[macOS] Cannot install tor browser portable version on external drive

[alab]

Hi,

First I want to give some information about my computer: I am currently using a mac with macOS Mojave 10.14.6

My problem is that I want to install Tor Browser portable version on an external drive but I can’t figure out how to do it.

I found the instructions on the torproject website (https://tb-manual.torproject.org/make-tor-portable) and I followed them for my OS (macOS). I managed to download the .dmg file (for Tor Browser 12.0.5) but then I am stuck at step 6 because the file I obtain from the .dmg file is the “Tor Browser” application and not the installer, so I cannot choose to install tor on my external drive. I tried to move it to my external drive and run it from there but it is not really portable as it writes files at least in the “~/Library⁩/Application Support⁩/TorBrowser-Data” and “~/Library⁩/Application Support⁩/Preferences” folders.

I have linked a screenshot of what I see when I open the .dmg file, which is the “Tor Browser.app” app that goes in the Applications folder, and not an installer (which is usually a .pkg file on macOS).

Thank you!

[Redcodi]

Yeah the guide you linked to is completely nonsensical for macOS, you would just drag the app file into the flash drive, but that most likely would have the app still save data to the normal place. As far as I know there isn’t a way to make Tor portable on macOS.

[tpm]

Tor Browser on Mac should create a directory called TorBrowser-Data next to the application package directory. You can quickly test this by dragging the Tor Browser icon in your attached image to the “Desktop” instead of the Applications directory. So make sure you have write permission in your destination directory, otherwise Tor Browser will place the data in ~/Library/Application Support/TorBrowser-Data.

[alab]

It worked thank you!