why it does not work?

Improve this question

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
14

Warning: be extremely careful about sending traffic through tor when not using the tor browser. Any unencrypted traffic will be seen by a potentially malicious exit node. Using any other browser besides tor browser to browse the internet is highly discouraged and will likely not provide any anonymity because your browser will give up your real ip address or enough information to fingerprint you uniquely.

That said, if you are absolutely sure that you want to use the tor proxy manually, read this faq entry which will answer your question.

https://www.torproject.org/docs/faq.html.en#TBBSocksPort

If you are trying to use some external application with Tor, step zero should be to reread the set of warnings for ways you can screw up. Step one should be to try to use a SOCKS proxy rather than an HTTP proxy. Typically Tor listens for SOCKS connections on port 9050. Tor Browser listens on port 9150.

If your application doesn't support SOCKS proxies, feel free to install privoxy. However, please realize that this approach is not recommended for novice users. Privoxy has an example configuration of Tor and Privoxy.

If you're unable to use the application's native proxy settings, all hope is not lost. See below.

Improve this answer
5
  • 3
    If you setup in your browser Tor as Http Proxy, Tor will refuse the connection because Tor isn't a Http Proxy, but a Socks proxy. So if you can setup the type of the proxy that you will use, just set socks.
    – user3524
    Commented Aug 6, 2015 at 18:03
  • @nullUser would you say that stackoverflow.com/a/23320554/2170166 answer is a better solution or has it got the same risks as above.
    – Mayank
    Commented Jan 23, 2018 at 4:59
  • @Mayank the proposed solution you link to is a terrible idea. Using it will likely provide you no anonymity.
    – nullUser
    Commented Jan 25, 2018 at 16:30
  • @nullUser I need to scrape some content and I need to change IP so as to maintain my access, is there a solution for making http calls with different IP. I am using selenium with java.
    – Mayank
    Commented Jan 26, 2018 at 8:28
  • @Mayank, generally what you are describing is frowned upon. If a site has blocked you for making too many requests, changing IP addresses to keep making more requests will be seen as malicious. Tor can be used for this purpose for a while (until the site operator decides to block all tor ip addresses), but it is frowned upon and you should not expect any anonymity properties from tor if you use the proposed solution. Consider that if you take these actions and the site operator blocks all tor traffic, you may be the cause of legitimate users who wish to use tor being unable to access the site.
    – nullUser
    Commented Jan 27, 2018 at 18:07
7

First you configured the wrong port.

Tor Browser listens on 9150

tor uses 9050 (get used to the way I spelled the 2 with the capital and the lowercase because that is how you tell the difference in a lot of documentation)

Improve this answer
2

Use Polipo as a HTTP/HTTPS proxy : official website and GitHub sources. Not all apps are good with SOCKS proxies

Improve this answer
3
  • 8
    Polipo is no longer maintained
    – Jonathan Cross
    Commented Sep 24, 2018 at 23:23
  • @JonathanCross so what? it does the job requested. And - if you're deeply concerned about the maintained-only code - check the latest Tor's built-in HTTPS proxy, works fine as well
    – Alexey Vesnin ♦
    Commented Sep 25, 2018 at 14:40
  • 3
    Using unmaintained software ignores the most basic recommendations for "best practice" and will likely lead to unforeseen bugs. The last code change was 2.5 years ago, before the creator marked the project as obsolete. People visiting this site for answers should be aware of that.
    – Jonathan Cross
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 13:13

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .