I can't access files in my home directory from Tor

Support Tor Browser Desktop
1

When reporting a bug, please include as many of these as possible:

  • Der all,

    • Operating System you are using

      • Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS

    • Tor Browser version

      • 14.5.6

    • Tor Browser Security Level

      • Standard

    • Step by step of how you got to the issue, so we can reproduce it (e.g. I opened the browser, typed a url, clicked on (i) icon, then my browser crashed)

      • I tried to access a picture in /home/max/Desktop (I was trying to upload a screenshot to a post of mine in this forum by using the ‘arrow up’ icon in this editor) but when I try to access /home/max/ I get an error message saying “Error opening directory ‘/home/max’; permission denied“. I can only access directory /home/max/.local and its sub-directories.

      • I’ve checked with ‘ps’ and Tor is running with my user so I can’t understand why it can’t access the same directories I access with all other applications.

    • (optional) A screenshot of the problem

    • The Tor log

      • Nothing specific to this problem has been logged. Last line dates back to three hours ago.

Ciao,

Max

2

Is this Tor Browser Launcher from Flatpak? If so, you will have to manage access permissions for flatpak applications.

Else, if you install from the tar file available on Tor Project’s website, Tor Browser should be able to access files under your user.

1 Like
3

I used an Ubuntu tool available in the SW center(“TOR Browser Launcher“) that downloads and installs Tor Browser. I don’t know what method was followed but I don’t think it was flatpak as $ flatpak list returns

Command ‘flatpak’ not found, but can be installed with:
sudo apt install flatpak

Moreover, $ snap list doesn’t return anything containing “Tor”.

I can’t find any information in “Help→About Tor Browser” either.

Ciao,

Max

4

This is one of the most bothering things.

Whenever I need uploading a file to a site I must do this descent into Tor directory tree and take the file down there to be able to select it from Tor open file dialog.

No solution? Really?

5

The solution is:

  1. Do not use torbrowser-launcher, because you do not like its apparmor policy.
  2. Download Tor Browser manually from the Tor Project website and extract the .tar.xz file.
  3. Create an AppArmor profile that you like following the steps Mozilla lays out here: Firefox security features warning on Linux | Firefox Help Be sure you replace the path to firefox with the path to your downloaded Tor Browser’s directory containing the firefox, firefox-bin, and updater binaries.

Now you can save in your home directory.