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Discussion => Security => Topic started by: joeblow2 on July 24, 2011, 08:36 am

Title: Using Tor on a Mac under a different user name
Post by: joeblow2 on July 24, 2011, 08:36 am
Hi all Tor-minators,

I set up a second user account on my Mac.  My bitcoin program allowed me to open it and set up a second wallet using the same application icon from the app folder.  However, when I tried to start Tor, it wouldn't, and I got an error message about the Tor program belonging to a different user.  The Tor application icon is in the app folder when using the second user; but just won't open.

Do I need to download the Tor browser bundle again while I'm signed in as the second user?  And if I do so, is there *any chance at all* that it would overwrite the existing Tor bundle under the first user?  I am *very* concerned about that because I somehow corrupted the Tor browser bundle once and lost my data; particularly all the .onion addresses and bookmarks (plus I stored my very unique passwords in the bookmarks) and I had a hell of a time reconstructing all of that stuff.

How can I get Tor to work, and have a second fresh set of bookmarks to use (just like when you open Firefox under a second user). 

I'm sure this is probably a very stupid question, but it has me totally flummoxed.   :o

Thanks in advance  for your help.  :)
Title: Re: Using Tor on a Mac under a different user name
Post by: digitas on July 26, 2011, 07:59 pm
First try: Verify Tor is in /Applications, not ~/Applications

In Finder, go to your hard disk.  The default is to call it Macintosh HD.  You might have changed it.  Go to this folder and you should see a folder called Applications, along with Library, System, and Users folders.  This application folder is accessible to all user accounts and its full pathname is /Applications.  Apple sometimes likes to make another Applications folder in your home folder.  The home folder is probably called your username for the account (eg joeblow2) and has the documents, pictures, music, etc associated with the account.  If you installed Tor to this applications folder, then only that user can see it.  This design is a security feature of Unix systems (modularity prevents a "bad folder" from "infecting" other folders), but can be confusing it you aren't familiar with the file structure.  Move the Tor Browser Bundle to /Applications and you should see it from your second account.  The "/" indicates "root" as in the root of your file system.  When you format your hard disk with Mac OS, the Unix file structure it uses creates a root folder where the entire system goes (called "/") and users are made deeper down the file system ( in /Users/ on Mac OS X).  The ~/Applications refers to the Applications folder inside the home folder for the user (shorthand: ~).

Once you have verified that Tor is in the correct Applications folder,  switch to the second account and try it.  If it still fails, do this:

Right click on the Tor Browser Bundle and select "Get Info".  At the bottom of this panel you should see a section called "Sharing and Permissions:"  Go ahead and click on the arrow beside the name of this subpanel if it is pointing horizontally.  When it is pointing vertically, you should have a list of Names with Privleges.  The name that is your user name (for both accounts) should be listed and the privilge should be Read Only.  If it is Read & Write that should be fine too.  You just need to make sure that the user should be able to read the contents of the application.  Again, "permissions" are a security feature of Unix-like systems.  Before anything can be done to a system, the user trying to make the changes needs to have the permissions to make the changes.  This is why you have to put in your user password when installing an application -- only the root user (accessed via your system password) can make changes in the root folder (like installing an application to /Application).

Hope this helps!
Title: Re: Using Tor on a Mac under a different user name
Post by: Joy on August 03, 2011, 05:08 pm
Can i use Tor on Ipad?
does anyone ever try this?
Im curious b'coz im planning to buy Ipad.

thx for the help guy.
Title: Re: Using Tor on a Mac under a different user name
Post by: hoffa on November 07, 2011, 04:24 pm
Can i use Tor on Ipad?
does anyone ever try this?
Im curious b'coz im planning to buy Ipad.

thx for the help guy.

Yea iv been using it and it is all good. A bit of fucking around but once set up it's a breeze! Looking for an encryption app if anyone has a suggestion to use a pgp sig?