# Directory permission problem
**URL:** https://forum.torproject.org/t/directory-permission-problem/21258
**Category:** Core Tor
**Created:** [February 18, 2026, 2:51pm UTC](https://forum.torproject.org/t/directory-permission-problem/21258 "2026-02-18T14:51:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Netwarrior](https://forum.torproject.org/u/Netwarrior)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2026, 2:51pm UTC](https://forum.torproject.org/t/directory-permission-problem/21258/1 "2026-02-18T14:51:52Z")
Hello,
I am using Debian 13.3 and the latest version of Tor. I can’t verify the Tor configuration file using the **root** user:
> root@Tor-VPN:/home/tor# tor --verify-config
> Feb 18 16:36:31.026 [notice] Tor 0.4.9.5 running on Linux with Libevent 2.1.12-stable, OpenSSL 3.5.4, Zlib 1.3.1, Liblzma 5.8.1, Libzstd 1.5.7 and Glibc 2.41 as libc.
> Feb 18 16:36:31.026 [notice] Tor can’t help you if you use it wrong! Learn how to be safe at [Tor Browser best practices - Security - Tor Browser — Tor](https://support.torproject.org/faq/staying-anonymous/)
> Feb 18 16:36:31.026 [notice] Read configuration file “/etc/tor/torrc”.
> Feb 18 16:36:31.031 [warn] /var/lib/tor is not owned by this user (root, 0) but by debian-tor (101). Perhaps you are running Tor as the wrong user?
> Feb 18 16:36:31.031 [warn] Failed to parse/validate config: Couldn’t access private data directory “/var/lib/tor”
> Feb 18 16:36:31.031 [err] Reading config failed–see warnings above.
>
> root@Tor-VPN:/home/tor# ls -l /var/lib/tor
> total 65216
> -rw------- 1 debian-tor debian-tor 20442 Feb 18 02:18 cached-certs
> -rw------- 1 debian-tor debian-tor 3501221 Feb 18 15:21 cached-microdesc-consensus
> -rw------- 1 debian-tor debian-tor 62429561 Feb 18 08:48 cached-microdescs
> -rw------- 1 debian-tor debian-tor 803876 Feb 18 15:22 cached-microdescs.new
> drwx–S— 2 debian-tor debian-tor 4096 Feb 11 14:14 keys
> -rw------- 1 debian-tor debian-tor 0 Feb 13 19:58 lock
> -rw------- 1 debian-tor debian-tor 7137 Feb 18 16:23 state
I know that the reason is that the user **debian-tor** has permissions on the directory. Is this standard? What should I do if I change the configuration file and want to verify it while I am logged in as **root** or if I want to restart the Tor server?
Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@unic3rn](https://forum.torproject.org/u/unic3rn)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2026, 9:22pm UTC](https://forum.torproject.org/t/directory-permission-problem/21258/2 "2026-02-18T21:22:53Z")
Did you make sure to write all Tor directories to the root-user?
It’s a really bad idea to run Tor as root by the way.
---
### Author:  [@Lind](https://forum.torproject.org/u/Lind)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2026, 11:48am UTC](https://forum.torproject.org/t/directory-permission-problem/21258/3 "2026-02-19T11:48:24Z")
On (re)starting the tor service, the tor program will check whether the configuration is sound, and throw error(s) if the config contains errors. By (re)starting the tor service (`systemctl (re)start tor@default`) you should be able to find out whether you configured tor correctly. Check systemd journal (`journalctl -xeu tor@default`) to see the exact problems if the former command reported any error.
Users with advanced knowledge might feel tempted to switch to `debian-tor` user to check, but it’s highly discouraged, because this `debian-tor` user is only supposed to be used by the tor service, and it requires changing system configurations that might damage system integrity and/or stability.
---
### Author:  [@Netwarrior](https://forum.torproject.org/u/Netwarrior)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2026, 10:44am UTC](https://forum.torproject.org/t/directory-permission-problem/21258/4 "2026-05-06T10:44:42Z")
Hello,
I’m confused. Please check these:
```auto
# ls -la /usr/lib/systemd/system/tor*
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 1068 Mar 25 23:33 /usr/lib/systemd/system/tor@default.service
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 312 Mar 25 23:33 /usr/lib/systemd/system/tor.service
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 1293 Mar 25 23:33 /usr/lib/systemd/system/tor@.service
```
`# tor --version`
`Tor version 0.4.9.6.`
`This build of Tor is covered by the GNU General Public License (` [The GNU General Public License v3.0 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html) `)`
`Tor is running on Linux with Libevent 2.1.12-stable, OpenSSL 3.5.6, Zlib 1.3.1, Liblzma 5.8.1, Libzstd 1.5.7 and Glibc 2.41 as libc.`
`Tor compiled with GCC version 14.2.0`
`# ls -l /var/lib/tor`
`total 48652`
`-rw------- 1 debian-tor debian-tor 20442 Apr 5 09:12 cached-certs`
`-rw------- 1 debian-tor debian-tor 3703783 May 6 12:38 cached-microdesc-consensus`
`-rw------- 1 debian-tor debian-tor 39588922 May 6 12:46 cached-microdescs`
`-rw------- 1 debian-tor debian-tor 6473835 May 6 12:46 cached-microdescs.new`
`drwx–S— 2 debian-tor debian-tor 4096 Feb 11 14:14 keys`
`-rw------- 1 debian-tor debian-tor 0 May 6 13:07 lock`
`-rw------- 1 debian-tor debian-tor 17464 May 6 13:06 state`
And my Tor configuration is:
```auto
SocksPort 172.20.2.54:9051
RunAsDaemon 1
DataDirectory /var/lib/tor
SocksPolicy accept 172.20.10.16
SocksPolicy accept 172.20.2.23
SocksPolicy reject *
```
I rebooted the system and:
```auto
# systemctl status tor
● tor.service - Anonymizing overlay network for TCP (multi-instance-master)
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/tor.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (exited) since Wed 2026-05-06 13:07:36 +0330; 9min ago
Invocation: 685320f356b74cba9ae63abe3cd4196b
Process: 725 ExecStart=/bin/true (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 725 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Mem peak: 1.7M
CPU: 14ms
May 06 13:07:36 Tor-VPN systemd[1]: Starting tor.service - Anonymizing overlay network for TCP (multi-instance-master)…
May 06 13:07:36 Tor-VPN systemd[1]: Finished tor.service - Anonymizing overlay network for TCP (multi-instance-master).
```
What is wrong?
---
### Author:  [@Netwarrior](https://forum.torproject.org/u/Netwarrior)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2026, 10:44am UTC](https://forum.torproject.org/t/directory-permission-problem/21258/5 "2026-05-06T10:44:46Z")
I can’y access to the Tor network and it just shows:
`May 06 13:33:31.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 0% (starting): Starting`
---
### Author:  [@Lind](https://forum.torproject.org/u/Lind)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2026, 8:59am UTC](https://forum.torproject.org/t/directory-permission-problem/21258/6 "2026-05-07T08:59:48Z")
> [@Netwarrior](#):
>
> `systemctl status tor`
Please manage tor you installed in Debian with systemd unit name `tor@default` (i.e. restarting tor with `systemctl restart tor@default`). Tor installed on Debian systems have a multi-instance manager, allowing running multiple tor instances with different configurations. If you’re not using the multi-instance manager, you should just restart tor using `tor@default`.
> [@Netwarrior](#):
>
> Bootstrapped 0% (starting): Starting
Can’t tell what’s wrong from just one line. Please send more logs, if appropirate. Start from this line (or something similar):
```auto
Tor 0.4.9.6 running on Linux with Libevent 2.1.12-stable, OpenSSL 3.5.5, Zlib 1.3.1, Liblzma 5.8.1, Libzstd 1.5.7 and Glibc 2.41 as libc.
```
---
### Author:  [@Netwarrior](https://forum.torproject.org/u/Netwarrior)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2026, 1:08pm UTC](https://forum.torproject.org/t/directory-permission-problem/21258/7 "2026-05-10T13:08:11Z")
Hello,
Sure:
```auto
# cat /var/log/tor/notices.log
May 09 09:11:54.000 [notice] Interrupt: exiting cleanly.
May 09 09:11:54.000 [notice] Tor 0.4.9.6 opening log file.
May 09 09:11:54.742 [notice] We compiled with OpenSSL 30500050: OpenSSL 3.5.5 27 Jan 2026 and we are running with OpenSSL 30500060: 3.5.6. These two versions should be binary compatible.
May 09 09:11:54.747 [notice] Tor 0.4.9.6 running on Linux with Libevent 2.1.12-stable, OpenSSL 3.5.6, Zlib 1.3.1, Liblzma 5.8.1, Libzstd 1.5.7 and Glibc 2.41 as libc.
May 09 09:11:54.747 [notice] Tor can’t help you if you use it wrong! Learn how to be safe at
May 09 09:11:54.747 [notice] Read configuration file “/usr/share/tor/tor-service-defaults-torrc”.
May 09 09:11:54.747 [notice] Read configuration file “/etc/tor/torrc”.
May 09 09:11:54.752 [notice] You configured a non-loopback address ‘172.20.2.54:9051’ for SocksPort. This allows everybody on your local network to use your machine as a proxy. Make sure this is what you wanted.
May 09 09:11:54.752 [notice] Opening Socks listener on 172.20.2.54:9051
May 09 09:11:54.752 [notice] Opened Socks listener connection (ready) on 172.20.2.54:9051
May 09 09:11:54.000 [notice] Parsing GEOIP IPv4 file /usr/share/tor/geoip.
May 09 09:11:55.000 [notice] Parsing GEOIP IPv6 file /usr/share/tor/geoip6.
May 09 09:11:55.000 [notice] Set list of supported TLS groups to: ?*X25519MLKEM768 / ?SecP256r1MLKEM768 / *P-256:?X25519:P-224
May 09 09:11:55.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 0% (starting): Starting
May 09 09:11:56.000 [notice] Starting with guard context “default”
May 09 09:11:56.000 [notice] Signaled readiness to systemd
```