Tor can be very useful when it comes to access country-restricted websites. I am going to show how to configure Tor to mask your point of origin as though it is coming from a specific country.
Tor uses a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world and picks a random path between you and the destination server/site. The good news is that the exit node (the one that is visible by the destination server) can be specified. Such that you can specify a certain location for your visible IP address.
For this you can use Vidalia’s configuration. Here is how to do it.
Step 1. Install Vidalia bundle, if you don’t have it yet.
Step 2. Go to this page for a complete list of all available nodes. When selecting your node take a look to: country, speed and node type. You should choose only high-speed exit nodes.
Step 3. Once you’ve found an exit node from the right country, click on it to go to the node’s details page.
Step 4. Copy the fingerprint, eliminate all spaces and put a $ mark in front. For the above fingerprint we have ”$9D4D995AA745A3CAA6276AFAD505D3E4097AA075″.
Step 5. Go to Videlia Control Panel (double-click on Tor icon in the icon tray)
Step 6. Go Vidalia’s Advanced settings tab and see the path to your Tor Configuration File. This is where we’re going to specify our exit nodes.
Step 7. Open the configuration file with Notepad and at the top of this file, paste the following two lines, with fingerprint1, fingerprint2 and fingerprint3 substituted by the fingerprint code(s) from Step 4.
ExitNodes fingerprint1, fingerprint2, fingerprint3
StrictExitNodes 1
Step 8. After restart, Tor will try to access one of those servers as an exit node.
You can now access Hulu from Europe, BBC iPlayer from outside UK, or play games that weren’t available in your region.
Update: If TOR does not work for you, then check a VPN service like HideMyAss, HideIpVPN or IAPS Security Services.
23 Comments
well everything described here works fine.vidalia interface says connected to the tor network.
BUT i’m still having my local home ip when running on my internet explorer browser!!
any suggestion?
i can’t use firefox cause get’s complicated with existing installation and don’t want to mess up.
@xatzaras – Can you check your IE connection settings? In the LAN Settings windows, Proxy server should be checked (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 9051).
actually i made it after reading step 6 here.
http://security.ngoinabox.org/tor_anonymitynetwork
this was missing from configuration.
only problem remains to find good and fast uk servers not banned from tv catchup and bbc !
@xatzaras – Thank you for letting me know. Indeed step 6 from the article you mentioned it is necessary.
This didn’t work for me
I did everything you said and then enabled tor in firefox with the torbutton but my IP address always comes up as a different country to the one I want. Does anyone have any help?
For anyone finding this How-to. Please remember!
Using TOR for high volume downloading (i.e TV, Films, illegal BitTorrent copyright infringement circumvention ) will degrade and slow the service for those struggling with government or police censorship. This is the proper use of TOR.
Although it is understood why many have a dislike of DRM and the Music/Movie industry pressures to curtail downloading of copyrighted material, this is not Political Harassment or silencing of Freedom of Speech. Please consider buying the CD or DVD, or rent it.
Your actions if they damage or impede TOR’s ability to give people freedom from political censorship, may well result in the detention and torture of those in less fortunate situations, in less rich countries where downloading films and music is the least of their worries.
Is your latest Hollywood blockbuster or the latest Bands album worth the bad Kama that you will accrue if you abuse TOR?
If you don’t care or aren’t bothered about those vulnerable citizens in other countries then there is nothing to be done; ‘Thanks for your time’.
Please to those who can, run a TOR relay and if it is safe for you to do so then make it an ‘Exit Node’
Thank you, Anonymous
I’m not sure where I got stuck, but this doesn’t work for me. I paste this:
ExitNodes (with the fingerprint)
StrictExitNodes 1
And I leave the second line as it is, correct? Somehow it doesn’t save into the torrc file when I go back into it. Would be much appreciated if I could get some help, thanks a lot.
@Ben – I don’t get how the config is not saved. How did you edit the config? Are you using Notepad? Is the Tor nod you chose working?
@HideIP Admin – Yes, I used Notepad and made sure to press Ctrl+S multiple times. I’m not sure what you meant by Tor node, I’m a complete idiot when it comes to these things, so I’ll just assume that it’s not working.
@Ben – I’m not sure why it does not work for you. Maybe someone else is able to help you.
@HideIP Admin –
I’m able to do it but it doesn’t keep me in US even though my finger prints are all from US. It’s annoying because the sites I view restrict other countries…
@Ben
I had the same problem and I found it to be that when you save through the Tor control panel it actually saves a new file called torrc.orignal1. To get it working properly you have to manually go find the file in the /data/tor folder and edit it from there.
In ExitNodes, you can also use the ISO3166 country code, enclosed in curly braces, for the country you require, e.g.
ExitNodes {gb}
would ensure the exit node is a UK/British node.
This is obviously a bit more resilient to certain nodes being down.
I did this, but Vidalia won’t connect to Tor. The log says ” [Warning] No specified exit routers seem to be running, and StrictExitNodes is set: can’t choose an exit.”
Same error message Any ideas
[Warning] No specified exit routers seem to be running, and StrictExitNodes is set: can’t choose an exit – and was working OK just a coulpe of days ago. The problem is just in Windows, in my Linux Mint everything works fine with the same exit nodes.
cool. this perfectly works. i got what i was actually searching for. thankkkkkks…
The solution in respect of the “No specified exit routers seem to be running” for me was the following:
I have istalled the Vidalia Bundle Unstable, cause I’ve seen information about the missing geoip file in Windows, and changed the manually specified exitnodes to
ExitNodes {us}
Now it works well
Hi, for a tutorial like this, it is obvious the big confusion it brings… i dont get the part of the copy paste in the file… and my torrc file is on Data not in Vidalia file… this tutorial must be in video, a Video tutorial would be easier… pls youtube ~ and post the link here
Ok i did all of this tutorial, tor open my firefox and i am from US now… but i wanted Tor for play a online game being a US.. and it doesn’t work. Why??? the game still says my real country… TOR is not working with it.. just firefox >_>
this tutorial is old, the new torrc file is in data, can someone post a new way to config the new tor bundle to point to a specific exit node..
Actually, you’re describing how to chose a specific exit node. In order to chose a country (and then Tor would assign any exit node within that country, add ExitNodes {nl} (for the Netherlands) to the torrc
right fokes this works fine.
Just tried it there and can connect to canadia, USA, UK where ever a like as said above you can also use the country code.
Get playing about with it.
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