How to install Tor Browser in Fedora 37, CentOS 9, Rocky Linux and RHEL 9

I was trying to find out a way to install Tor and Tor Browser in Fedora Gnome 3. I found many articles mentioning how to install Tor, however I couldn't find a single good article, mentioning how  to install Tor Browser in Fedora Gnome 3. So, I decided to explain, how to install Tor along with Tor Browser in Fedora, RHEL and CentOS. Please note this article is applicable for CentOS, Redhat Linux (RHEL) since Fedora is a similar OS to these. For Ubuntu, Gentoo,Suse and other version of Linux you might need to modify commands and locations.

Before you start installing Tor, I would like to explain the negative part of it. Yes TOR comes with an annoying negative side effect. As TOR uses multiple computer IPs to send your request to web servers, all TOR network IPs get flagged as spammy. Now days almost every website owner use Cloudlflare and enable threat control. Hence based on my experience, if you want to visit 10 websites out 8 you will need to resolve annoying captcha. And it’s not just click three images or store front, or road signs. You would require to keep on clicking unless Google stops giving you new images.

Recently Tor Project has changed Tor's entire architecture and switched to only browser mode previously you had to install tor repo then the browser now, everything has been simplified. Please note this tutorial does not require any high level knowledge of linux. Now lets jump to installation part. Please be sure to replace "YourUserName" with your username and "tor-browser-linux64-11.5.2_en-US" to the version you have downloaded. And all the steps have GUI and CLI instructions included, so you can use either or mixed as per your need.

1. Download Tor Browser from Tor Project.

2. You can either use (nautilus/files) to extract the downloaded file by right clicking on it. Or you may use the following command without being root/su.

tar -xf /home/YourUserName/Downloads/tor-browser-linux64-11.5.2_en-US.tar.xz

3. Open the folder and navigate inside "tor-browser_en-US" folder.

4. Rename the folder Browser as Tor-Browser by right clicking on it, or you may use the following command in terminal

mv /home/YourUserName/Downloads/tor-browser-linux64-11.5.2_en-US/tor-browser_en-US/Browser /home/YourUserName/Downloads/tor-browser-linux64-11.5.2_en-US/tor-browser_en-US/Tor-Browser

5. Open Terminal, if you have not used it yet and enter the following command.

sudo mv /home/YourUserName/Downloads/tor-browser-linux64-11.5.2_en-US/tor-browser_en-US/Tor-Browser/ /opt/

6. Right click on start-tor-browser.desktop and open it with gedit or text editor. And copy and paste the following code:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Tor Browser
GenericName=Web Browser
Comment=Tor Browser is +1 for privacy and −1 for mass surveillance
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;Security;
Exec=sh -c '"/opt/Tor-Browser/start-tor-browser" --detach || ([ !  -x "/opt/Tor-Browser/start-tor-browser" ] && "$(dirname "$*")"/Browser/start-tor-browser --detach)' dummy %k
X-TorBrowser-ExecShell=./Browser/start-tor-browser --detach
Icon=/opt/Tor-Browser/browser/chrome/icons/default/default128.png
StartupWMClass=Tor Browser

alternatively, in order to perform the above step on terminal use this command

vi /home/YourUserName/Downloads/tor-browser-linux64-11.5.2_en-US/tor-browser_en-US/start-tor-browser.desktop 

Press i to enter in write mode, delete everything. To paste the above mentioned code, copy it and then press Crtl+Shift+V. Once the entire code is pasted press Esc then :x and press Enter. It will save the file.

7. Save the file and double click on it, and then click on mark as Trusted. (In case you don't get the option "Mark as Trusted after double click, or if the file opens in gedit or text editor follow step 9). If you would like to perform the step in terminal, skip this step and proceed to step 8 and 9.

8. Enter the following command. Once again remember to replace "YourUserName" with your username and "tor-browser-linux64-9.0.9_en-US" to the version you have.

sudo mv /home/YourUserName/Downloads/tor-browser-linux64-11.5.2_en-US/tor-browser_en-US/start-tor-browser.desktop /usr/share/applications/

9. In case you don't get the option "Mark as Trusted after double clicking on start-tor-browser.desktop, or if the file opens in gedit or text editor enter following command in terminal. This step will be mandatory, if you are using only CLI mode instead of GUI thorugh out the process.

sudo chmod 644 /usr/share/applications/start-tor-browser.desktop

Now if you check application, you'll find tor browser icon has appeared and your anonymous browser is ready to use.