How to use the Tor Browser on a Chromebook
The Tor Browser exists to help computer users access sites censored by governments. It also can enhance your privacy online if you are concerned with it. In this guide, we’ll show you how to install the Tor Browser bundle and connect to the network on Chrome OS.
How to enable Linux on your Chromebook
The Tor Browser doesn’t come native to Chrome OS, and there aren’t any native “Chrome apps” that can install it. Thankfully, Chrome OS comes with Crostini, a system that allows Chrome OS users to run Linux applications on the Chrome OS desktop with an LXC container.
However, the Chrome OS Linux container isn’t installed by default on Chrome OS. As a result, you must enable it on your system before attempting to set up the Tor Browser on your Chromebook.
To set up Linux support on Chrome OS, start by clicking on the clock in the dash. Then, locate the “Gear” icon, and click on it with the mouse to access the Google Chrome OS settings area.
Inside the Google Chrome OS settings area, find the “Advanced” section, and click on the drop-down arrow to view the advanced options they have to offer. Look through the “Advanced” section for “Linux development environment,” and select it. Then, choose the “Turn on” button to enable the feature.
After selecting the “Turn on” button, it will download and install the LXC container on your Chrome OS system. It will also download a Terminal app and launch it. In this terminal app, select the “Penguin” option.
When you select “Penguin,” it will launch the container’s terminal interface. From here, you’ll need to update the container. Keeping the container’s software up to date is critical because if you don’t, many of the apps installed on your Chromebook will not run correctly. To update the container, use the apt update and apt upgrade commands.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
How to install the Tor Browser on your Chromebook
The Tor Browser is distributed from the Tor project website, and users usually download the browser bundle to use the application. However, as Chrome OS isn’t like other Linux operating systems, you’ll need to use the Flatpak app system to install the software.
However, before you can install the Tor Browser on your Chromebook with Flatpak, you’ll have to install the Flatpak runtime. This runtime handles everything you need to run Tor as a Flatpak.
To install the Flatpak runtime on your Chromebook, open up the Chrome OS terminal. Once it is open, find “Penguin,” and click on it to launch the Linux terminal interface. Then, run the apt install command to install the “flatpak” package. This package handles Flatpak programs on Chrome OS.
sudo apt install flatpak
With the Flatpak runtime set up on your system, you need to add the Flathub application repository. This repository holds the Tor Browser package and many, many other programs you can run on your Chromebook. To add Flathub, execute the following command in a terminal window.
flatpak --user remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
After adding the Flathub app store to the Linux container on your Chromebook, you can install the Tor Browser app. To install the software on your system, use the following flatpak install command below to get it working.
flatpak install flathub com.github.micahflee.torbrowser-launcher
How to use the Tor Browser on your Chromebook
To use the Tor Browser on your Chromebook, you need to start the launcher and connect to the service. In the “Linux apps” menu, look for “Tor Browser Launcher Settings” and launch it.
Once it is open on the Chrome OS desktop, find the “Install Tor Browser” button, and click it. Selecting this button will download the browser bundle and install it inside of the Flatpak. This step is required to connect to the Tor network.
When the Tor Launcher Settings app is finished, it will open up the Tor Browser app. The Tor Browser app is a fork of Firefox with Tor connectivity abilities and other privacy features. To connect to the network, find the “Connect to Tor” button, and click on it with the mouse.
With the “Connect to Tor” button selected, the browser will log into the Tor network. Once you are logged in, you’ll be able to browse the Tor network on your Chromebook.
