From: V@nguard.LH   
      
   Allan Higdon  wrote:   
      
   > Since I have the Windows 10 firewall to block all outbound connections   
   > that do not match a rule, I created an outbound rule for Tor Browser.   
      
   Sorry for getting back so late on this topic.  I probably didn't revisit   
   this discussion since you seemed inclined to go with Epic and its VPN   
   with its limitations (can drop bandwidth to a quarter of non-VPN   
   connects along with severely increasing latency versus a commercial VPN   
   that uses diskless RAM-only servers, and only 8 global locations to   
   choose from) in trying to achieve anononmity or bypass geofencing.   
      
   To recap, other web browsers successfully connect out to the Internet   
   with your firewall configured to block all outbound connects by default   
   except for the web browsers for which you added exception rules in the   
   firewall.  With this firewall configuration, the Tor Browser doesn't   
   show any progress trying to connect to an Tor network.  I would think   
   Tor Browser would return an error if it could not connect out to reach   
   an entry node to whatever Tor node it was configured to find.   
      
   Is the system clock and timezone on your computer correct?   
      
   In Tor Browser, you click Connect (I see mention only of a Connect   
   button, not something called Direct Connect), but you see absolutely no   
   status showing an attempt to connect to Tor.  That you see no status or   
   progress seems suspect.  It should show it is trying even if the   
   firewall didn't allow a connection.  After clicking Connect, you should   
   see a page saying "Establishing a Connection" and a Cancel button.  If   
   Tor is blocked, you should see a "Tor Browser could not connect to Tor"   
   page with a "Try a Bridge" button to use the Connection Assist feature.   
   Apparently the first time you attempt to connect can take a couple of   
   minutes to complete.  If you're not getting any status at all from the   
   Tor Browser, seems you have a defective installation ... or, as   
   mentioned below, you didn't define an outbound exception rule for the   
   Tor Browser.   
      
   https://tb-manual.torproject.org/troubleshooting/   
      
   That mentions a Test button.  Tried that yet?  Alongside the Connect   
   button is a Configure Connection button.  You may have to configure Tor   
   Browser yourself.   
      
   You said your outbound exception rule is on firefox.exe.  Does the   
   Firefox web browser connect out okay with your firewall blocking all   
   outbound connects with an exception rule for firefox.exe?  For the Tor   
   Browser, the executable file is tor.exe, not firefox.exe.  tor.exe   
   handles the core functions.  How are you starting Tor Browser?   That   
   the Tor Browser is a variant of Firefox doesn't mean Tor Browser uses   
   the same executable filename.  From what I've found for Windows, you   
   start Tor Browser by running:   
      
     C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\tor\tor.exe -f torrc   
      
   The "-f torrc" says to read configuration settings from the "torrc" file   
   located in the Tor installation folder.  There is also a -v (verbose)   
   argument to up the logging level.   
      
   https://support.torproject.org/tbb/tbb-21/   
   https://support.torproject.org/glossary/tor-log/   
      
   Without ANY instance of Firefox running (you exit out of all of them,   
   and check there are no instances of firefox.exe in Task Manager's   
   Processes tab), and you ONLY load the Tor Browser, do you see tor.exe or   
   firefox.exe processes in Task Manager?   
      
   What is tor.exe?   
   https://www.file.net/process/tor.exe.html   
      
   You already have an outbound exception rule for firefox.exe in the   
   firewall to let Firefox connect out.  Did you add an outbound exception   
   rule in the firewall for tor.exe?   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
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