"start-tor-browser.desktop" missing, "Tor Browser Setup" file instead

Hello, I downloaded and extracted Tor for Linux, and the “tor-browser” folder contains a file called “Tor Browser Setup” instead of “star-tor-browser.desktop”. This seems strange, so I wanted to ask about it. (I verified the GPG signature of the .tar.xz before extraction, it said it was “good”.)

Right-click > Properties gives the following information (note: there is a double-space in the comment that does not seem to be rendering here):

Name: Tor Browser Setup
Description: Web Browser
Command: sh -c ‘“$(dirname “$*”)”/Browser/start-tor-browser || ([ ! -x “$(dirname “$*”)”/Browser/start-tor-browser ] && “$(dirname “$*”)”/start-tor-browser)’ dummy %k
Comment: Tor Browser is +1 for privacy and −1 for mass surveillance

Type: Text (application/x-desktop)
Size: 1.7 kB (1,710 bytes)

Location: [redacted]
Volume: [redacted]

Accessed: Fri 11 Jul 2025 [redacted]
Created: unknown
Modified: Mon 23 Jun 2025 02:11:00 PM EDT

I also keep getting these warnings when trying to download from Mullvad Browser:

Downloads blocked from www.torproject.org.

www.torproject.org attempted to automatically download multiple files. The site could be broken or trying to store spam files on your device.

Downloading from Firefox works, though.

Linux Mint
tor-browser-linux-x86_64-14.5.4
Just trying to download Tor from the website. I did make a mistake with my firewall before downloading, though (allowed incoming traffic for a certain port for a few seconds).

*edited to escape asterisks that were rendering in Markdown

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“tor-browser” folder contains a file called “Tor Browser Setup” instead of “star-tor-browser.desktop”.

That’s normal for first run, nothing to worry about.

Downloads blocked from www.torproject.org.

Thank you for reporting it: that’s actually the download spam protection kicking in, because the download link uses JavaScript in a way that triggers it and is actually unnecessary.

You’ll notice it does not happen the first time you try downloading the Tor Browser in a Mullvad Browser session, neither if you’ve got JavaScript disabled for that page. Also, you could work around it by clicking the [Allow download] button on the warning popup.

I’m opening an issue (and maybe fix it myself) to make our download link compatible with said protection.

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