[SOLVED] Tor.service fails to start

gockxlynn · 2024-01-06 23:53:46

I've been using archtorify to route my traffic through tor, but at some point it stopped working. Running

sudo archtorify --tor

reads this:

:: Check program settings
Set /usr/lib/systemd/system/tor.service
Set /etc/tor/torrc
Configure resolv.conf file to use Tor DNSPort
Reload systemd daemons

:: Starting Transparent Proxy
Disable IPv6 with sysctl
Start Tor service
[ERROR] can't start tor.service, exit!

So, I try running

sudo systemctl start tor.service

which reads:

Job for tor.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status tor.service" and "journalctl -xeu tor.service" for details.

I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling both tor and archtorify-git, I install tor with pacman but archtorify only installs through yay if that matters, pacman can't find it. both commands it suggests have read pretty much the same thing each time:

systemctl status tor.service reads:

× tor.service - Anonymizing overlay network for TCP
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/tor.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sat 2024-01-06 13:32:56 PST; 40min ago
    Process: 15977 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/tor -f /etc/tor/torrc --verify-config (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
        CPU: 18ms

Jan 06 13:32:56 archlinux systemd[1]: tor.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.
Jan 06 13:32:56 archlinux systemd[1]: tor.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Jan 06 13:32:56 archlinux systemd[1]: tor.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jan 06 13:32:56 archlinux systemd[1]: Failed to start Anonymizing overlay network for TCP.

(I've seen another forum post with a near identical output trying to fix the same issue, but their solution was irrelevant to my situation)

journalctl -xeu tor.service reads:

░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ The unit tor.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
Jan 06 13:32:56 archlinux systemd[1]: Failed to start Anonymizing overlay network for TCP.
░░ Subject: A start job for unit tor.service has failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ A start job for unit tor.service has finished with a failure.
░░ 
░░ The job identifier is 7235 and the job result is failed.
Jan 06 13:32:56 archlinux systemd[1]: tor.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.
░░ Subject: Automatic restarting of a unit has been scheduled
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ Automatic restarting of the unit tor.service has been scheduled, as the result for
░░ the configured Restart= setting for the unit.
Jan 06 13:32:56 archlinux systemd[1]: tor.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Jan 06 13:32:56 archlinux systemd[1]: tor.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ The unit tor.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
Jan 06 13:32:56 archlinux systemd[1]: Failed to start Anonymizing overlay network for TCP.
░░ Subject: A start job for unit tor.service has failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ A start job for unit tor.service has finished with a failure.
░░ 
░░ The job identifier is 7336 and the job result is failed.
lines 1859-1893/1893 (END)

Does anyone know what I should do?

UPDATE:
I uninstalled tor, searched my drives for "tor" and manually deleted anything related (within reason). After reinstalling the package, it seems to work fine.

Last edited by gockxlynn (2024-01-09 18:14:06)

V1del · 2024-01-07 00:42:16

Have you updated your system before attempting this and haven't yet rebooted into the new kernel? If tor needs to load a tunneling module or similar it will fail if you're currently on a kernel that can't load modules (because they got replaced in the update with the newer ones)

Xyne · 2024-01-07 00:49:14

The systemd service runs the following commands. Try running them in a terminal to see if the output is more informative:

# Check the configuration file's validity.
/usr/bin/tor -f /etc/tor/torrc --verify-config

# Start the service.
/usr/bin/tor -f /etc/tor/torrc

You will need to run them as root. Use <ctrl>+c to terminate the service if it runs.

edit

V1del wrote:

Have you updated your system before attempting this and haven't yet rebooted into the new kernel? If tor needs to load a tunneling module or similar it will fail if you're currently on a kernel that can't load modules (because they got replaced in the update with the newer ones)

Try rebooting first. If that doesn't fix it, post the output of the commands above.

Last edited by Xyne (2024-01-07 00:53:52)

gockxlynn · 2024-01-07 00:54:33

V1del wrote:

Have you updated your system before attempting this and haven't yet rebooted into the new kernel? If tor needs to load a tunneling module or similar it will fail if you're currently on a kernel that can't load modules (because they got replaced in the update with the newer ones)

I just made sure everything was up to date, rebooted, and tried again, but all the errors printed the same besides the one from the journalctl command, which now lists the job identifier it failed on as 2948, if that matters.

gockxlynn · 2024-01-07 01:04:47

Xyne wrote:

The systemd service runs the following commands. Try running them in a terminal to see if the output is more informative:
# Check the configuration file's validity.
/usr/bin/tor -f /etc/tor/torrc --verify-config

# Start the service.
/usr/bin/tor -f /etc/tor/torrc
You will need to run them as root. Use <ctrl>+c to terminate the service if it runs.

edit
V1del wrote:
Have you updated your system before attempting this and haven't yet rebooted into the new kernel? If tor needs to load a tunneling module or similar it will fail if you're currently on a kernel that can't load modules (because they got replaced in the update with the newer ones)
Try rebooting first. If that doesn't fix it, post the output of the commands above.

Ok, here's the first command's output:

Jan 06 16:55:33.811 [notice] Tor 0.4.8.10 running on Linux with Libevent 2.1.12-stable, OpenSSL 3.2.0, Zlib 1.3, Liblzma 5.4.5, Libzstd 1.5.5 and Glibc 2.38 as libc.
Jan 06 16:55:33.811 [notice] Tor can't help you if you use it wrong! Learn how to be safe at https://support.torproject.org/faq/staying-anonymous/
Jan 06 16:55:33.811 [notice] Read configuration file "/etc/tor/torrc".
Configuration was valid

And tor starts, but it doesn't seem to have any effect on running systemctl start tor.service or archtorify --tor. The output is here:

Jan 06 16:56:21.933 [notice] Tor 0.4.8.10 running on Linux with Libevent 2.1.12-stable, OpenSSL 3.2.0, Zlib 1.3, Liblzma 5.4.5, Libzstd 1.5.5 and Glibc 2.38 as libc.
Jan 06 16:56:21.933 [notice] Tor can't help you if you use it wrong! Learn how to be safe at https://support.torproject.org/faq/staying-anonymous/
Jan 06 16:56:21.933 [notice] Read configuration file "/etc/tor/torrc".
Jan 06 16:56:21.935 [notice] Opening Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9050
Jan 06 16:56:21.935 [notice] Opened Socks listener connection (ready) on 127.0.0.1:9050
Jan 06 16:56:21.935 [notice] Opening DNS listener on 127.0.0.1:53
Jan 06 16:56:21.935 [notice] Opened DNS listener connection (ready) on 127.0.0.1:53
Jan 06 16:56:21.935 [notice] Opening Transparent pf/netfilter listener on 127.0.0.1:9040
Jan 06 16:56:21.935 [notice] Opened Transparent pf/netfilter listener connection (ready) on 127.0.0.1:9040
Jan 06 16:56:21.000 [notice] Parsing GEOIP IPv4 file /usr/share/tor/geoip.
Jan 06 16:56:22.000 [notice] Parsing GEOIP IPv6 file /usr/share/tor/geoip6.
Jan 06 16:56:22.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 0% (starting): Starting
Jan 06 16:56:22.000 [notice] Starting with guard context "default"
Jan 06 16:56:23.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 5% (conn): Connecting to a relay
Jan 06 16:56:23.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 10% (conn_done): Connected to a relay
Jan 06 16:56:24.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 14% (handshake): Handshaking with a relay
Jan 06 16:56:24.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 15% (handshake_done): Handshake with a relay done
Jan 06 16:56:24.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 75% (enough_dirinfo): Loaded enough directory info to build circuits
Jan 06 16:56:24.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 90% (ap_handshake_done): Handshake finished with a relay to build circuits
Jan 06 16:56:24.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 95% (circuit_create): Establishing a Tor circuit
Jan 06 16:56:25.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 100% (done): Done

I should've mentioned, just running tor normally in the command line seems to start normally, but didn't affect the other commands. I'm not sure if that's relevant though.

Last edited by gockxlynn (2024-01-07 01:05:11)

Arch Linux

#1 2024-01-06 23:53:46

[SOLVED] Tor.service fails to start

#2 2024-01-07 00:42:16

Re: [SOLVED] Tor.service fails to start

#3 2024-01-07 00:49:14

Re: [SOLVED] Tor.service fails to start

#4 2024-01-07 00:54:33

Re: [SOLVED] Tor.service fails to start

#5 2024-01-07 01:04:47

Re: [SOLVED] Tor.service fails to start

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