How to run Bitcoin-Qt using Tor?

[Loozik]

Hello,

1. Since I downloaded Bitcoin-Qt I ran it using Settings -> Options -> Network -> Map port using UPnP.
and it worked okay.

2. After reading this article https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Tor I changed Bitcoin-Qt to Settings -> Options -> Network -> Connect through SOCKS proxy:
Proxy IP: 127.0.0.1     Port: 9050     SOCKS Version: 5
and my Bitcoin-Qt says in Overview window in the right bottom ''0 active connections to Bitcoin network''.

3. What should I do to get Bitcoin-Qt running on Tor? What I am doing wrong? Changing to Socks Version: 4 doesn't help.

Thanks.

[1714992649]

1714992649

[1714992649]

1714992649

[1714992649]

1714992649

[Foxpup]

Clicking "New Identity" in Tor usually helps if you have a bad connection. Also note that connecting over Tor can be very slow at times, so you have to be patient.

[theking]

theres some settings u can edit to limit the connections to slower nodes, i dont have the details at hand but its around the web on the tor forums i think

[Loozik]

Clicking "New Identity" in Tor usually helps if you have a bad connection.

It doesn't help. But I noticed that when I click on Vidalia Control Panel -> Settings -> Advanced, then the ticked option is ''Use TCP connection (ControlPort)''
Address:127.0.0.1:9151

Note 9151 in Tor is different than 9050 in Bitcoin-Qt. Could this be the reason?

[Foxpup]

It doesn't help. But I noticed that when I click on Vidalia Control Panel -> Settings -> Advanced, then the ticked option is ''Use TCP connection (ControlPort)''
Address:127.0.0.1:9151

Note 9151 in Tor is different than 9050 in Bitcoin-Qt. Could this be the reason?

No. The Control Port is what Vidalia (and other Tor controllers) use to configure Tor. Applications (including Bitcoin-Qt) using Tor to connect to the Internet anonymously do so through the SOCKS Port, which should be 9050 unless you've changed it. Assuming you haven't changed it, it should "just work", though it may be slow. It should eventually connect if you just leave it running for a while. If not, I don't really know what to suggest other than making sure you really are connected to the Tor network and that other applications (eg web browsers) can connect over Tor, though I assume (and probably shouldn't) that you've already tried that.

[Loozik]

The Control Port is what Vidalia (and other Tor controllers) use to configure Tor. Applications (including Bitcoin-Qt) using Tor to connect to the Internet anonymously do so through the SOCKS Port, which should be 9050 unless you've changed it.

No, I haven't changed anything and Vidalia says it is using ControlPort 9151.

Assuming you haven't changed it, it should "just work", though it may be slow. It should eventually connect if you just leave it running for a while. If not, I don't really know what to suggest other than making sure you really are connected to the Tor network and that other applications (eg web browsers) can connect over Tor, though I assume (and probably shouldn't) that you've already tried that.

I have been waiting for 25 minutes and Bitcoin-Qt has still 0 active connections.

[Foxpup]

The Control Port is what Vidalia (and other Tor controllers) use to configure Tor. Applications (including Bitcoin-Qt) using Tor to connect to the Internet anonymously do so through the SOCKS Port, which should be 9050 unless you've changed it.

No, I haven't changed anything and Vidalia says it is using ControlPort 9151.

The Control Port is irrelevant. It is only used by Vidalia, not Bitcoin-Qt. If you mess it up, Vidalia will not function, and you will get an error when you try to run it (though I'm pretty sure you can't mess it up unless you've configured Tor from outside of Vidalia). The SOCKS Port is something completely different. Check your Tor configuration file (torrc) and verify that your SOCKS port is either 9050 or not set at all (if it's not set, Tor uses 9050 as the default).

Assuming you haven't changed it, it should "just work", though it may be slow. It should eventually connect if you just leave it running for a while. If not, I don't really know what to suggest other than making sure you really are connected to the Tor network and that other applications (eg web browsers) can connect over Tor, though I assume (and probably shouldn't) that you've already tried that.

I have been waiting for 25 minutes and Bitcoin-Qt has still 0 active connections.

...and other applications can connect over Tor without any problems, yes? If so, I'm all out of ideas.

[Loozik]

Check your Tor configuration file (torrc) and verify that your SOCKS port is either 9050 or not set at all (if it's not set, Tor uses 9050 as the default).

This is the content of torrc:
___________________________________________
# If non-zero, try to write to disk less frequently than we would otherwise.
AvoidDiskWrites 1
# Store working data, state, keys, and caches here.
DataDirectory .\Data\Tor
GeoIPFile .\Data\Tor\geoip
# Where to send logging messages.  Format is minSeverity[-maxSeverity]
# (stderr|stdout|syslog|file FILENAME).
Log notice stdout
# Bind to this address to listen to connections from SOCKS-speaking
# applications.
SocksListenAddress 127.0.0.1
SocksPort 9150
ControlPort 9151
_________________________________________

What should I do? I simply need an idiot-proof instruction like in torrc file change ''9150'' to ''9050'' and change ''9151'' to ''9051'', and then close the file.

Thank you.

[Foxpup]

Aha. On further investigation, it seems that recent versions of the Tor Browser Bundle on Windows and Mac use port 9150 instead of 9050 for some reason, causing every application that tries to use Tor (except for TBB itself) to break completely.

First of all, do not enter 9150 as your SOCKS Port in Bitcoin-Qt. Although this will appear to work, Bitcoin-Qt will not realise you are using Tor (since you're using a non-standard port) and will accept non-Tor connections, potentially compromising your anonymity.

Instead, you should add SocksPort 9050 (on a new line) to your torrc file. Leave ControlPort and the existing SocksPort line alone. eg:

Code:

...
SocksPort 9050
SocksPort 9150
ControlPort 9151

Do not do this from within Vidalia, as due to a (probably) unrelated bug Vidalia will not save the file correctly if you have multiple SocksPort lines, instead edit torrc in a text editor (be sure not to save it torrc.txt, as Windows tends to "helpfully" do), then restart Tor.

[Loozik]

1. I followed your instructions and Tor wouldn't start; these are Tor's messages after adding ''SocksPort 9050'' line to a torrc file:

Warning: SocksListen Addresses can’t be used when there are multiple SocksPort lines
Warning: Failed to parse/validate config: Invalid SocksPort/SockListenAddress configuration
Error: Reading config failed – see warnings above

2. I erased this ''9050 line'' from the file and Tor works again.

3. I use (Vidalia Control Panel -> About):
Vidalia 0.2.21
Tor 0.2.3.25
Qt 4.8.1

[Foxpup]

D'oh! Didn't see that. Delete SocksListenAddress. It's not supposed to be used in Tor 0.2.3, and setting it to 127.0.0.1 doesn't even do anything anyway.

[Loozik]

Thank you very much for your help.

Things look much better now - there is connection between Bitcoin-Qt on my computer and Bitcoin network 

When I go to Vidalia Control panel -> Message Log I get this in ''Basic''

''Potentially Dangerous Connection! - One of your applications established a connection through Tor to "68.10.154.87:8333" using a protocol that may leak information about your destination. Please ensure you configure your applications to use only SOCKS4a or SOCKS5 with remote hostname resolution.''

In ''Advanced'' I get three types of messages every few seconds, e.g.:

''[Warning] Your application (using socks4 to port 8333) is giving Tor only an IP address. Applications that do DNS resolves themselves may leak information. Consider using Socks4A (e.g. via privoxy or socat) instead. For more information, please see https://wiki.torproject.org/TheOnionRouter/TorFAQ#SOCKSAndDNS. [1 similar message(s) suppressed in last 5 seconds]''

[Notice] We tried for 15 seconds to connect to '[scrubbed]' using exit $2624AE0466BD02AFAF3F263D4361D79ABE0E7E05~IPredator at 194.132.32.42. Retrying on a new circuit.''

''[Notice] Tried for 120 seconds to get a connection to [scrubbed]:8333. Giving up. (waiting for circuit)''

Should I do anything about this?

-----------------------
My torrc file reads now:

# This file was generated by Tor; if you edit it, comments will not be preserved
# The old torrc file was renamed to torrc.orig.1 or similar, and Tor will ignore it

AvoidDiskWrites 1
ControlPort 9151
DataDirectory C:/Program Files/Instalka TOR/Tor Browser/Data/Tor
DirReqStatistics 0
GeoIPFile .\Data\Tor\geoip
Log notice stdout
SocksPort 9050
SocksPort 9150

[g0dbra1n]

D'oh! Didn't see that. Delete SocksListenAddress. It's not supposed to be used in Tor 0.2.3, and setting it to 127.0.0.1 doesn't even do anything anyway.

Thanks! This worked for me!

[Foxpup]

''Potentially Dangerous Connection! - One of your applications established a connection through Tor to "68.10.154.87:8333" using a protocol that may leak information about your destination. Please ensure you configure your applications to use only SOCKS4a or SOCKS5 with remote hostname resolution.''

Set Bitcoin-Qt back to SOCKS 5 and restart.

[Loozik]

Set Bitcoin-Qt back to SOCKS 5 and restart.

That's what I did and... Bitcoin_Qt works  however in Vidalia Control Panel -> Message Logs -> Advanced I get these notices:

[Notice] We tried for 15 seconds to connect to '[scrubbed]' using exit $C34D2B2A0C48DF3E5CFBE8ACAB6E6DDC038294AA~TorExit2MttJocyNL3 at 95.211.213.148. Retrying on a new circuit.

[Notice] Have tried resolving or connecting to address '[scrubbed]' at 3 different places. Giving up.

Should I worry about them?

Many thanks for your help.

[Foxpup]

however in Vidalia Control Panel -> Message Logs -> Advanced I get these notices:

[Notice] We tried for 15 seconds to connect to '[scrubbed]' using exit $C34D2B2A0C48DF3E5CFBE8ACAB6E6DDC038294AA~TorExit2MttJocyNL3 at 95.211.213.148. Retrying on a new circuit.

[Notice] Have tried resolving or connecting to address '[scrubbed]' at 3 different places. Giving up.

Should I worry about them?

No. That just means a connection timed out, usually because one of your peers went offline. Happens all the time, whether you're using Tor or not (though obviously it won't show up in Tor's logs if you're not using Tor). Bitcoin-Qt will just try to find another peer to connect to when this happens. Note that this is just a notice, not a warning or error.