# privoxy won't start

## mcg

hi

i can not make the privoxy work

privoxy user and group exist

/var/log/privoxy belong to user privoxy and group privoxy

/etc/privoxy belong to user privoxy and group privoxy

when i start /etc/init.d/privoxy start it won't start.config file is exist and belong to privoxy and i only added to config forward-socks4a / localhost:9050 .

when i run as root it runs, but i do't want to run it as root. i tried to run it from /etc/privoxy with command privoxy --pidfile /var/run/privoxy.pid --user privoxy.privoxy it complained that "fatal /etc/privoxy/config permission denied" this is insane all files belog to privoxy and readable plus writeable.what else should i try?can anyone help please?thanks

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## kommissar

You should start privoxy using '/etc/init.d/privoxy start' as root.  It should drop to the proper user/group automatically.

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## PaulBredbury

Check this thread.

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## mcg

 *PaulBredbury wrote:*   

> Check this thread.

 

hi

thanks for the answers, but i searched the forum b4 i post and i tried all your advices,result same it just won't start

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## PaulBredbury

 *mcg wrote:*   

> "fatal /etc/privoxy/config permission denied" this is insane all files belog to privoxy and readable plus writeable.

 

Check that the privoxy user can access the directories

```
su - privoxy

cd /etc/privoxy/

cat config
```

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## mcg

success to cd /etc/privoxy & command cat config without any problem  :Sad: 

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## cbpowell

On a new machine installation I was having weird "permission denied" problems with multiple programs, including sudo and privoxy.  The issue was the permission setting of /.

```
ls -ld /
```

The result should be:

```
drwxr-xr-x  19 root root 480 Feb 21 17:25 /
```

My incorrect setting was:

```
d-wxr----t  19 root root 480 Feb 21 17:25 /
```

To correct was simple, and things began working properly:

```
chmod 755 /
```

I hope that this helps you.

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## codadilupo

I also have the same permission on /.

I think those permissions are less relaxed than 755, and I would like to maintain them (it's a server).

What I cannot understand is why only privoxy doesn't work.

I start apache, and it works.

I start tor, and it works.

I start cups, and it works.

I start ssh and it works.

Now, form that all of this daemons have their conf files in /etc/$daemon_name/ ...

Why only privoxy seems to be unable to read its config file...   :Confused: 

Coda

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## PaulBredbury

Run su - privoxy, then have a look around the filesystem to see what the privoxy user has access to.

Edit: For su to work, you'd need to change the privoxy line in /etc/passwd from /bin/false to /bin/sh

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## pietinger

Hi,

I had the same problem today. AND Privoxy was running without a problem before.

What I did ? I copied /etc with "unison" to another PC. And I made a little mistake with the result that the permission for /etc was wrong after.

So check the permissions for /etc also !

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