# Setting up Tor Hidden Service

Tor hidden services allow various types of services (web server, telnet server, chat server, etc) to be operated within the Tor network. This allows both users and service operators to conceal their identities and locations. Just about anything that can be run on the clearnet can be run within the Tor darknet.

Hidden Services are called "hidden" because your website’s IP in ToR is hidden - they cannot see the IP of your server — they can’t track you. An onion service needs to advertise its existence in the Tor network before clients will be able to contact it. Therefore, the service randomly picks some relays, builds circuits to them, and asks them to act as *introduction points* by telling them its public key.

Setting up a hidden service on Tor is a simple process and depending on the level of detail, an operator can keep their service completely anonymous. Depending on your use case, you may or may not choose to anonymize your service at all. For anonymous operation, it is recommended to bind services being offered to [localhost](http://localhost) and make sure that they do not leak information such as an IP address or hostname in any situation (such as with error messages).

# Setting up the hidden service

#### Prerequisite

1. A virtual machine to host the hidden service with Ubuntu or Debian installed and root access
    

## Download Tor

Edit the `/etc/apt/sources.list` file and based on your OS, make the relevant entries at the end of the file

#### Ubuntu Bionic Beaver (18.04 LTS)

#### Ubuntu Xenial Xerus (16.04 LTS)

#### Debian Jessie

#### Debian Stretch

Then add the gpg key used to sign the packages by running the following commands at your command prompt:

Now to install Tor, run the following commands

## Configure torrc file

Edit the `torrc` file

`nano /etc/tor/torrc`

Find the section where it says "This section is just for location-hidden services". Uncomment the two lines below:

`HiddenServiceDir` is where you'll find the hostname and its private key. We will change this to `/var/lib/tor/hideme/HiddenServicePort` tell Tor on which port it should listen to and on which port it should forward the request. We will change it to `80 127.0.0.1:8000`. Tor will listen to port 80 and forward to at port 8000.

Save the file and exit. Now restart the Tor service.

`sudo systemctl restart tor`

## Install and Setup NGINX

First, install the NGINX server

`apt install nginx -y`

We will delete the default configuration file of NGINX

`rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default`

Now we will create a configuration file for our hidden service

`nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/hideme.conf`

In the editor, enter the following lines:

Create a symbolic link of the configuration file to the sites-enabled directory

`ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/hideme.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/hideme.conf`

Restart the NGINX server

`service nginx restart`

Now we will create an index file in html directory to be server over Tor hidden service

`nano /var/www/html/index.html`

Add the following lines in the editor window

Save the file and exit.

## Get onion address

We will find the onion address of our service in the directory entered against `HiddenServiceDir` in the `torrc` file.

`cd /var/lib/tor/hideme/`

Run `ls` to ensure that there are both the `hostname` and `private_key` file. View the hostname by running

`cat hostname`

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/rishabhlakhotia/image/upload/image-13.png align="left")

You will get a 56-character long onion address. Copy this address.

## Test the configuration

Open the Tor browser and enter the hostname that we obtained in the previous step.

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/rishabhlakhotia/image/upload/screen-image.png align="left")

If you get a screen like this, you have successfully configured your Tor hidden service.

## Onion address v3 vs v2

By default, in the latest version of Tor, you will get a v3 onion address that is 56 characters long. If you wish you use 16 characters long v2 address, edit the `torrc` file and replace the previous configuration with the lines below

Restart Tor by running `systemctl restart tor`

Find your new hostname

`cat /var/lib/tor/hideme/hostname`

Tor by no means is illegal. Many search engines and even Facebook provide service over Tor for countries with heavy censorship.

Facebook has its onion service at [www.facebookwkhpilnemxj7asaniu7vnjjbiltxjqhye3mhbshg7kx5tfyd.onion](https://www.facebookwkhpilnemxj7asaniu7vnjjbiltxjqhye3mhbshg7kx5tfyd.onion/) and duckduckgo runs on [duckduckgogg42xjoc72x3sjasowoarfbgcmvfimaftt6twagswzczad.onion](https://duckduckgogg42xjoc72x3sjasowoarfbgcmvfimaftt6twagswzczad.onion/). You can also view this blog on [blog.rishabhl5pg7fr6jniteopb76jc67x4pyzbljsbaopt7xcxszp7hqnyd.onion](http://blog.rishabhl5pg7fr6jniteopb76jc67x4pyzbljsbaopt7xcxszp7hqnyd.onion/) using TOR Browser.