Raspberry Pi - Local Network Tor Proxy Server

In this guide we’ll look at installing and configuring Tor on a Raspberry Pi to act as a proxy server providing access to Tor for any machine on the local network.

However - this is not using the Tor Browser so you will need to ensure the browser you are using is ‘safe’. You’ll want a plug-in or settings change to disable JavaScript - and may want to look into various other privacy related extensions- for example blocking WebRTC.

Before we start any project -

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Installing Tor

How to install the Tor software on your Raspberry Pi -

sudo apt-get install tor

Check your installation with -

sudo systemctl status tor@default.service

Configure Proxy Server

We need to configure Tor to open a SOCKS proxy on a port of our choosing.

1. Edit the ‘torrc’ file -

   sudo nano /etc/tor/torrc

2. Scroll to lines 18 and 19 which by default will be commented out.

3. Uncomment lines 18 and 19 and update accordingly -

    socksPort 666 # Desired port number
    SocksPort 192.168.1.112:666 # IP of Raspberry Pi
   

4. Uncomment and update line 49 as per the below -

   RunAsDaemon 1

5. Reload the Tor service with the updated settings -

   sudo systemctl restart tor.service

Configure your clients

You’ve now got a proxy server running on your local network which allows any of the machines in your home to access the internet anonymously and visit .onion sites.

I recommend using a Chrome plugin called Proxy SwitchyOmega to quickly switch between proxy servers, and setup rules for auto switching.

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