How to circumvent censorship with little-t tor?

When direct access to the Tor network is blocked, you can configure little-t tor to use bridges like obfs4, Snowflake, or WebTunnel to bypass censorship.

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Attention: These instructions are meant for using pluggable transports with tor, the network daemon i.e. little-t tor. For instructions on using pluggable transports with Tor Browser, refer to the Tor Browser user manual.

Direct access to the Tor network may sometimes be blocked. Tor can be used with circumvention tools, known as pluggable transports, for getting around these blocks. obfs4, Snowflake and WebTunnel are some pluggable transports available to use with Tor. Tor can be configured to use pluggable transports by modifying Tor's configuration file i.e. torrc.

Steps to configure tor to use pluggable transports for different operating systems are as follows.

  1. Download and install tor or the Tor Expert Bundle for Windows. If access to the Tor Project website is blocked, use an official Tor Project mirror.
  2. If you have tor installed, the pluggable transport binary, lyrebird, can be downloaded as part of the Tor Expert Bundle. lyrebird implements several pluggable transport protocols, including obfs4, Snowflake and WebTunnel.
  3. Extract the Tor Expert Bundle to a directory of your choice.
  4. For pluggable transports, obfs4 and WebTunnel, obtain bridges from the bridges website, via Email or via Telegram.
  5. Modify Tor's configuration file, i.e. torrc.
  6. Copy and modify the following sample torrc.

Configuring tor to use obfs4, Snowflake or WebTunnel

torrc example:

UseBridges 1
# Please review the path to the pluggable transport executable
ClientTransportPlugin meek_lite,obfs4,snowflake,webtunnel exec C:\Users\user\Downloads\tor\pluggable_transports\lyrebird.exe
# Uncomment the line below depending to the type of bridge your are using
#Bridge obfs4 <IP ADDRESS>:<PORT> <FINGERPRINT> cert=<CERTIFICATE> iat-mode=0
#Bridge webtunnel <IP ADDRESS>:<PORT> <FINGERPRINT> url=<URL> ver=0.0.1
#Bridge snowflake 192.0.2.3:80 2B280B23E1107BB62ABFC40DDCC8824814F80A72 fingerprint=2B280B23E1107BB62ABFC40DDCC8824814F80A72 url=https://1098762253.rsc.cdn77.org front=www.phpmyadmin.net,cdn.zk.mk ice=stun:stun.antisip.com:3478,stun:stun.epygi.com:3478,stun:stun.uls.co.za:3478,stun:stun.voipgate.com:3478,stun:stun.mixvoip.com:3478,stun:stun.nextcloud.com:3478,stun:stun.bethesda.net:3478,stun:stun.nextcloud.com:443 utls-imitate=hellorandomizedalpn

Now save the torrc file and run from the command line:

./tor -f torrc

Troubleshooting

  • If Tor fails to connect, check that the torrc file is correctly formatted.
  • If tor is installed from the Tor Expert Bundle ensure the torrc file is in the same folder as the tor binary.
  • Check the Tor logs for errors.
  • After exhausting these common troubleshooting steps, if the connection still fails, the bridges you received may be offline or blocked. Obtain new set of bridges from the bridges website, via Email or via Telegram.

Attention: These instructions are meant for using pluggable transports with tor, the network daemon i.e. little-t tor. For instructions on using pluggable transports with Tor Browser, refer to the Tor Browser user manual.

Direct access to the Tor network may sometimes be blocked. Tor can be used with circumvention tools, known as pluggable transports, for getting around these blocks. obfs4, Snowflake and WebTunnel are some pluggable transports available to use with Tor. Tor can be configured to use pluggable transports by modifying Tor's configuration file i.e. torrc.

Steps to configure tor to use pluggable transports for different operating systems are as follows.

  1. Download and install tor or the Tor Expert Bundle for macOS. If access to the Tor Project website is blocked, use an official Tor Project mirror.
  2. If you have tor installed, the pluggable transport binary, lyrebird, can be downloaded as part of the Tor Expert Bundle. lyrebird implements several pluggable transport protocols, including obfs4, Snowflake and WebTunnel.
  3. Extract the Tor Expert Bundle to a directory of your choice.
  4. For pluggable transports, obfs4 and WebTunnel, obtain bridges from the bridges website, via Email or via Telegram.
  5. Modify Tor's configuration file, i.e. torrc.
  6. Copy and modify the following sample torrc.

Configuring tor to use obfs4, Snowflake or WebTunnel

torrc example:

UseBridges 1
# Please review the path to the pluggable transport executable
ClientTransportPlugin meek_lite,obfs4,snowflake,webtunnel exec /Users/user/Downloads/tor/pluggable_transports/lyrebird
# Uncomment the line below depending to the type of bridge your are using
#Bridge obfs4 <IP ADDRESS>:<PORT> <FINGERPRINT> cert=<CERTIFICATE> iat-mode=0
#Bridge webtunnel <IP ADDRESS>:<PORT> <FINGERPRINT> url=<URL> ver=0.0.1
#Bridge snowflake 192.0.2.3:80 2B280B23E1107BB62ABFC40DDCC8824814F80A72 fingerprint=2B280B23E1107BB62ABFC40DDCC8824814F80A72 url=https://1098762253.rsc.cdn77.org front=www.phpmyadmin.net,cdn.zk.mk ice=stun:stun.antisip.com:3478,stun:stun.epygi.com:3478,stun:stun.uls.co.za:3478,stun:stun.voipgate.com:3478,stun:stun.mixvoip.com:3478,stun:stun.nextcloud.com:3478,stun:stun.bethesda.net:3478,stun:stun.nextcloud.com:443 utls-imitate=hellorandomizedalpn

Now save the torrc file and run from the command line:

./tor -f torrc

Troubleshooting

  • If Tor fails to connect, check that the torrc file is correctly formatted.
  • If tor is installed from the Tor Expert Bundle ensure the torrc file is in the same folder as the tor binary.
  • Check the Tor logs for errors.
  • After exhausting these common troubleshooting steps, if the connection still fails, the bridges you received may be offline or blocked. Obtain new set of bridges from the bridges website, via Email or via Telegram.

Attention: These instructions are meant for using pluggable transports with tor, the network daemon i.e. little-t tor. For instructions on using pluggable transports with Tor Browser, refer to the Tor Browser user manual.

Direct access to the Tor network may sometimes be blocked. Tor can be used with circumvention tools, known as pluggable transports, for getting around these blocks. obfs4, Snowflake and WebTunnel are some pluggable transports available to use with Tor. Tor can be configured to use pluggable transports by modifying Tor's configuration file i.e. torrc.

Steps to configure tor to use pluggable transports for different operating systems are as follows.

  1. Download and install tor or the Tor Expert Bundle for Linux. If access to the Tor Project website is blocked, use an official Tor Project mirror.
  2. If you have tor installed, the pluggable transport binary, lyrebird, can be downloaded as part of the Tor Expert Bundle. lyrebird implements several pluggable transport protocols, including obfs4, Snowflake and WebTunnel.
  3. Extract the Tor Expert Bundle to a directory of your choice.
  4. For pluggable transports, obfs4 and WebTunnel, obtain bridges from the bridges website, via Email or via Telegram.
  5. Modify Tor's configuration file, i.e. torrc.
  6. Copy and modify the following sample torrc. If you have installed little-t tor on Linux via your package manager, you will have to modify the default torrc.

Configuring tor to use obfs4, Snowflake or WebTunnel

torrc example:

UseBridges 1
# Please review the path to the pluggable transport executable
ClientTransportPlugin meek_lite,obfs4,snowflake,webtunnel exec /home/user/Downloads/tor/pluggable_transports/lyrebird
# Uncomment the line below depending to the type of bridge your are using    
#Bridge obfs4 <IP ADDRESS>:<PORT> <FINGERPRINT> cert=<CERTIFICATE> iat-mode=0
#Bridge webtunnel <IP ADDRESS>:<PORT> <FINGERPRINT> url=<URL> ver=0.0.1
#Bridge snowflake 192.0.2.3:80 2B280B23E1107BB62ABFC40DDCC8824814F80A72 fingerprint=2B280B23E1107BB62ABFC40DDCC8824814F80A72 url=https://1098762253.rsc.cdn77.org front=www.phpmyadmin.net,cdn.zk.mk ice=stun:stun.antisip.com:3478,stun:stun.epygi.com:3478,stun:stun.uls.co.za:3478,stun:stun.voipgate.com:3478,stun:stun.mixvoip.com:3478,stun:stun.nextcloud.com:3478,stun:stun.bethesda.net:3478,stun:stun.nextcloud.com:443 utls-imitate=hellorandomizedalpn

Now save the torrc file and run from the command line:

./tor -f torrc
  • Note: If you have installed little-t tor on Linux via your package manager and modified the default torrc, you will have to restart the daemon for the changes to take effect.

Troubleshooting

  • If Tor fails to connect, check that the torrc file is correctly formatted.
  • If tor is installed from the Tor Expert Bundle ensure the torrc file is in the same folder as the tor binary.
  • Check the Tor logs for errors.
  • After exhausting these common troubleshooting steps, if the connection still fails, the bridges you received may be offline or blocked. Obtain new set of bridges from the bridges website, via Email or via Telegram.