Using AirVPN for a specific uTorrent instance

[Mercury 0]

Hi,

I plan on running two instances of uTorrent. I want to use AirVPN for one of the two but not on the other one.

Is this possible? If yes, how?

 

Greetz,

Mercury

[NaDre 154]

...

I plan on running two instances of uTorrent. I want to use AirVPN for one of the two but not on the other one.

Is this possible? If yes, how?

...

 

I assume you know how to run more than one uTorrent instance?

 

For the network stuff see:

 

https://airvpn.org/topic/9549-traffic-splitting-guide-to-setting-up-vpn-only-for-torrenting-on-windows-thanks-to-nadre/

https://airvpn.org/topic/9491-guide-to-setting-up-vpn-just-for-torrenting-on-windows/

 

For the instance that is not to use the VPN, just don't tell it to bind to the VPN IP interface/address. Or tell it to bind to the real IP interface/address, if you may want to use the VPN for browsing occasionally.

[Mercury 0]

Seems like a shit ton of work. Thanks though!

[NaDre 154]

Seems like a shit ton of work. Thanks though!

 

Once you know how, it just takes a few minutes. But yes, there is a bit to learn. That is what takes the time.

 

By the way, you don't have to use the OpenVPN client by itself. You can still use the AirVPN client. Just run a script when the VPN comes up, and another when the VPN comes down. And I'm told you can make that automatic.

[airvpn.teiuxcg 4]

If you are using Linux can you not just use network namespaces...?

[NaDre 154]

If you are using Linux can you not just use network namespaces...?

 

Probably. But I am not using Linux as my desktop system, and have not done this. And so have no tips to offer.

[Mercury 0]

So I found the time to try this. The OpenVPN GUI (instead of the AirVPN client) is easily set up. It works just fine.

What happens is: When I set-up the firewall rules, uTorrent stops working (no traffic) with the VPN up, but still works with the VPN down.

 

My "Outbound"" firewall rule has the uTorrent.exe as specified program and blocks all ports from the local IP addresses "192.168.0.0/16".

My "Inbound" firewall rules have the uTorrent.exe as specified programs and one of them allows all TCP ports from the local IP adresses "10.4.0.0/16" while the other one allows all UDP ports.

 

I did not bind the IP in uTorrent in the Advanced options yet, but it shouldn't be behaving like this anyway I believe. Just to make this clear again as I sometimes don't speak clearly enough:

VPN Up with standard firewall rules: No issues ; VPN Down with standard firewall rules: No issues ; VPN Up with new firewall rules: Issues arise ; VPN Down with new firewall rules: Still no issues.

It should be working the other way around even without binding the IP in uTorrent, right?

 

Note: I skipped the "Routing Table Change to Block Outgoing Native Traffic" because changing that when working with two uTorrent instances wouldn't make sense to me.

If I change the routing table as suggested only the uTorrent instance running the VPN would work and the one not running the VPN wouldn't. At least that's how I understand it.

I don't see how this could be relevant to the problem I'm having, but I just wanted to bring it up.

 

I hope someone (mainly NaDre I guess) can help me out here.

 

Greetz,

- Mercury

Edit: I believe this has now become a "Troubleshooting and Problems"-thread. Admins/mods feel free to move it!

[NaDre 154]

...

What happens is: When I set-up the firewall rules, uTorrent stops working (no traffic) with the VPN up, but still works with the VPN down.

 

My "Outbound"" firewall rule has the uTorrent.exe as specified program and blocks all ports from the local IP addresses "192.168.0.0/16".

My "Inbound" firewall rules have the uTorrent.exe as specified programs and one of them allows all TCP ports from the local IP adresses "10.4.0.0/16" while the other one allows all UDP ports.

...

VPN Up with standard firewall rules: No issues ; VPN Down with standard firewall rules: No issues ; VPN Up with new firewall rules: Issues arise ; VPN Down with new firewall rules: Still no issues.

It should be working the other way around even without binding the IP in uTorrent, right?

...

 

It should definitely be the other way around. As soon as you have the firewall rules done, there should never be traffic on the real IP interface for uTorrent.

 

Is uTorrent by any chance installed on a USB drive? Have you mapped the USB drive to a folder on the C: drive? This is what I do. If so, the name of the program that you use in the firewall rule must use the real drive name (not the C:\ embedded name). Otherwise the rule will not be matched.

 

But this would still not explain why uTorrrent will not work with the VPN up. There must be something else wrong. If you disable the rules does it work with the VPN up? If so, then enable the rules one at a time to see what makes it stop.

 

Have you tried using Process Explorer to watch the network connections uTorrent makes while downloading  the Ubuntu desktop torrent (which has been very, very active every time I have tried it)? What do you see happening?

 

EDIT:

 

Also, make sure that there are no other conflicting rules for uTorrent. Order the rules by program (click on the column header) to make this easier. The original uTorrent rule would have blocked incoming connections on a "public" interface, and Windows thinks the VPN connection is public.

[Mercury 0]

I disabled the "Blocking"-rule and changed the "Incoming"-rules to allow traffic from all IPs for uTorrent.exe.

(Which I have installed via Installer on my hard drive by the way, no USB stuff)

Works perfectly fine with the VPN up.

 

I then closed uTorrent and re-enabled the "Blocking"-rule and shit got really weird. When I started uTorrent I got an immediate ~80kbps DL on the Ubuntu torrent

which kept dropping until it was zero. The same for UL speed on my other torrents. However, even though I have 0kbps DL and UL which keep going up and down between 0 and 2 kbps,

I still stay connected to my seeds and peers (not dropping like the DL/UL speed).

 

So apparently the blocking rule fucks shit up somehow.

 

Outbound blocking rule screenshots:

 

http://puu.sh/gdSWe/b74c9b3c0a.png

http://puu.sh/gdT1e/18dc3a587d.png

http://puu.sh/gdT3a/ba63629ff5.png

http://puu.sh/gdT3Y/79625642b3.png

http://puu.sh/gdT6W/aa7a8da9ef.png

http://puu.sh/gdT8T/72ffccef7a.png

 

I did not try to use process explorer, because my peer list looked like this:

http://puu.sh/gdTH9/5ed27d8cd9.png

Which seemed unproblematic. What else should check for in process explorer?

 

After writing this the Ubuntu torrent started climbing up to 500kbps again and then dropped to 250kbps even though I have a 50Mbps connection and 240 connected seeds. I don't get it.

 

I then disabled the Outbound rule again and changed the Inbound rules to only allow the 10.4.XXXXX traffic (the VPN traffic). Restarted uTorrent and then nothing worked anymore. I couldn't even open Google.

Had the same problem while the Outbound rule was active and the Inbound rules allowed all traffic, but in that scenario the problem was gone after a minute or two.

 

Why the fuck do I always get the weirdest problems? -.-

Whenever I have to fix stuff for my friends because they are too stupid it's like: "Let's Google this!" and bam, first entry is the solution that fixes everything.

Why in the heavens does the firewall rule that points to my uTorrent.exe affect my browser and my overall connectivity? It makes no sense at all. 

 

If you have any ideas, let me know.

[Mercury 0]

Before I keep pursuing this, which of the steps in your guide ensure that the VPN affects only the uTorrent instance and nothing else?

So far all I've read is to ensure that no non-VPN traffic leaks from uTorrent but where do I set-up a system that makes the VPN affect ONLY the uTorrent instance and nothing else?

 

Edit: For now I've set-up a Virtual Machine with WinXP running OpenVPN and uTorrent. Works.