Problems with starting the tor service on Windows 10 (Error 1064)

Question

Goal: start the tor service on Windows 10 with specified torrc.

My attempt:

1 step. tor --service install -options -f C:\TorBrowser\torrc

2 step. Trying to start the service... I get the error.

torrc file located in C:\TorBrowser\torrc:

Bridge <<SOME VALUE>>
Bridge <<SOME VALUE>>
Bridge <<SOME VALUE>>
DataDirectory C:\TorBrowser\Browser\TorBrowser\Data\Tor
ExcludeExitNodes <<SOME VALUE>>,{??}
GeoIPFile C:\TorBrowser\Browser\TorBrowser\Data\Tor\geoip
GeoIPv6File C:\TorBrowser\Browser\TorBrowser\Data\Tor\geoip6
Log notice file TorBrowser/Tor/notice.log
SocksPolicy accept private:*,reject *:*
SocksPort 9051 CacheDNS UseDNSCache
StrictNodes 1
TrackHostExits <<SOME VALUE>>
UseBridges 1

Where <<SOME VALUE>> is some value :)

When I use Tor Browser with that torrc file — all OK.

When I try to run C:\TorBrowser\Browser\TorBrowser\Tor>tor.exe -f C:\TorBrowser\torrc the process tor.exe starts and dies in ~one second.(I looked in the Task Manager.)

The similar Tor ticket.

The only way to create a running tor service for a relay is to use the "sc create..." in cmd command line as irc#tor suggested. So this is how it works: sc create "Tor Win32 Service" binPath= "\"C:\tornou\Tor\tor.exe\" --nt-service -f \"C:/tornou/Data/Tor/torrc\""

I tried this solution. The problem remains, the service does not start (with Error 1064).

Any help is welcome!

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 05 '17 at 21:38

The log line is a relative path, within Tor Browser this normally works because it is careful about the directory it is in when it interprets the relative path.

Log notice file TorBrowser/Tor/notice.log

You should instead make it an absolute path instead to ensure it's opened in the correct location. e.g.:

Log notice file C:\TorBrowser\Browser\TorBrowser\Tor\notice.log

Problems with starting the tor service on Windows 10 (Error 1064)

1 Answers1