Set up a Tor proxy on Windows to access the dark web using Chrome

We all know how to access the dark web, as "ODN" introduced before: how to use the Tor browser to access the dark web in three easy steps. However, if you don't use Tor Browser or Brave Browser, can you access the dark web with your daily browser, such as Chrome or Firefox? How to set up Tor proxy on Windows system and use Tor node to access the network? In this article, we will do a brief introduction so that we can do the crawling and monitoring of the dark web.

I. Download the Windows Expert Bundle and Tor Browser

Download the Windows Expert Bundle and unzip it to your desktop.

Download the Tor Browser (version depends on your computer). Run the .exe with default settings and install it.

Set Show hidden items and file extensions in Folder Options: In the upper left corner of the Explorer window, click the View tab. In the Show/Hide section on the far right, check the checkbox for Hidden Items; check the checkbox for File Extensions.

II. Combine files and relocate them

Open the Tor folder on the desktop and double-click tor.exe. Once the command prompt shows: [notice] Bootstrapped 100% (done): Done, close the window. This will create the folder C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\tor\ (where your username is).

From the Tor folder on your desktop, select all .dll and .exe files and cut/paste them into the C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\tor\ folder.

In the Tor folder on the desktop, open the Data folder. Select both geoip and geoip6 and cut/paste them into the C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\tor\ folder.

Open the C:\Users\Desktop\Tor Browser\Browser\TorBrowser\Tor\PluggableTransports folder, select obfs4proxy.exe and cut/paste it into the C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\ tor\ folder.

III. Create and edit your Tor configuration file

In the C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\tor\ folder, create a new file named torrc, taking care not to set the extension.

Open (e.g. Notepad) the torrc file using a file editor and add the following.

Log notice file C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\tor\notice.log
GeoIPFile C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\tor\geoip
GeoIPv6File C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\tor\geoip6

BridgeRelay 1

# Replace "TODO1" with a Tor port of your choice.
# This port must be externally reachable.
# Avoid port 9001 because it's commonly associated with Tor and censors may be scanning the Internet for this port.
ORPort TODO1

ServerTransportPlugin obfs4 exec C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\tor\obfs4proxy.exe

# Replace "TODO2" with an obfs4 port of your choice.
# This port must be externally reachable and must be different from the one specified for ORPort.
# Avoid port 9001 because it's commonly associated with Tor and censors may be scanning the Internet for this port.
ServerTransportListenAddr obfs4 0.0.0.0:TODO2

# Local communication port between Tor and obfs4.  Always set this to "auto".
# "Ext" means "extended", not "external".  Don't try to set a specific port number, nor listen on 0.0.0.0.
ExtORPort auto

# Replace "<[email protected]>" with your email address so we can contact you if there are problems with your bridge.
# This is optional but encouraged.
ContactInfo <[email protected]>

# Pick a nickname that you like for your bridge.  This is optional.

Nickname PickANickname

Don't forget to change the values of the ORPort, ServerTransportListenAddr, ContactInfo, and Nickname items.

Use a fixed obfs4 port larger than 1024, but avoid using port 9001.

Note that Tor's OR port and its obfs4 port must both be accessible. If your bridge is located behind a firewall or NAT, make sure to open both ports. You can use our reachability test to see if your obfs4 port is accessible from the Internet.

To be able to parse locally, add at the bottom of the torrc file.

DNSPort 53
AutomapHostsOnResolve 1
AutomapHostsSuffixes .onion

IV. Starting Tor with cmd

Open the command prompt application cmd and use the following command to switch to your working directory: cd C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\tor\

Execute the command: tor.exe -f torrc

V. Monitor tor.exe execution logs

To confirm that your bridge is running properly, you should check: C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\tor\notice.log, the log is shown below.

[notice] Your Tor server’s identity key fingerprint is ‘ ‘
[notice] Your Tor bridge’s hashed identity key fingerprint is ‘ ‘
[notice] Tor has successfully opened a circuit. Looks like client functionality is working.
[notice] Bootstrapped 100%: Done
[notice] Now checking whether ORPort :3818 is reachable… (this may take up to 20 minutes — look for log messages indicating success)
[notice] Self-testing indicates your ORPort is reachable from the outside. Excellent. Publishing server descriptor.

VI. Download and set up proxy tools such as SocksCap and configure local DNS

Take SocksCap64 as an example, after downloading and installing it, add proxy 127.0.0.1 with port 9050 to test the connectivity.

Modify the local DNS sub-option to 127.0.0.1.

Add Chrome and other browsers to the SocksCap64 program, and after opening, you can directly access the .onion domain name.

If you open Onion666 dark web navigation: http://666666666tjjjeweu5iikuj7hkpke5phvdylcless7g4dn6vma2xxcad.onion/

VII. Selenium crawler using Tor's simple configuration

from selenium import webdriver

chrome_options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
chrome_options.add_argument('--proxy-server=socks5://127.0.0.1:9050')
driver = webdriver.Chrome(chrome_options=chrome_options)
driver.get('https://onion666.com')

VIII. Sample configuration file

Log notice file C:\Users\administrator\AppData\Roaming\tor\notice.log
GeoIPFile C:\Users\administrator\AppData\Roaming\tor\geoip
GeoIPv6File C:\Users\administrator\AppData\Roaming\tor\geoip6

BridgeRelay 1

# Replace "TODO1" with a Tor port of your choice.
# This port must be externally reachable.
# Avoid port 9001 because it's commonly associated with Tor and censors may be scanning the Internet for this port.
ORPort 54078

ServerTransportPlugin obfs4 exec C:\Users\administrator\AppData\Roaming\tor\obfs4proxy.exe

# Replace "TODO2" with an obfs4 port of your choice.
# This port must be externally reachable and must be different from the one specified for ORPort.
# Avoid port 9001 because it's commonly associated with Tor and censors may be scanning the Internet for this port.
ServerTransportListenAddr obfs4 0.0.0.0:54079

# Local communication port between Tor and obfs4.  Always set this to "auto".
# "Ext" means "extended", not "external".  Don't try to set a specific port number, nor listen on 0.0.0.0.
ExtORPort auto

# Replace "<[email protected]>" with your email address so we can contact you if there are problems with your bridge.
# This is optional but encouraged.
ContactInfo [email protected]

# Pick a nickname that you like for your bridge.  This is optional.
Nickname anwangxia

DNSPort 53
AutomapHostsOnResolve 1
AutomapHostsSuffixes .onion