Configuring Firefox for Tor¶

Ensure you are already running Tor on your Mac.

Open Firefox and enter about:config in the URL bar. Accept any warnings that appear

Search for dom.securecontext.allowlist_onions and set the value to true:

Search for security.enterprise_roots.enable, set it to true.

Go to the right-hand hamburger menu and select Settings:

Search for the term proxy in the search bar in the upper right and select Settings...:

Check the option labeled Use System Proxy Settings and the box labeled Proxy DNS when using SOCKS v5:

Click OK and restart Firefox

Test that Firefox can resolve .onion URLs by visiting Start9’s Tor website: http://privacy34kn4ez3y3nijweec6w4g54i3g54sdv7r5mr6soma3w4begyd.onion.

Ensure you are already running Tor on your Windows machine.

Download the Proxy Auto Config file to inform Firefox how to resolve .onion URLs. Click here to get the one offered by Start9. Save it somewhere you will not delete it, and remember where you save it. For example:

C:\Program Files\Tor Browser\proxy.pac

Open Firefox and enter about:config in the URL bar. Accept any warnings that appear

Search for dom.securecontext.allowlist_onions and set the value to true:

Go to the right-hand hamburger menu and select Settings:

Search for the term proxy in the search bar in the upper right and select Settings...:

Select Automatic proxy configuration URL and paste in the path to your PAC file from earlier, prefixed with file:// and with all backslashes (\) replaced by forward slashes (/). For example:

file://C:/Program Files/Tor Browser/proxy.pac

Also check the box labeled Proxy DNS when using SOCKS v5:

Click OK and restart Firefox

Test that Firefox can resolve .onion URLs by visiting Start9’s Tor website: http://privacy34kn4ez3y3nijweec6w4g54i3g54sdv7r5mr6soma3w4begyd.onion.

Ensure you are already running Tor on your Linux machine.

Download the Proxy Auto Config file to inform Firefox how to resolve .onion URLs. You can get Start9’s standard file from a terminal, by using:

sudo wget -P ~/ https://start9.com/assets/proxy.pac

Open Firefox and enter about:config in the URL bar. Accept any warnings that appear

Search for dom.securecontext.allowlist_onions and set the value to true:

Determine the full path of proxy.pac, which we will use in step 9, by executing the following command in the terminal, and copying its output to your clipboard:

echo file://$HOME/proxy.pac

Go to the right-hand hamburger menu and select Settings:

Search for the term proxy in the search bar in the upper right and select Settings...:

Select Automatic proxy configuration URL and paste the output from the command you performed in step 6. Be aware, the triple /// is intentional, and your path will be different from the one below - namely, YOUR_LINUX_USERNAME will be your actual linux username:

file:///home/YOUR_LINUX_USERNAME/proxy.pac

Check the box labeled Proxy DNS when using SOCKS v5 in the image above

Click OK and restart Firefox

Test that Firefox can resolve .onion URLs by visiting Start9’s Tor website: http://privacy34kn4ez3y3nijweec6w4g54i3g54sdv7r5mr6soma3w4begyd.onion.

Ensure you are already running Tor on your Android device.

Download the Proxy Auto Config file to inform Firefox how to resolve .onion URLs. We have one hosted here

Open Firefox and enter about:config in the URL bar. Accept any warnings that appear

Search for dom.securecontext.allowlist_onions and set the value to true:

Search for network.proxy.autoconfig_url, and set the value to file:///storage/emulated/0/Download/proxy.pac. This is the default location of a the proxy.pac file downloaded in step 2, although your path may vary:

Search for network.proxy.type into the search bar, and set the value to 2:

Search for network.proxy.socks_remote_dns, and set the value to true:

Search for dom.securecontext.allowlist_onions and set the value to true:

Search for network.http.referer.hideOnionSource and set the value to true

(GrapheneOS users only): Head to Settings -> Apps -> Firefox Beta -> Permissions -> Photos and videos -> Configure Storage Scopes -> ADD FILE, then navigate to where you placed the proxy.pac file:

Restart Firefox

Test that Firefox can resolve .onion URLs by visiting Start9’s Tor website: http://privacy34kn4ez3y3nijweec6w4g54i3g54sdv7r5mr6soma3w4begyd.onion.