I’ve spent the last few hours trying to get things set up on an old windows 10 machine for running a relay, and the instructions on the Windows instructions are not good at all. Nowhere does it specify that you need to enter the command prompt, nor does it tell you how to create any of the files it is specifying to create. The instructions assume that anyone wanting to create a relay knows what is needed despite things not being written down or included.
I’m just OK with computers and want to do my part to help expand the relay network, but of the instructions take an assumption route, they are not good instructions. I’ve written SOP’s for years, and the number one thing that an SOP needs to do is to be written like the operator has zero previous experience.
I’ve spent the last few hours trying to get things set up on an old windows 10 machine for running a relay, and the instructions on the Windows instructions are not good at all. Nowhere does it specify that you need to enter the command prompt, nor does it tell you how to create any of the files it is specifying to create. The instructions assume that anyone wanting to create a relay knows what is needed despite things not being written down or included.
I’m just OK with computers and want to do my part to help expand the relay network, but of the instructions take an assumption route, they are not good instructions. I’ve written SOP’s for years, and the number one thing that an SOP needs to do is to be written like the operator has zero previous experience.
Which docs have you been looking at? And, yes, we’d be happy if you
could help us improve them, thanks!
I was following the steps as outlined in the Windows Relay setup guide here… Tor Project | Windows
I would be happy to provide with any suggestions for improvement, and I apologize if my previous comments came off sounding rude at all… Just a long weekend of trying to get my relay working.
One thing that I noticed was after creating the torrelay local account, when following the steps outlined to the letter, the directory of C:\Users\torrelay\ does not exist until after you reboot the computer. This step is missing from the setup guide.
Continuing to follow the steps in 2.2 Configuration, it appears that everything else needs to take place in the command prompt to create files and directories, but there is no clear wording saying such, nor does it go into detail on how to create the files and directories needed for completion of the task. For example in step 2.2.2, it doesn’t state how to creage the needed notices.log file format. Steps 2.2.3 and 2.2.4 talk about creating to torrc file, but there are no steps layed out on how to create the torrc file, and going to C:\Users\torrelay\AppData\Roaming\tor\torrc in windows explorer shows no such directory exists, so one would assume that they would need to create the file path themselves, but then get stuck on how to create a torrc file, and that is personally where I am stuck at.
The thing I would suggest for all of the guides, even the Linux ones (and yes even the Arch one), is to not shy away from a lot of step-by-step hand holding. Maybe have two versions where one could be the extremely detailed how-to for those of us whoa re just ok with computers but want to help run a relay since we have an old pc laying around, but not a lot of cash to financially support the Tor Project.