An I2P answer to the great Tor Browser Bundle.

Photo by Verne Ho on Unsplash

Tor has become immensely popular in recent years. One of the reasons is the existence of Tor Browser Bundle (TBB). TBB is a carefully pre-configured set of Tor, Mozilla Firefox and other good things. With TBB, you can use Tor off the shelf, without tweaking advanced settings by yourself.

There have been several attempts to produce “I2P Browser Bundle”, but most of them died prematurely. However, now we have I2P Firefox Browser Profile (FBP) Installer. It is mainly for Windows at the moment, but Mac OSX and GNU/Linux support are being developed.

Installing Firefox/I2P/I2P FBP

Unlike TBB, which bundles Firefox & Co., you still have to install Firefox and I2P by hand for I2P FBP. It is not difficult, since they have excellent installers — visit their sites and follow instructions.

Also, you have to run the I2P router by yourself. Click “Start I2P (non window)” in the Windows 10 Menu and wait for a while.

I2P in Windows 10 menu

Then install I2P Firefox Browser Profile Installer. It installs a completely new and separated Firefox Profile dedicated for the use of I2P, so if you have been already using Firefox, your current Profile is not disturbed at all. Also, you can uninstall I2P FBP at any moment.

Installing I2P Firefox Browser Profile produces two desktop icons. I should say they are not particularly sexy, can anyone provide better icons?

Two Icons

By clicking one of them, a special Firefox web browser configured for I2P will start up.

Firefox with I2P Profile

As you can see in the upper right corner, HTTP Everywhere and NoScript add-ons are pre-installed and configured.

Since this web browser is configured for I2P, if you try to browse clearnet websites such as Google, requests go through I2P outproxies, which are very slow — so if you want to browse clearnet (and .onion Tor Hidden Services) regularly, use other regular web browsers, or consider installing Orchid plugin in your I2P router. For I2P’s own settings, my previous articles (here, here and here) might help you, too.

Be Careful

I2P Firefox Profile (or TBB) provides a better privacy and security, but does not guarantee you a perfect anonymity. Nothing does, you have to learn things by yourself. EFF’s Panopticlick would be a good starting point.