I haven’t updated since early 2025 and then a few weeks ago I noticed Tor Browser doesn’t start when I doubleclick it. If I double click it numerous times, a window pops up asking me to either start fresh or open in safe mode. Starting fresh didnt work (and didnt keep my bookmarks like it claimed it would but luckily I backed that up right before doing this) but opening in safe mode works fine.
When I searched online, it said a common cause is clock not being synced. I synced my clock and that solved the problem temporarily for a few days but now the problem has returned even if I keep my clock synced.
So what am I doing wrong? I hate safe mode btw because it defaults to the least safe security level with javascript enabled and everything.
Using Tor since 2007 and this is the first time the browser stopped working, lol.
It works in a VM with the same OS, but with UTC as the time zone. Works in Tails too.
Suggestion only:
A vanilla install of Tor on Window is portable so you can delete the folder and install from a brand new download from this site. Backup your bookmarks.
Seems we may not have the same definition of “fresh”.
My definition of starting “fresh” is what I explained. “delete the folder and install from a brand new download from this site”. This method would not offer popups for fresh or safe mode because Tor would not exist.
Alternatively, if you have access to another 10 or 11, copy the whole Tor Browser folder to a USB drive, then drop it on the desktop of the other Windows. Start from within that folder using the “Start Tor Browser” shortcut. If this works then it is not software and you may have to start looking at the original machine as source of the problem.
This copy and drop works. I just updated a Tor 14.0.3 to 14.5.6 without even connecting to the internet.