ANSWERED Use Airvpn only for torrent

[BALL19 0]

Hi All,

I am trying to use Airvpn only for torrenting and leave rest of the windows 11 use regular internet outside of VPN.

So I  set Layer IPv4 to "outside Tunnel" and then Bind qbittorrent to Eddie network interface. Everything else kept at default.
This allows me download torrent using Airvpn and browse internet outside of VPN.

Now the question is my torrenting exposed to the ISP ?

Thanks,

[NaDre 154]

This is what I do:

https://github.com/tool-maker/VPN_just_for_torrents/wiki/Running-OpenVPN-on-Windows-without-VPN-as-Default-Gateway

Works for Wireguard too.

You add routing table entries to put the original default gateway back in effect (using a provided script - copy and paste). Basically you have all public IP addresses routed outside the VPN.

And then bind the torrent client to the VPN interface (or address) to have it use the VPN. In Windows, a program bound to the VPN interface will ignore routing table entries that are not for the VPN interface. So it sees the VPN as the only route.

I have used this (I wrote the scripts there) for many years.

Some people complain that this is too much reading/too technical/too much work. But you really just have to copy and paste a couple of .bat scripts for the routing.

Also, a caveat. This really does rely on the torrent program binding properly to the VPN interface. From that page:

"If you are using uTorrent, uTorrent (older releases at least) will ignore your instruction to bind the VPN and use the default gateway if the address you specify does not exist."

Recent versions of qBittorrent seem to have become unreliable for this too. I use Transmission (transmission-daemon.exe).

For safety, I use Windows firewall to block the torrent program from using the real interface. The method is to block out-going traffic for that program from IP ranges 192.168.0.0/16 (for IPv4) and 2000::/3 (for IPv6). This presumes that your router uses NAT for IPv4 (with the usual LAN private address range) but not for IPv6.

You can start Windows Firewall by executing "wf.msc". Or find it in the start menu.

Add the rules in "Outbound Rules". One for IPv4 and one for IPv6. The address goes in the "Scope" tab in "Local IP address". Check "Block the connection" in the "General" tab. The program path goes in the "Programs and Services" tab in "This program".
 

[BALL19 0]

13 hours ago, BALL19 said:

I  set Layer IPv4 to "outside Tunnel"

do you see any security risk in doing this ?

I tested qbtorrent binding and test tracker shows qbtorrent is using airvpn IP

[tubule 0]

1. Debugging.

cmd:
ping -S 192.168.0.102 google.com
ping -S 10.12.80.20 google.com

2. Disable all the routes.

ovpn:
route 0.0.0.0 192.0.0.0 net_gateway
route 64.0.0.0 192.0.0.0 net_gateway
route 128.0.0.0 192.0.0.0 net_gateway
route 192.0.0.0 192.0.0.0 net_gateway

3. BitTorrent client.

In the qBittorrent "Advanced" settings box for "Network Interface".
Working properly: qBittorrent version 4.3.0 or later.

Edited ... by tubule

[billbillw 0]

I was also struggling with this issue. I wanted my qbittorent to use VPN, but my browser to use my ISP. The link provided by NaDre (thanks to Tool-Maker at GitHub) helped me fix it. The scripts work, but you need to pay attention to the sequence. Run the script, then run OpenVPN (Eddie), then start qbittorent. Pay attention to the settings in OpenVPN. Network Lock must be turned off.