Installing Tor Browser and accessing onion sites

What is Tor?

TOR, is an abbreviation of The Onion Router, usually written as “Tor”. It is a free and open-source network that enables anonymous communication on the internet by routing users’ traffic through multiple layers of encryption, similar to the layers of an onion. It helps protect users’ privacy, hides their IP address and can allow access to websites that may be blocked or censored. To access sites via Tor requires a Tor Browser.

What is Tor Browser?

Tor Browser is a modified version of Firefox enabling it to connect to .onion websites. There are various ways of installing Tor and Tor Browser. But if you are using Debian or one of its close derivatives, then the method below is one of the best. Not merely does it install Tor Browser, it also enables timely automated updates. Additionally it gives users access to .onion websites – websites that only appear on the dark web. That said, some legitimate organisations also have .onion sites intended primarily for viewing in countries where there is heavy censorship of news.

Installing Tor Browser on Debian and its derivatives (e.g. Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Neon)

If you run Debian then installing Tor is a doddle. Simply open a terminal window, type the following and hit the return key,,,

sudo apt install torbrowser-launcher

This installs the Tor Browser Launcher. This is intended to make the Tor Browser Bundle (TBB) easier to maintain and use for GNU/Linux users. torbrowser-launcher handles downloading the most recent version of TBB for you, in your language and for your hardware architecture. It also adds a “Tor Browser” application launcher icon to your operating system’s menu.

When you first launch Tor Browser Launcher, it will download TBB from https://www.torproject.org/ and extract it to ~/.local/share/torbrowser and then execute it. Cache and configuration files will be stored in ~/.cache/torbrowser and ~/.config/torbrowser.

Each subsequent execution after installation will simply launch the most recent TBB. This is automatically updated using Tor Browser’s own update feature.

Install on other operating systems

I’m tempted to say that if you’re running MS Windows then you’re probably not particularly bothered about your privacy and you won’t be interested in reading any further. But that would be a tad snarky. 🙂

So here is the download page, including versions for MS Windows, MacOS, Android as well as other GNU/Linux distributions…

• https://www.torproject.org/download/

What it should look like

Onion sites

For those new to Tor, here are a list of ‘onion’ sites. Instead of ending with the usual .com or .org, all these sites end in .onion and can only be accessed with a Tor browser. Onion sites aren’t necessarily bad or dodgy either. Legitimate organisations such as the BBC and The Guardian also have Onion sites.

Ahmia

• http://juhanurmihxlp77nkq76byazcldy2hlmovfu2epvl5ankdibsot4csyd.onion

Archive Today

• https://archiveiya74codqgiixo33q62qlrqtkgmcitqx5u2oeqnmn5bpcbiyd.onion

BBC Tor Mirror

• Aunty BEEB has a Tor mirror, mostly aimed at countries where news is censored.
  https://www.bbcnewsd73hkzno2ini43t4gblxvycyac5aw4gnv7t2rccijh7745uqd.onion

CIA

• http://ciadotgov4sjwlzihbbgxnqg3xiyrg7so2r2o3lt5wz5ypk4sxyjstad.onion

DuckDuckGo

• https://duckduckgogg42xjoc72x3sjasowoarfbgcmvfimaftt6twagswzczad.onion/

Facebook

• http://facebookwkhpilnemxj7asaniu7vnjjbiltxjqhye3mhbshg7kx5tfyd.onion

Hidden Answers

• http://answerszuvs3gg2l64e6hmnryudl5zgrmwm3vh65hzszdghblddvfiqd.onion

Impreza dark web hosting

• https://imprezareshna326gqgmbdzwmnad2wnjmeowh45bs2buxarh5qummjad.onion

Onion Share

• http://lldan5gahapx5k7iafb3s4ikijc4ni7gx5iywdflkba5y2ezyg6sjgyd.onion/

ProPublica

• http://p53lf57qovyuvwsc6xnrppyply3vtqm7l6pcobkmyqsiofyeznfu5uqd.onion

Proton mail

• Protonmail offers free secure email as well as some premium services.
  https://protonmailrmez3lotccipshtkleegetolb73fuirgj7r4o4vfu7ozyd.onion

Ranion ransomware SaaS

• WARNING: This site is selling ransomware as a service. I’ve included it as an indicator of some of the darker things on the darker web. These people actually rent ransomware as a service. More of this later in another article.
  http://ranionuqvczpnypve3xle3srlbkn4rxp7eudpe74zddsfjvz3y7vkkyd.onion/index.php

Reddit

• https://www.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion

Riseup

• http://vww6ybal4bd7szmgncyruucpgfkqahzddi37ktceo3ah7ngmcopnpyyd.onion

Sci-Hub

• NB Sci-Hub’s Onion appears to be broken 2025-04-15
  https://scihub22266oqcxt.onion
• This is Sci-Hub’s non-onion site
  https://sci-hub.se/
• This is it’s new distributed block-chain site – the idea being to make it much harder to take-down or censor
  https://sci-hub.box

SecureDrop

• http://sdolvtfhatvsysc6l34d65ymdwxcujausv7k5jk4cy5ttzhjoi6fzvyd.onion

The Guardian

• Respected UK newspaper has an Onion mirror. It’s mostly for countries where news is heavily censored.
  https://www.guardian2zotagl6tmjucg3lrhxdk4dw3lhbqnkvvkywawy3oqfoprid.onion/

The Hidden WIki

• http://zqktlwiuavvvqqt4ybvgvi7tyo4hjl5xgfuvpdf6otjiycgwqbym2qad.onion/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

ZeroBin

• http://zerobinftagjpeeebbvyzjcqyjpmjvynj5qlexwyxe7l3vqejxnqv5qd.onion

Useful

“I cannot open the above sites”

Onion sites will only open in Tor Browser. If you attempt to visit them using ordinary browsers such as Brave, Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Firefox, Konqueror, Opera etc, then you will get a standard “site not found” type error page.

Built in TOR manual in TOR browsers

Tor Browser has a built-in manual. To access it simply type the following into the address box of your Tor Browser and hit return key…

about:manual

It contains various subheadings which you may also access directly. For example, to access the part about accessing Onion sites, type the following…

about:manual#onion-services

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