Proxy Windows 10 through a tor service

What are we going to do?

Proxy Windows 10 through a tor service.

tor proxy setup page
tor proxy setup page

How are we doing it?

We will use PowerShell, services, and network connections to configure this and an external site called dnsleaktest.com to confirm the new IP address.

tor proxy setup page
tor proxy setup page

Proxy Windows 10 through a tor service dnsleaktest.com Why are we doing it? To increase online privacy, proxy Windows 10 through a tor service.

Proxy Windows 10 through a tor service TOR Download page What are the downsides? This isn’t a configuration change for everyone. The TOR network is slower trading some speed for increased privacy.

The TOR browser is a better solution for an anonymous browser experience however it doesn’t hide other network connections on your system. The internet, in general, will not know as much about you. Sites may assume your language is that of your exit node. 3rd party cookies will track you. Simply using the TOR protocol isn’t enough to be anonymous, as a result, this can give you a false sense of security unless you harden your system against fingerprinting. Consequently, the TOR browser will do this for you. Pages will constantly request you fill out a CAPTCHA to prove you are a human. TOR access is blocked by some sites because they are a common path to anonymity and thus hackers. High-Level Steps

Download tor expert bundle

Download the expert service bundle from https://www.torproject.org/download/tor/expert.

tor proxy setup page
tor proxy setup page

Extract the expert service bundle

Extract to a new folder on the C: drive (because the service is running as “local system account” they don’t necessarily have permissions to your home directory)

tor proxy setup page
tor proxy setup page

Run a command

Open a shell in the tor folder and run the following command to install the service. ./tor.exe –service install –options -f “C:/tor/torric”

install command
install command

Start tor service

Run services as administrator and start the tor service as local system account

tor proxy setup page
tor proxy setup page

Set Proxy Settings

Fill in socks with 127.0.0.1 port 9050

tor internet connection setup
tor internet connection setup

Test with dnsleaktest.com

Test with dnsleaktest.com in chrome, as it observes system proxy settings.

tor proxy setup page
tor proxy setup page

Proxy Windows 10 through a tor service

Proxy Windows 10 through a tor service
Proxy Windows 10 through a tor service

Screen Capture

The video below walks through each step required to get it up and running which can be useful if you come across any issues.

On a side note extracting the tor folder to C:/tor folder will allow the service to start from the PowerShell command.

Useful commands ./tor.exe –service install –options -f “C:/tor/torric”

Install’s the service and links to the torric file additional configuration.

./tor.exe –service remove

Removes the service from your system, however don’t forget to remove the proxy from the LAN connection.