Have you ever wanted to access surface web, deep web and dark web seamlessly, with no hassle? It is now possible with I2P and Orchid.

I2P has excellent plugin support, and there are many plugins. One of them is Orchid plugin.

Orchid is a client-only Tor implementation written in Java, now maintained by yours truly. With I2P Orchid plugin based on it, you can access not only I2P eepsites but also Tor’s Hidden Services (*.onion) and the usual clearnet websites (*.com, *.org, *.net, etc.), anonymously.

What you need to do is:

Install and set up I2P Install and set up I2P Orchid plugin Change your web browser’s proxy settings

1 is not covered in this article. If you do not know what I2P is or how to set up it, please read my previous one.

Note that older versions of I2P might have some problem on loading plugins, so I strongly recommend installing I2P 0.9.38 or later. Also, you need the latest Orchid plugin (1.2.2–0.4-b1 or later).

How to install I2P Plugins

Installing I2P plugins is quite easy. Run I2P, open http://localhost:7657/configplugins with your web browser, or choose “Manage Plugins” in the “Applications and Configuration” section of your I2P Router Console.

I2P’s Plugin Configuration dialog (click to enlarge)

As it says, you need the URL for the plugin file (*.su3) or plugin file itself. The list of plugins can be found at I2PWiki.

In our case, what we need is http://stats.i2p/i2p/plugins/orchid.su3. Copy this address to “URL:” of “Installation from URL”, then click “Install Plugin”. Plugin will be automatically downloaded (via the I2P network) and installed.

How to run Orchid plugin

After installation of the plugin, you can run Orchid from “Control” of “Plugin Configuration” page. You can also choose to run Orchid at I2P’s startup.

Running Orchid plugin

You can monitor Orchid plugin at http://localhost:7657/orchid/. Or, you can find “Orchid” button in the “Applications and Configuration” section of I2P Router Console (http://localhost:7657).

Orchid Controller

If “Registered?” becomes “true”, then all set. It will take some time (reload the page for updating the info), but if it stays “false” forever, try deleting ~/.orchid directory and restart I2P (and Orchid plugin).

How to change web browser’s proxy setting

You can use any web browser if it has proxy support, but it is recommended to use Mozilla Firefox (or ever better, Tor Browser Bundle since TBB is based on Firefox ESR). If you are new to I2P and using Windows, you can try the brand new I2P Firefox Browser Profile. This Firefox browser profile is pre-configured to work with I2P.

I2P Firefox Browser Profile

If you followed my previous article, you might have already set up Firefox and FoxyProxy. In this case, you need to disable FoxyProxy and set up Firefox’s proxy by hand. Click the FoxyProxy icon and choose “Turn Off FoxyProxy (Use Firefox Settings)”. You do not have to uninstall FoxyProxy.

Then you have to change Firefox’s proxy settings. Click the menu button, choose “Preferences”. Or, you can put “about:preferences” directly in Firefox’s URL window. You will find “Network Settings” at the bottom. Then Click “Settings”. Also see Firefox’s own support page if it is unclear.

Network Settings

In “Connection Settings”, you can choose “Manual proxy configuration”. Set “HTTP Proxy” to localhost, “Port” to 4444. And check “Use this proxy server for all protocols”. Then click “OK”.

Firefox’s Connection Settings

Okay, now it is all done! You can use I2P and Orchid now. Check if it is really working — try the following 3 links. Can you browse them?

https://check.torproject.org/ (clearnet, you can also check if Orchid/Tor works)

http://expyuzz4wqqyqhjn.onion/ (The Tor Project’s homepage as Tor’s Hidden Service)

http://ransack.i2p/ (I2P eepsite, b32 address)

If you could, then now you can access all of I2P, Tor and clearnet without the need for a separate Tor. This is especially nice when you use ransack.i2p the meta search engine — its search results might contain all of 3 types, so with I2P/Orchid, you can visit them without worrying too much.

So what’s going on, anyway?

The following diagram might help you to understand.

The I2P/Orchid system

By setting up your web browser’s proxy to http://localhost:4444, all your requests for external sites are going through your local I2P router. While requests for I2P eepsites (*.i2p) are handled by I2P and going through the I2P network, requests for Tor’s hidden services (*.onion) or clearnet websites are handled by I2P Orchid plugin (works as outproxy) and going through the Tor network. In either case, your identitying information will be lost before the red line in the diagram, thanks to onion/garlic routing. Thus, you can access all of *.i2p, *.onion, *.com, *. org, etc. anonymously.