tor-webwml.git

@@ -719,29 +719,46 @@ Please contact us if you know any others.

 a password at start</a></h3>

 <p>

-The Vidalia bundle tries to start Tor itself, while setting a random

-password for the control port of Tor. Vidalia is the GUI that you see in

-front of you with a network map, message log, and control panel amongst

-other things. This control port allows Vidalia to control Tor. The random

-password allows only your Vidalia to control your Tor. There are two

-common situations where Vidalia will prompt for a password:

+Vidalia interacts with the Tor software via Tor's "control port". The

+control port lets Vidalia receive status updates from Tor, request a new

+identity, configure Tor's settings, etc. Each time Vidalia starts Tor,

+Vidalia sets a random password for Tor's control port to prevent other

+applications from also connecting to the control port and potentially

+compromising your anonymity.

+</p>

+

+<p>

+Usually this process of generating and setting a random control password

+happens in the background. There are two common situations, though,

+where Vidalia may prompt you for a password:

 </p>

 <ul>

-<li>Vidalia crashes, but leaves Tor running. What happens here is that

-Tor continues running with the last known random password. You re-start

-Vidalia, which generates a new random password, but Vidalia can't talk

-to Tor, because the random passwords are different. One solution is to

-go into your process or task manager, and terminate the Tor process. You

-can then restart Vidalia again, and all will work.</li>

-<li>You set Tor to run as a service. When Tor is set to run as a service,

-it starts up when the system boots up. If you configured Tor to start as a

-service through Vidalia, a random password was set and saved in Tor. When

-you reboot, Tor starts up and uses the random password it saved. You

-login and start up Vidalia. Vidalia attempts to talk to the already

-running Tor. Vidalia generates a random password, but it is different

-than the saved password in the Tor service. You need to reconfigure Tor

-to not be a service. See Tor as a service for more info.</li>

+<li>Vidalia crashed, but left Tor running with the last known random

+password. After you restart Vidalia, it generates a new random password,

+but Vidalia can't talk to Tor, because the random passwords are different.

+<br />

+If the dialog that prompts you for a control password has a Reset button,

+you can click the button and Vidalia will restart Tor with a new random

+control password.

+<br />

+If you do not see a Reset button, or if Vidalia is unable to restart

+Tor for you, you can still fix the problem manually. Simply go into your

+process or task manager, and terminate the Tor process. Then use Vidalia

+to restart Tor and all will work again.

+</li>

+<li>You had previously set Tor to run as a service. When Tor is set to

+run as a service, it starts up when the system boots. If you configured

+Tor to start as a service through Vidalia, a random password was set

+and saved in Tor. When you reboot, Tor starts up and uses the random

+password it saved. You login and start up Vidalia. Vidalia attempts to

+talk to the already running Tor. Vidalia generates a random password,

+but it is different than the saved password in the Tor service.

+<br />

+You need to reconfigure Tor to not be a service. See the FAQ entry on

+<a href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/TheOnionRouter/TorFAQ#HowdoIrunmyTorrelayasanNTservice">running Tor as a service</a>

+for more information on how to remove the Tor service.

+</li>

 </ul>

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