Using TOR to access onion addresses on Windows

Discussion
1

I followed Start9 instructions for utilizing Tor on Windows. When I try to open Tor Browser, I get a message that " Tor Browser is already running, but is not responding. The old Tor Browser process must be closed to open a new window. " I select the button to “Close Tor Browser” and the message comes back again and cycles over and over again until I select “Cancel”. Therefore I cannot get the Tor Browser to open.

I deleted the Tor Browser as instructed several times and reloaded but continue to have the same issues.

I loaded Firefox and configured for Tor but cannot get Firefox to link to union addresses.

Any suggestions for accessing onion addresses to Start9 services on Windows?

2

Hey!

I have a few questions…
Where is Tor Browser installed currently?
Are you running Tor installer as administrator?
If you run sc query tor does it shows running or stuck?

3

Tor is installed on Windows 11 at c:/program files/tor browser. I installed Tor application as administrator. I cannot run any query as when I try to open Tor Browser I am informed that Tor Browser is already running and when I select the button to close Tor Browser, it does not close and I get the error again and again.

4

After you restart Windows and open for the first time, do you get the same message?

Did you simply install Tor Browser, or did you follow a guide to try to make Tor run as a system service in the background?

5

I am back trying to get .onion addresses to work on Tor Browser. I still get an error message the Tor is already running and must close Tor. I select button to close Tor but the message reappears. I opened CMD as listed in G.AI and tried to delete all exe’s associated with Tor or Firefox and none were found. I uninstalled Tor and Firefox and reinstalled Tor Browser as instructed (as administrator) and error that Tor was already running is still happening.

Screenshot 2026-01-04 150959
Screenshot 2026-01-04 1509591920×1032 137 KB

6

I’m not all that sure about the ins and outs of installing software applications on Windows (this forum is for StartOS support) but you’d need to uninstall this application fully and reinstall.

You could also try going into Windows task manager and closing any processes…

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc on your keyboard to open Task Manager.

7

Tor Browser is a portable application. Therefore, if you have installed it to C:\Program Files\Tor Browser\ it can only be launched by a user with Read/Write access to the installation directory (i.e. Administrator).

If you want to install Tor Browser to C:\Program Files then consider one of the following configurations:

Single-user

Install Tor Browser with Destination Folder: %LocalAppData%\Tor Browser
(%LocalAppData% = %systemdrive%\Users\%username%\AppData\Local)
e.g. C:\Users\John Smith\AppData\Local

In Windows Explorer, navigate to %LocalAppData%\Tor Browser\Browser and move the TorBrowser folder to %LocalAppData%

Optionally, delete %LocalAppData%\Tor Browser folder

Re-install Tor Browser with Destination Folder: %ProgramFiles%\Tor Browser

In Windows Explorer, navigate to %ProgramFiles%\Tor Browser\Browser

Delete %ProgramFiles%\Tor Browser\Browser\TorBrowser\

Using cmd.exe, create a Directory Junction between %ProgramFiles%\Tor Browser\Browser\TorBrowser\ and %LocalAppData%\TorBrowser using the command:

mklink /J “%ProgramFiles%\Tor Browser\Browser\TorBrowser\” “%LocalAppData%\TorBrowser”

(see also Link Shell Extension)

Multi-user (shared Tor Browser instance)
(multiple user profiles configurable using Firefox ProfileManager)

Install Tor Browser with Destination Folder: %ProgramData%\Tor Browser
(%ProgramData% = %systemdrive%\ProgramData)
e.g. C:\ProgramData

In Windows Explorer, navigate to %ProgramData%\Tor Browser\Browser and move the TorBrowser folder to %ProgramData%

Optionally, delete %ProgramData%\Tor Browser folder

Re-install Tor Browser with Destination Folder: %ProgramFiles%\Tor Browser

In Windows Explorer, navigate to %ProgramFiles%\Tor Browser\Browser

Delete %ProgramFiles%\Tor Browser\Browser\TorBrowser\

Using cmd.exe, create a Directory Junction between %ProgramFiles%\Tor Browser\Browser\TorBrowser\ and %ProgramData%\TorBrowser using the command:

mklink /J “%ProgramFiles%\Tor Browser\Browser\TorBrowser\” “%ProgramData%\TorBrowser”

8

Thank you @n_a, very helpful.