how to set up protonvpn to only vpn your torrents

hello. have you ever wanted to download your ｌｉｎｕｘ ＩＳＯｓ without being concerned about whether the rightsholders of Ｕｂｕｎｔｕ ｌｉｎｕｘ will become incensed at you, over irrelevant personal grievances? so have i. this is probably a universal human experience. who among us can say they have not felt this fear?

in this eduformational guidesplanation, i will teach you to use proton vpn, but only for qbittorrent. other vpns and torrent clients are outside the scope of my knowledge. ask after such endeavours on reddit, perhaps, or a discord community populated by trustworthy and knowledgeable acquaintances with which you are friendly.

step one

you are going to need the community (free) version of OpenVPN. you should not use the proton vpn client. i have not used the proton vpn client. i like when sources are open, and free. this is my curse.

please install the downloaded installer before proceeding. it is not sufficient to download it, and let it sit neglected in your downloads folder. you must meet it halfway.

the second step

you should download one of the openvpn country config files from your protonvpn account page.

i recommend a country with a pall cast over it by its dark history, like germany or italy. they will likely be too wracked with guilt for their ancestors' sins to muster any meaningful objection to your collection of ｌｉｎｕｘ ＩＳＯｓ.

the furtive third step, so easily forgotten

do not load this configuration yet! you fool. but your ignorance is understandable. all of us were born without the knowledge we spend our lives pursuing. it is okay. it is alright.

open the .ovpn file in a text editor of your preference. i prefer notepad plus plus!^[1]

now, insert the following lines right after the commented section with the disclaimer, between # Note that you can combine the "+nr" suffix with other suffixes. and the word client on its own line.

pull-filter ignore "dhcp-option DNS"
dhcp-option DNS 8.8.8.8
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

good job! you are keen-eyed, and talented at identifying the place to insert text lines. there is one more line to adjust, but i know in my heart that you will succeed.

find and remove this line. excise it. it does not suit you.

block-outside-dns

save this modified file. open it in openvpn, and when asked, paste the openvpn specific login info from your protonvpn account page. it will be a strange pair of jumbled strings, not the same login info you use on proton's web site.

click this link when you have done this, and affirm that your web browser shows your normal IP and ISP/location.

step IV

open qbittorrent. you already have qbittorrent, yes? i hope so.

click Tools on the menu bar, then Options, or press alt + O on your keyboard if you are a 𝓹𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓻 𝓾𝓼𝓮𝓻.

click on Advanced, and change your Network Interface to OpenVPN Data Channel Offload. change the "IP address to bind to" to the one beginning with 10.^[2]

when the vpn disconnects and reconnects, your local IP will change, and you will need to re-open the options in qbittorrent and change the IP address to bind to to the new/current one. it is inconvenient, but a small price to pay to avoid the malevolent gaze of ｔｈｅ Ｆｒｅｅ Ｓｏｆｔｗａｒｅ Ｆｏｕｎｄａｔｉｏｎ.

please confirm that your ｌｉｎｕｘ ＩＳＯ torrents stop when you disconnect openvpn. for your peace of mind, and my own.

there are no more steps

i hope that this information is a useful tool in your toolbox as you pursue fulfilling and successful endeavours. please contact me regarding any mistakes, inaccuracies, or devastating personal betrayals. good morrow.