What's your ISP? Are you using both the VPN and the proxy at the same time?
We typically don't recommend using the proxy for torrents because while it kind of works, it severely limits your options in terms of peers to download from. The VPN with port forwarding is by far the best option for speed and reliability with torrents.
I am using the VPN and proxy at the same time. Isn't the proxy necessary to ensure my anonymity in case the VPN fails?
Exactly. I don't want qBittorrent to be able to connect ever without protection, and I can't always have my machine on the VPN. This worked not long ago... I can't even connect with the proxy without the VPN.
The proxy is not necessary to ensure your anonymity as long as the VPN stays up and you have a way to prevent it to connect (like the killswitch). You should be able to bind qBittorrent to the TAP adapter itself so that it cannot use any other interface to exchange traffic. Using the proxy works, but comes with a lot of drawbacks I have highlighted above. It will work fine on large torrents, but could make the difference between no peers and just enough to download your torrent.
The question of which ISP was very important there because some ISPs are now known to actively block the SOCKS proxy port 1080. Comcast is one of them. This could possibly explain why the proxy no longer works without the VPN.
The proxy is not necessary to ensure your anonymity as long as the VPN stays up and you have a way to prevent it to connect (like the killswitch). You should be able to bind qBittorrent to the TAP adapter itself so that it cannot use any other interface to exchange traffic.
Thank you. Does this mean that if I use the proxy and the VPN malfunctions, my anonymity is still guaranteed?
And if I just use the VPN with the killswitch, without the proxy, likewise?
The question of which ISP was very important there because some ISPs are now known to actively block the SOCKS proxy port 1080. Comcast is one of them. This could possibly explain why the proxy no longer works without the VPN.
For me, the proxy works fine without the VPN. It just doesn't work with the VPN.
The proxy is not necessary to ensure your anonymity as long as the VPN stays up and you have a way to prevent it to connect (like the killswitch). You should be able to bind qBittorrent to the TAP adapter itself so that it cannot use any other interface to exchange traffic.
Thank you. Does this mean that if I use the proxy and the VPN malfunctions, my anonymity is still guaranteed?
Yes. Binding to the TAP means that it can only use that network interface. I'd still recommend testing it out with a safe torrent like a Linux distro to verify it works, but in theory it's actually more bulletproof than the proxy as the proxy uses weak security and somewhat obvious on the network.
The question of which ISP was very important there because some ISPs are now known to actively block the SOCKS proxy port 1080. Comcast is one of them. This could possibly explain why the proxy no longer works without the VPN.
For me, the proxy works fine without the VPN. It just doesn't work with the VPN.
That's odd, I'm used to see the opposite.
Proxy not working inside the VPN could be an indication of an MTU issue, can you try enabling the "Use small packets" option in the PIA client and see if that helps with that? It's possible that trying to squeeze encrypted SOCKS packets in the VPN makes it so the compression not enough to make it fit the connection.
I don't want the killswitch. Is binding to the TAP adapter itself sufficient to prevent qbittorrent activity being dectable? I.e. do you know if it uses that for everything?
@erich2k8 Yes. binding it to the TAP adapter means that it will only be able to use that network adapter to talk to the network, and the TAP network only exists when PIA is connected. I would highly recommend testing it first by disconnecting the VPN and double-checking that all downloads stop immediately just in case, but it should work.
Comments
We typically don't recommend using the proxy for torrents because while it kind of works, it severely limits your options in terms of peers to download from. The VPN with port forwarding is by far the best option for speed and reliability with torrents.
The question of which ISP was very important there because some ISPs are now known to actively block the SOCKS proxy port 1080. Comcast is one of them. This could possibly explain why the proxy no longer works without the VPN.
That's odd, I'm used to see the opposite.
Proxy not working inside the VPN could be an indication of an MTU issue, can you try enabling the "Use small packets" option in the PIA client and see if that helps with that? It's possible that trying to squeeze encrypted SOCKS packets in the VPN makes it so the compression not enough to make it fit the connection.