How to install and run Tor Browser on Kali Linux

Tor Browser – is a web-browser using the Tor network. It has some extra features to enhance your anonymity and privacy.

The Tor network itself is designed to hide your original IP. It is also encrypt Internet traffic sending from/to your computer.

All in all Tor Browser:

• hides your IP
• does not save any account information (logins and passwords)
• does not save your web history
• has some extra tools to protect you from reveal.

New modern way to install Tor Browser in Kali Linux

Tor Browser is a portable program that you just download, unzip and run. To simplify this procedure, you can use the Tor Browser Launcher package, which is available in many distributions.

Tor Browser Launcher is intended to make Tor Browser easier to install and use for GNU/Linux users. You install torbrowser-launcher from your distribution's package manager and it handles everything else:

• Downloads and installs the most recent version of Tor Browser in your language and for your computer's architecture, or launches Tor Browser if it's already installed (Tor Browser will automatically update itself)
• Verifies Tor Browser's signature for you, to ensure the version you downloaded was cryptographically signed by Tor developers and was not tampered with
• Adds "Tor Browser" and "Tor Browser Launcher Settings" application launcher to your desktop environment's menu
• Includes AppArmor profiles to make a Tor Browser compromise not as bad
• Optionally plays a modem sound when you open Tor Browser (because Tor is so slow)

Installing Tor Browser Launcher:

sudo apt install torbrowser-launcher

Launch:

torbrowser-launcher

Press “Connect” and wait for your system is connected to the Tor network.

Enter any URL you wish to surf with anonymity:

To verify your IP just visit suip.biz:

If you would like to change your current IP, select ‘Onion’ icon and ‘New Tor Circuit for this Site’.

Old way to install Tor Browser in Kali Linux

Tor Browser is absent in Kali Linux repository. In addition, the Tor Browser default behavior does not let you run the program as root. Indeed, it is not a serious problem. This guide will show you the easy way to install and run Tor Browser in Kali Linux in super user account.

To make Tor Browser working on Kali Linux it is enough to run the script. The sctipt is formed as a single command line, so you can copy-paste it to your terminal windows. For 64-bit systems use:

temp="$(curl -s https://www.torproject.org/download/languages/)"; temp2=`echo "${temp}" | grep -E -o '[A-Za-z0-9/_.-]+_en-US.tar.xz' | tail -n 1`; wget -O tor-browser-linux64.tar.xz "https://www.torproject.org$temp2"; tar xvfJ tor-browser-linux64.tar.xz; rm tor-browser-linux64.tar.xz; sudo mv tor-browser*/Browser/ /opt/; rm -rf tor-browser*;

For 32-bit systems use:

temp="$(curl -s https://www.torproject.org/download/languages/)"; temp2=`echo "${temp}" | grep -E -o '[A-Za-z0-9/_.-]+_en-US.tar.xz' | head -n 1`; wget -O tor-browser-linux32.tar.xz "https://www.torproject.org$temp2"; tar xvfJ tor-browser-linux32.tar.xz; rm tor-browser-linux32.tar.xz; sudo mv tor-browser*/Browser/ /opt/; rm -rf tor-browser*;

I will explain what the script does. It downloads the last version of Tor Browser from the official web site (https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en), unpacks the archive, moves the result to the proper directory, patches the launcher to make Tor Browser working from root and fixes the issue with permissions.

To start Tor Browser you can issue in Terminal:

/opt/Browser/start-tor-browser

Press “Connect” and wait for your system is connected to the Tor network.

Enter any URL you wish to surf with anonymity:

To verify your IP just visit suip.biz:

If you would like to change your current IP, select ‘Onion’ icon and ‘New Tor Circuit for this Site’.

It is not necessary to use command line to start Tor Browser. You can create a shortcut on your desktop. Use a text editor to create new text file:

gedit Desktop/Tor_Browser.desktop

Copy-paste to there:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Tor Browser
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=sh -c "/opt/Browser/start-tor-browser"
Icon=/opt/Browser/browser/chrome/icons/default/default48.png
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Type=Application

Save and close the file.

Double click the new shortcut and select ‘Mark as Trusted’:

Now you have the shortcut on your desktop:

Double click it to start Tor Browser.