ANSWERED AirVPN/Gluetun/qBit - Connection firewalled when port forwarding

[marcosrojo 1]

OK, I am so unbelievably f****** done honestly, so done.

I am trying to do torrenting through AirVPN with forwarded port (installed on Ubuntu, through YAMS script, Gluetun, qbit and others in docker containers)

qBit says Connection firewalled with orange f**** flame, DHT: 0 nodes, External IP: N/A, not connecting to seeds, occasionally downloading like 20-50 KiB/s.

**qBit settings:**

Listening port - forwarded port from AirVPN Client service (46606)

UPnP/NAT checkbox DISABLED

Advanced settings - Network interface: tun0 (doesn't really work whatever I set here)

VPN works, but port forwarding obviously doesn't

    Getting your IP...
    Your IP: xxxx
    Your local IP country is Czechia
    
    Getting your qBittorrent IP...
    qBittorrent IP: xxxx
    qBittorrent country is The Netherlands
    ✅ Success: Your IPs are different. qBittorrent is masking your IP!

**my docker compose**

     qbittorrent:
        image: lscr.io/linuxserver/qbittorrent:latest
        container_name: qbittorrent
        environment:
          - PUID=${PUID}
          - PGID=${PGID}
          - WEBUI_PORT=8081
          - TORRENTING_PORT=46606 (added after troubleshooting, didn't work, doesn't work without it either)
        volumes:
          - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
          - ${MEDIA_DIRECTORY}:/data
          - ${INSTALL_DIRECTORY}/config/qbittorrent:/config
        restart: unless-stopped
        #ports: # qbittorrent
         # - 8081:8081 # qbittorrent
        network_mode: "service:gluetun"
    
    
    
    gluetun:
        image: qmcgaw/gluetun:v3
        container_name: gluetun
        cap_add:
          - NET_ADMIN
        devices:
          - /dev/net/tun:/dev/net/tun
        ports:
          - 8888:8888/tcp # HTTP proxy
          - 8388:8388/tcp # Shadowsocks
          - 8388:8388/udp # Shadowsocks
          - 8003:8000/tcp # Admin
          - 8080:8080/tcp # gluetun
          - 8081:8081/tcp # gluetun
        environment:
          - VPN_SERVICE_PROVIDER=airvpn
          - VPN_TYPE=wireguard
          - WIREGUARD_PUBLIC_KEY=xxxx (all four below copied from config file generated in AirVPN client site)
          - WIREGUARD_PRIVATE_KEY=xxxx
          - WIREGUARD_PRESHARED_KEY=xxxx
          - WIREGUARD_ADDRESSES=xxxx
          - SERVER_COUNTRIES=Switzerland,Netherlands,Romania,Sweden
          - FIREWALL_VPN_INPUT_PORTS=46606
          #- VPN_PORT_FORWARDING_LISTENING_PORT=46606 (added after troubleshooting, didn't work, doesn't work without it either, commented for now)
          #- DOT_PROVIDERS=quad9
          #- OPENVPN_USER=${VPN_USER}
          #- OPENVPN_PASSWORD=${VPN_PASSWORD}
          #- OPENVPN_CIPHERS=AES-256-GCM
          #- PORT_FORWARD_ONLY=on (these two apparently don't work with Wireguard as VPN doesn't even connect with these two)
          #- VPN_PORT_FORWARDING=on
          #- FIREWALL_OUTBOUND_SUBNETS=172.60.0.0/24
        restart: unless-stopped
        networks:
          yams_network:
            ipv4_address: 172.60.0.18    

Now I am no expert in these things, but everything worked perfectly before I tried AirVPN, even other M VPN worked but obviously downloading wasn't consistent as they don't do port forwarding.

I bought two VPNs today already, M didn't work (I didn't know they disabled port forwarding, that's ok, my mistake), then bought AirVPN and it isn't working either, can someone please, please sincerely help me, I want to smash my Ubuntu box with baseball bat tbh. Thank you so very much, I'll provide anything you need to help me, logs, settings, screenshots. Thank you.

Edited ... by marcosrojo

[jimurrito@gmail.com 0]

Hey I have been having similar issues on another VPN service using Gluetun + Qbit in a similar way to you. Rebooting Gluetun+dependents like qbit and prowlarr seems to work.
I have been seeing this off and on for the last 6 months.

[ByteBuccaneer 13]

I do understand that technical problems are incredibly frustrating. I feel your pain, and I try to help others get past this hurdle. I'm going to ask you to just trust the next couple points:

1. Judging from the emotion in your post, you need a break. Just walk away from this project for 24-48 hours and give your mind and body a rest. Do something that you enjoy. When you come back to these problems with a fresh and rested mind you will be able to try again and succeed. A fresh brain is an AMAZING thing.
2. Know that AirVPN is not the cause of these issues; you are in the right place. You are posting among torrenting LEGENDS who could use any VPN they desire, and they chose to be here. Trust that there is a good reason for that and that you made a great decision to be here.

Assuming that you are now well rested, please start again by looking at my stack. This stack configuration has literally torrented hundreds of terabytes; it works!  

Then, check your AirVPN profile to ensure you set everything up properly and did not rush over or skip a step:

1. When you go to the devices screen have you set up a device?
2. In the ports screen is that device linked to the port (in the dropdown)?
3. When making your config file did you select that device?
4. When working correctly, the sessions screen should list your device at the top of the card when connected; does it?

If you accomplish all these things and still have an issue, post again with the current status of things and I'll take another look.

[marcosrojo 1]

8 hours ago, ByteBuccaneer said:

I do understand that technical problems are incredibly frustrating. I feel your pain, and I try to help others get past this hurdle. I'm going to ask you to just trust the next couple points:

1. Judging from the emotion in your post, you need a break. Just walk away from this project for 24-48 hours and give your mind and body a rest. Do something that you enjoy. When you come back to these problems with a fresh and rested mind you will be able to try again and succeed. A fresh brain is an AMAZING thing.
2. Know that AirVPN is not the cause of these issues; you are in the right place. You are posting among torrenting LEGENDS who could use any VPN they desire, and they chose to be here. Trust that there is a good reason for that and that you made a great decision to be here.

Assuming that you are now well rested, please start again by looking at my stack. This stack configuration has literally torrented hundreds of terabytes; it works!  

Then, check your AirVPN profile to ensure you set everything up properly and did not rush over or skip a step:

1. When you go to the devices screen have you set up a device?
2. In the ports screen is that device linked to the port (in the dropdown)?
3. When making your config file did you select that device?
4. When working correctly, the sessions screen should list your device at the top of the card when connected; does it?

If you accomplish all these things and still have an issue, post again with the current status of things and I'll take another look.

Thank you, I am sorry if it looks like I am blaming AirVPN, that was not my intention and you are completely right, I turned server off for the weekend and went hiking.. Let's see what I can do with clear head and thank you for tips and posting your stack. 

[ByteBuccaneer 13]

On 10/4/2025 at 3:21 PM, jimurrito@gmail.com said:

Hey I have been having similar issues on another VPN service using Gluetun + Qbit in a similar way to you. Rebooting Gluetun+dependents like qbit and prowlarr seems to work.
I have been seeing this off and on for the last 6 months.

One of the problems we all face is that the Qbit container is not able to restart when the VPN / ISP / backbone goes down. It has something to do with the Qbit container not being able to check for the "healthy" status of the Gluetun container. Although we give the instruction to only run when healthy...
 

depends_on:
      gluetun:
        condition: service_healthy
        restart: true

...our instruction goes unfollowed. I don't think a solution to this well known problem has been posted. Last time I did any research I saw issues filed on Github but no answers.

[marcosrojo 1]

On 10/5/2025 at 5:10 AM, ByteBuccaneer said:

I do understand that technical problems are incredibly frustrating. I feel your pain, and I try to help others get past this hurdle. I'm going to ask you to just trust the next couple points:

1. Judging from the emotion in your post, you need a break. Just walk away from this project for 24-48 hours and give your mind and body a rest. Do something that you enjoy. When you come back to these problems with a fresh and rested mind you will be able to try again and succeed. A fresh brain is an AMAZING thing.
2. Know that AirVPN is not the cause of these issues; you are in the right place. You are posting among torrenting LEGENDS who could use any VPN they desire, and they chose to be here. Trust that there is a good reason for that and that you made a great decision to be here.

Assuming that you are now well rested, please start again by looking at my stack. This stack configuration has literally torrented hundreds of terabytes; it works!  

Then, check your AirVPN profile to ensure you set everything up properly and did not rush over or skip a step:

1. When you go to the devices screen have you set up a device?
2. In the ports screen is that device linked to the port (in the dropdown)?
3. When making your config file did you select that device?
4. When working correctly, the sessions screen should list your device at the top of the card when connected; does it?

If you accomplish all these things and still have an issue, post again with the current status of things and I'll take another look.

I did everything you suggested and it finally works, thank you. However I have another problem, the speed is very unsatisfactory, it's around 2 MB/s whatever MTU number or server I set. The exact same torrent goes absolutely haywire with speed on the very same PC, just without VPN. I tested multiple torrents and it's the same for all of them, Ubuntu distro achieves highest speed with 8 - 18 MB/s while without VPN it goes 90 MB/s (I have 1 Gbps fiber). Any tips for that? I tried again many things, changing MTU, changing servers (Netherlands, then servers closest to me, then servers with highest bandwidth according to Client area here). Thank you very much for your help and responses.

[ByteBuccaneer 13]

@marcosrojo Hit "like" on helpful posts and open a new post for your new problem. In this way the conversation on your new problem will:

1. Reach an audience of new people able to help on the new problem (I don't have a lot of MTU experience, sorry);
2. Not be buried in a post about the old and solved problem;
3. Be more searchable for others looking for help in the future.

Glad you are up and running!