Configuring Vidalia and Tor
Vidalia allows you to configure some of the most commonly modified aspects
of Vidalia and Tor. It also lets you set up and manage a Tor relay so you can help the Tor network grow.
General Settings
Settings on the General page are the most commonly modified settings.
- Tor Executable: This is the Tor executable that Vidalia will run when
you select Start from the tray menu. If you have multiple versions of
Tor installed, you can tell Vidalia which version you would like to run by
clicking the Browse button and navigating to the particular Tor
installation you want.
- Startup Options: This setting allows you to have Vidalia
automatically start Tor when Vidalia starts. You can also configure Vidalia
to run when your system starts (Windows only).
Network Settings
The Network settings page lets you change how Tor connects to the Tor
network.
- I use a proxy to access the Internet: If your Internet connection
requires an HTTP proxy, you can configure Tor to send all of its directory
requests and Tor relay connections through your proxy. You must specify at
least the hostname or address of your proxy, and the port on which your
proxy is listening for connections. If your proxy requires authentication,
you can also enter the Username and Password you use to
connect to your proxy. Otherwise, you can leave those fields blank.
- My firewall only lets me connect to certain ports: If you are behind
a restrictive firewall or proxy that limits the ports you are able to
connect to, you can configure Tor to connect directly only to relays
listening on the ports allowed by your firewall or proxy. Simply enter a
list of ports permitted by your firewall or proxy, separated by
commas. (Example: 80,443,8080)
- My ISP blocks connections to the Tor network: If your ISP (Internet
Service Provider) blocks connections to the Tor network, Tor can attempt to
avoid being filtered by encrypting its directory connections and connecting
to the Tor network through relays called bridges (Tor 0.2.0.3-alpha
or newer only). You can add bridge relays by specifying either their address
and port number, or their address, port number, and fingerprint.
Below are examples of valid bridge address formats:
-
128.213.48.13:8080
-
128.213.48.13:8080 1054 13B1 DBDA F867 B226 74D2 52DF 3D9F A367 1F73
-
128.213.48.13:8080 105413B1DBDAF867B22674D252DF3D9FA3671F73
Even if you do not know any bridge relay addresses, checking this checkbox
may still be helpful. Tor will encrypt its directory requests, which can
defeat blocking mechanisms that try to filter Tor's requests for information
about other relays. If connections to normal Tor relays are also blocked,
then you will need to learn a bridge relay address somehow and add it
here. See the help topic on finding bridge
relays for more information on how to learn new bridge relay addresses
and fingerprints.
Relay Settings
See this help topic for detailed information
about setting up and managing a Tor relay.
Appearance Settings
The settings on the Appearance page allow you to customize the look
and feel of Vidalia.
- Language: Vidalia's interface has been translated into many languages
by helpful volunteers. When Vidalia is first run, it will try to guess which
language your computer is currently using. If Vidalia guesses incorrectly,
or if you prefer a different language, you can choose another language from
the dropdown box. You will need to restart Vidalia after changing the
displayed language for the changes to take effect.
- Style: In most cases, Vidalia will default to using your platform's
default interface style. If you dislike the default, you can choose
whichever interface style you prefer from the dropdown box.
Advanced Settings
The settings on the Advanced page should generally only be modified
by more experienced users.
- Control Address & Port: The Control Port is the port which
Vidalia uses to talk to Tor. This doesn't need to be changed unless you
have a conflict with another service on your machine, or if you are using
Vidalia to control and monitor a Tor process running on another machine.
- Control Port Authentication: Control port authentication is used to
limit the applications on your machine that can connect to and reconfigure
your Tor installation. The available authentication methods are:
-
None -- No authentication is required. Use of this option is
strongly discouraged. Any application or user on your computer can
reconfigure your Tor installation.
-
Password (Default) -- If this method is selected, you can
specify a password that Tor will require each time a user or application
connects to Tor's control port. If Vidalia starts Tor for you, you can have
Vidalia randomly generate a new password each time it starts Tor by checking
the Randomly Generate checkbox.
-
Cookie -- If cookie authentication is selected, Tor will write a file
(or, cookie) containing random bytes to its data directory when it
starts. Any user or application that tries to connect to Tor's control port
must be able to provide the contents of this cookie.
- Tor Configuration File (optional): You can use this option to
have Vidalia start Tor using a specific torrc, Tor's configuration
file. If you leave this field blank, Tor will uses its own default torrc
location.
- Tor Data Directory (optional): You can specify the directory
in which Tor will store its saved data, such as cached Tor relay
information, Tor relay keys, and configuration files. If you leave this
field blank, Tor will use its own default data directory location.
- Permissions (optional, not available on Windows): If you enter
a value for Run as User, Tor will setuid to this user when it
starts. If you enter a value for Run as Group, Tor will
setgid to this group when it starts.
Hidden Service Settings
Hidden services allow you to provide any kind of TCP-based service, e.g. an
HTTP service, to others without revealing your IP address.