How to Install the Tor Browser on a Chromebook

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The Tor Project says that you cant run the full version of the anonymizing Tor browser on a Chromebook. But, by using your Chromebooks Linux subsystem, you can install and use it very easily. Heres how.

The Tor Project has created a free, anonymizing computer network that anyone can use to maintain their privacy online. The Tor network uses the regular internet infrastructure along with its own overlay network of volunteer-provided Tor nodes. These do the routing for the Tor network traffic. They encrypt your traffic and use other tricks to make back-tracing and identifying your IP address difficult to the point of being almost impossible.

However, the Tor browsers main purpose isnt clear-web browsing. In fact, it would make your connection seem a bit sluggish and would degrade your user experience. Its true purpose is to visit sites on the Tor network itself, which are called onion sites. These have an .onion extension and cannot be reached using a regular browser.

The Tor network is a darknet and a part of the dark web. Theres a lot of dreadful content on the dark web. You should only visit the dark web if you have a good or otherwise compelling reason to do so. And there are many valid reasonsthe dark web isnt all bad.

In some repressive regimes, Tor is the only way to reach clear-web websites that have been banned in those countries. Most major newspapers own an onion site on the Tor network so that anonymous sources can deliver stories and tip-offs while remaining anonymous.

The Tor website says that there is no official Tor client for ChromeOS. There is a Tor Android app and, because Chromebooks can run Android apps, you can use that on your Chromebook. However, its not ideal. The websites that you visit think that youre on a mobile device (such as a smartphone). The version of the website that youll see is the responsive one. These are tailored for small portrait-mode screens.

Luckily, there is a simple way to install a genuine Tor browser on your Chromebook. It uses the Linux subsystem for ChromeOS.If you havent activated Linux on your Chromebook, youll need to do that first.

The Linux subsystem might not be available on older Chromebook models. If the setting described in the next section doesnt appear in your ChromeOS settings, then sadly, youre out of luck.

First, youll need to turn on Chrome OSs Linux subsystem.

Click the notification area (system tray) to open the Settings menu and click the cogwheel icon.

On the Settings page, type linux into the search bar.

Click the Turn On button beside the Linux Development Environment (Beta) entry.

A confirmation window will appear to let you know that a download is about to happen.

Click the Next button to move to the next page.

Enter a user name, and leave the disk size option at the default setting. Click the Install button to start the installation process.This will take a few minutes. When the setup completes, youll see the Linux terminal window and a command prompt with a blinking cursor.

Note that the command prompt includes the user name you chose earlier. In this example, it was dave.

To find out a little bit about the Linux environment were running in, type this command and then hit the Enter key. Youll need to hit the Enter key each time you enter a command in the terminal window.

Some interesting information is displayed for us. The most important thing is that we now know which version of Linux this subsystem is based on. Its Debian Linux. Debian uses the APT software installation system, or package manager, in Linux-speak.

We will use APT to install the Tor browser.

Copy and paste the next line into the terminal window. Note that if youre using the keyboard to paste into the terminal window, the keystrokes are Ctrl+Shift+V, not Ctrl+V.

When we tell the APT system to install a package for us, it searches through several locations to try to find the package. This command sets up an additional location for APT to search.

Now, well tell our Linux subsystem to check for any updates.

When that command completes, well install the Tor browser launcher. Cut and paste this command into the Linux terminal window, and then hit Enter.

Youll see a lot of output scrolling past and a text-based progress bar at the bottom of the window. You might be prompted to confirm that youre sure that you wish to install the launcher. If youre prompted, press Y and hit Enter.

When the installation completes, we can launch the Tor browser launcher.

What weve installed is a small program that downloads the actual Tor browser installation files, checks the integrity of the download against signatures and checksums, and, if all is well, installs it for us.

Wait for the files to download and install.

A connection dialog box will appear. Click the Connect button.

Wait while yet another progress bar slowly creeps to 100%.

Then, at last, the Tor browser will appear.

Youll probably find it convenient to add the Tor browser to the pinned apps on your shelf. Right-click the Tor browser icon on your shelf and select Pin from the context menu.

To launch the Tor browser in the future, just click the icon on your shelf.

There will be a short delay while it gets prepared and configures itself, and then the Tor browser will launch.

Lets increase the security level of the browser. Click the three-line menu icon at the top right of the browser window.

From the menu, select Preferences.

When the settings window appears, click Privacy and Security in the list of options on the left-hand side of the screen. If you have the browser window set to a narrow width, the option is replaced by a padlock icon. Set the Security Level to the Safest setting.

Now that you have the Tor browser configured, youre good to go and visit onion sites. But where are they?Well, its a little bit Catch-22. If you know why you need to be on the dark web, you should know where you need to go to.

The dark web doesnt have an equivalent to Google. At least, theres nothing that you can trust that wont point you to fake sites and endless scams. So you cant search for a topic and get a list of links to different sites. This isnt the clear web.

But the only way to prove that your Tor browser is functioning correctly is to visit some onion sites. So here are some safe ones.

For maximum security, use the Tor browser with a VPN (ExpressVPN is our favorite), and only go onto the dark web with a specific purpose in mind. Casual tourism doesnt count.

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How to Install the Tor Browser on a Chromebook