<h2>Setting up Vidalia</h2>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/linux/tor-browser-gnu-linux-i686-2.3.25-6-dev-en-US.tar.gz" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Download the Tor Browser bundle</a></li>
<li>Extract, go to the App folder, and double click Vidalia (and select &quot;Run&quot;). Let Vidalia load.</li>
<li>If Vidalia doesn't work, run the &quot;start-tor-browser&quot; file at the top level of the extracted directory.</li>
<li>Ensure that the port is 9150 (it usually is). If you're not sure, go to Edit&gt;Preferences&gt;Network&gt;Settings and check that the opened Firefox window is connected to a SOCKS v5 proxy on port 9150. If not, make note of the port and use it in place of 9150 in the rest of this post.</li>
<li>If Firefox was opened, close it. You don't need it for this.</li>
</ol>
<h1>Setting Tor up for your Bitcoin client</h1>
<h2>Bitcoin-QT</h2>
<ol>
<li>Ensure Vidalia is running</li>
<li><a href="http://bitcoin.org/en/download" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Download Bitcoin-QT</a>, and extract</li>
<li>On your Debian command line, run <code>sudo apt-get install libqtgui4</code></li>
<li>Go to the <code>bin</code> folder in the extracted Bitcoin, choose the 32 or 64 forlder depending on your system (32-bit/64-bit), double click the <code>bitcoin-qt</code>, select &quot;Run&quot;</li>
<li>Go to &quot;Settings&quot; in the menu bar, &quot;Network&quot; tab. Check the SOCKS proxy tickmark, set IP as <code>127.0.0.1</code>, port as <code>9150</code>, with version 5.</li>
</ol>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/pENVP.png" alt="enter image description here" /></p>
<h2>Setting it up with Electrum</h2>
<p>Run the following lines in your command prompt:</p>
<pre><code>sudo apt-get install python-qt4 python-pip
sudo pip install http://download.electrum.org/download/Electrum-1.7.3.tar.gz
</code></pre>
<p>If you have trouble using <code>pip</code>, download Electrum from <a href="http://download.electrum.org/download/Electrum-1.7.3.tar.gz" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> and run <code>pip install /path/to/Electrum-1.7.3.tar.gz</code> (Usually will be <code>pip install ~/Downloads/Electrum-1.7.3.tar.gz</code>)</p>
<p>Run <code>electrum</code> on the command line</p>
<p>At this screen, you can choose either option depending of whether or not you've already used Electrum before:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/vJcGg.png" alt="enter image description here" /></p>
<p>Now, use these settings for the next screen:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/XwC0c.png" alt="enter image description here" />
You may use a different default server if you wish. Try to get one that is situated close to your physical location.</p>
<p>If you selected &quot;restore&quot;, fetch your seed (should look something like the one entered below) and enter it in the text field. If you had a lot of addresses in your old wallet, increase the gap limit. (that is the number of unused addresses Electrum generates before giving up on this)</p>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/iHeqX.png" alt="enter image description here" /></p>
<p>Follow the remaining instructions: Safely store the wallet seed, and set a password if you wish. If the connection is working, you should see a green light at the bottom:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/1Yj3d.png" alt="enter image description here" /></p>
<h2>Setting Tor up with bitcoind</h2>
<p>Simply run <code>bitcoind  -proxy=127.0.0.1:9150</code> (or whatever the port is)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-30T08:34:36.010Z
Are you sure of port 9150? I read 9050 instead in some sources...
Steven Roose
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-30T08:35:58.533Z
I've read both ports in respect to setting up a VPN with Tor. Should there be a difference?
Charles Hoskinson
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-30T08:40:50.880Z
@StevenRoose: Depends. Tor browser bundle uses 9150.
Manishearth
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-30T08:41:21.647Z
@CharlesHoskinson: Depends on how you have installed Tor. The method I've given usually sets it up on 9150. If not, I've mentioned a way to check.
Manishearth
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-28T03:40:53.017Z
Could you include instructions for bitcoind?
GDorn
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-28T04:13:57.067Z
@GDorn done. Not sure of that bit though, never used it.
Manishearth
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-30T08:30:27.040Z
2014-01-28T04:13:35.830Z
2020-06-16T11:10:03.350Z
Manishearth
<p>I've received a question asking how to setup a Bitcoin client using Tor on a Debian based Linux system. Could someone provide a rough overview and perhaps a link to a tutorial?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-30T08:29:52.897Z
This might be valuable as a wiki imho
Charles Hoskinson
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-30T08:30:49.603Z
Not really, the steps are very simple.
Manishearth
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-30T08:42:59.453Z
It's a surprisingly common question
Charles Hoskinson
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-30T10:55:34.827Z
Doesn't mean that you need to wikify it :) Wiki is for when collaboration is needed. Not so much here.
Manishearth
<bitcoind><tor>
Running a Bitcoin client with tor with a Debian based Linux OS
Charles Hoskinson
# Running a Bitcoin client with tor with a Debian based Linux OS

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-04-30)

I've received a question asking how to setup a Bitcoin client using Tor on a Debian based Linux system. Could someone provide a rough overview and perhaps a link to a tutorial?

**Tags:** bitcoind, tor

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: This might be valuable as a wiki imho  
> **username_1**: Not really, the steps are very simple.  
> **username_0**: It's a surprisingly common question  
> **username_1**: Doesn't mean that you need to wikify it :) Wiki is for when collaboration is needed. Not so much here.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2013-04-30. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

Setting up Vidalia

Download the Tor Browser bundle
Extract, go to the App folder, and double click Vidalia (and select "Run"). Let Vidalia load.
If Vidalia doesn't work, run the "start-tor-browser" file at the top level of the extracted directory.
Ensure that the port is 9150 (it usually is). If you're not sure, go to Edit>Preferences>Network>Settings and check that the opened Firefox window is connected to a SOCKS v5 proxy on port 9150. If not, make note of the port and use it in place of 9150 in the rest of this post.
If Firefox was opened, close it. You don't need it for this.

Setting Tor up for your Bitcoin client
Bitcoin-QT

Ensure Vidalia is running
Download Bitcoin-QT, and extract
On your Debian command line, run sudo apt-get install libqtgui4
Go to the bin folder in the extracted Bitcoin, choose the 32 or 64 forlder depending on your system (32-bit/64-bit), double click the bitcoin-qt, select "Run"
Go to "Settings" in the menu bar, "Network" tab. Check the SOCKS proxy tickmark, set IP as 127.0.0.1, port as 9150, with version 5.


Setting it up with Electrum
Run the following lines in your command prompt:
sudo apt-get install python-qt4 python-pip
sudo pip install http://download.electrum.org/download/Electrum-1.7.3.tar.gz

If you have trouble using pip, download Electrum from here and run pip install /path/to/Electrum-1.7.3.tar.gz (Usually will be pip install ~/Downloads/Electrum-1.7.3.tar.gz)
Run electrum on the command line
At this screen, you can choose either option depending of whether or not you've already used Electrum before:

Now, use these settings for the next screen:

You may use a different default server if you wish. Try to get one that is situated close to your physical location.
If you selected "restore", fetch your seed (should look something like the one entered below) and enter it in the text field. If you had a lot of addresses in your old wallet, increase the gap limit. (that is the number of unused addresses Electrum generates before giving up on this)

Follow the remaining instructions: Safely store the wallet seed, and set a password if you wish. If the connection is working, you should see a green light at the bottom:

Setting Tor up with bitcoind
Simply run bitcoind  -proxy=127.0.0.1:9150 (or whatever the port is)

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Are you sure of port 9150? I read 9050 instead in some sources...  
> **username_0**: I've read both ports in respect to setting up a VPN with Tor. Should there be a difference?  
> **username_1**: @StevenRoose: Depends. Tor browser bundle uses 9150.  
> **username_1**: @CharlesHoskinson: Depends on how you have installed Tor. The method I've given usually sets it up on 9150. If not, I've mentioned a way to check.  
> **username_3**: Could you include instructions for bitcoind?  
> **username_1**: @username_3 done. Not sure of that bit though, never used it.  

---

