Hello, I am trying to connect to my server which is a Start OS server from a remote location. At first it worked fine for about two months. Then I was far from the server and could not reboot it. So I have other people reboot the server for me. And it was back up and running. Then it worked for a few weeks and then happened again. I have checked my other TOR sites and it connects with no problem. I have rebooted the server a few times. And my TOR browser laptop and it still gives me this error. I cannot connect at all. I have tried it without my VPN running and it makes no difference. Then I collected some logs from my TOR browser here is the error below:
[WARN] Proxy Client: unable to connect OR connection (handshaking (proxy)) with 172.237.95.232:5247 ID= RSA_ID=B6C5DF6A15E8354DCD68FA3B613E659CA55ACE04 (“general SOCKS server failure”)
Can you please offer any suggestions on how to resolve this? I tried multiple times with no luck.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated?
It sounds like your hidden service is running but Tor may not be successfully re-publishing its descriptor after reboot. That’s usually why you get the “Onion site not found” error even though Tor itself seems fine.
Here are a few quick things to check:
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Confirm Tor is actually running: Make sure it’s active and not stuck restarting..
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Look for hidden service log lines: If you see messages like “descriptor upload failed” or “service not found”, it usually means Tor can’t publish the service to the network.
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Restart Tor cleanly: Then give it a couple of minutes — Tor needs time to build circuits and publish the new descriptor.
I’ve seen similar behavior on headless setups after a reboot — usually a simple restart and permission check resolves it.
~shdwcodr
Hello Sdwcdr. THanks for the suggestions. I am a novice with Tor. But I am learning. I am away from my server for a few more weeks. But I will try your suggestions when I get there. It is a headless server like you suggested. Here is another error that was on the logs.
”[NOTICE] Our directory information is no longer up-to-date enough to build circuits: We’re missing descriptors for 1/3 of our primary entry guards (total microdescriptors: 8818/9181). That’s ok. We will try to fetch missing descriptors soon.”
Keep in mind these are logs from the Tor browser side. I don’t have logs from the server.
On your suggestion about giving Tor time to load after server is rebooted. I wonder if I could put some kind of short delay in there to keep Tor from starting up too early?
Sorry I am kind of clueless on this stuff. What do you mean by permission check?
Hi @freddy2282
No worries at all — I can walk you through this step by step. Since you’re away from the server, you can plan to try these when you get back.
1. Tor startup delay
On headless servers, sometimes Tor tries to start before the network is fully ready, which can stop it from publishing descriptors.
A simple fix is to add a short delay before Tor starts. For example, you could use a tiny script or tweak your systemd service to do something like:
sleep 15
systemctl start tor
This just waits 15 seconds before starting Tor, giving the network time to be ready.
2. Permission check
Tor needs proper permissions to read/write its hidden service folder (usually /var/lib/tor/hidden_service). You can make sure it’s set up correctly with:
chown -R tor:tor /var/lib/tor/hidden_service
chmod 700 /var/lib/tor/hidden_service
This ensures Tor can access its files safely.
3. Checking server logs
Right now, your logs are from the Tor Browser, which mostly show connection errors. The server logs are more helpful. When you’re back at the server, check them with:
journalctl -u tor -f
or look in /var/log/tor/ for messages like descriptor upload failed. These will tell you if Tor is having trouble publishing the hidden service.
4. Restart Tor cleanly
After adding the delay and checking permissions, restart Tor and give it a few minutes. This lets it build circuits and publish your hidden service properly.
It’s totally normal to feel a bit lost at first — Tor can be tricky on headless servers. Try these steps, and if it still doesn’t work, we can dig in further together.
~shdwcodr
Hey Shdwcodr.
THanks for all of your help. This helps a lot. I will not be back near the server for a few weeks. But I will message you to discuss the next steps. And to get your help. Awesome information.