How to Install Tor Browser on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

Tor, also known as The Onion Router, is open-source, free software that enables anonymous communication when using online services such as web surfing. The Tor network directs the Internet traffic through an accessible worldwide volunteer overlay network with over six thousand relays and continues to grow. Many users want to find more ways to keep their information and activities anonymous or at least as private as possible, which has led to Tor Browser growing quite popular in recent years as it conceals a user’s location and usage from anyone conducting network surveillance or traffic analysis.

The Tor network is intended to protect the personal privacy of users and their freedom and ability from conducting communication without having their activities monitored, and data were taken without their consent and used to sum it up.

In the following tutorial, you will learn how to install the latest Tor Browser on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa using various methods using the command line terminal with some information on basic setup.

Update Ubuntu

First, make your system to make sure all existing packages are up to date to avoid any conflicts.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Install Tor Browser – APT Method

The easiest and best way to install and keep Tor Browser up to date in the options listed in the tutorial is to install Tor Browser from Ubuntu 20.04 default repository.

sudo apt install tor torbrowser-launcher -y

An alternative method is to use the Flatpak third-party installation manager or download the archive manually, which can be found in the following steps if you prefer these methods.

Install Tor Browser – Flatpak Method

The second option is to use the Flatpak package manager. This is another popular option similar to Snap but is featured amongst many distributions as an alternative third-party installation package manager for the latest packages.

First, re-install Flatpak if you have removed the package manager previously.

sudo apt install flatpak -y

Before you proceed, reboot your system, or else you will have issues such as application icons not appearing.

reboot

Next, you need to enable Flatpack using the following command in your terminal.

sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Now install the Tor Browser using the following flatpak command.

flatpak install flathub com.github.micahflee.torbrowser-launcher -y

Install Tor Browser – Manual Method

The last installation option is to install Tor Browser using the latest archive from the downloads page. This method gives you the absolute latest version, but sometimes you will need to repeat the process for significant browser changes, but for the most part, it should self-update in the browser itself.

First, use the wget command to download the latest .tar.xz link as follows:

wget https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/{version}/tor-browser-linux64-{version}_en-US.tar.xz

Note the above command is an example only. Make sure to check for the latest version.

Once you have downloaded the installation archive, extract it using:

Example only:

tar -xvJf tor-browser-linux64-{version}_en-US.tar.xz

Now, CD into the directory with.

cd tor-browser*

To start Tor Browser and set up configuration installation, use the following command:

./start-tor-browser.desktop 

Note that this will launch Tor Browser. However, you will not see it in your Show Applications menu. To install the Tor Browser icon, you will need to add –register-app to the end of the command as follows:

./start-tor-browser.desktop --register-app

How to Launch & Configure Tor Browser

Now that you have the Tor Browser installed, launching can be done in a few ways.

tor-browser

Flatpak users can launch the Tor browser using the following command from the terminal.

flatpak run com.github.micahflee.torbrowser-launcher

The Tor Browser can be launched from the applications menu by following the path.

Activities > Show Applications > Tor Browser.

Example:

On the first launch, you will come across the following window.

Example:

Most users would use Connect by default.

Tor Network settings can use proxy settings for countries with tight restrictions or users who want more privacy. Please make sure you are not breaking any laws using this.

Example:

In the tutorial, the method used was to connect straight to the network as most users would. When you click connect, depending on your location, it may take 2 to 10 seconds to connect to the web, and you will see this message while connecting.

Example:

Once connected, you will get the following page.

Example:

Congratulations, you have connected to the Tor Network through your Tor Browser.

Tor Onion Services

When using Tor Browser, instead of using regular websites, you can elect to use the part of the Online services of the Tor Network. The websites, however, must be available in this format, and if they are, they use a .onion address.

For those unfamiliar with onion services, they are anonymous network services that are exposed over the Tor network. In contrast to conventional Internet services, onion services are private, generally not indexed by search engines, and use self-certifying domain names long and complex for humans to read.

Some notable sites using .onion services are:

• The New York Times (https://www.nytimes3xbfgragh.onion)
• DuckDuckGo (3g2upl4pq6kufc4m.onion)
• ProtonMail (https://protonirockerxow.onion)

To see more services visit the wiki page List of Tor onion services.

How to Update/Upgrade Tor Browser

Tor Browser handles updates in the browser itself for the most part. Still, anything else will be covered by the standard update command that matches your installation using the command line terminal.

APT Update Method

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Flatpak Update Method

flatpak update

How to Remove (Uninstall) Tor Browser

Use one of the following commands to suit the original installation method for users who no longer require the application.

APT Remove Method

sudo apt autoremove tor torbrowser-launcher --purge -y

This will remove any unused dependencies from this installation and any other leftovers that should be removed.

Flatpak Remove Method

flatpak remove  --delete-data com.github.micahflee.torbrowser-launcher -y

Next, run the following command for any leftover clean-ups required, similar to the autoremove command described for the apt remove example command.

flatpak remove --unused

Comments and Conclusion

The Tor Network is excellent for staying anonymous when browsing the web, but it comes at a price. When using this browser, you may experience slower load times and fewer website options because many sites choose to block access from specific locations to keep their visitors safe or comply with court orders issued against them if they are being surveilled by law enforcement agents who would rather not reveal themselves while visiting these pages.