Monday, May 13, 2013

How to Force Vuze to only load Torrents through VPN for Windows

There is an easy way to configure the torrent client Vuze so that it only down/uploads while the VPN is connected. This works on Windows and Mac.

Other related articles:


Windows


  • Download Vuze from: http://www.vuze.com/download/
  • Install it and run it. Now we need a torrent file for testing, a good idea would be Knoppix: http://torrent.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/
  • Add one of the knoppix torrents into the download list.
  • Connect to the VPN using the VPN protocol you want to bind Vuze to.
    Otherwise you might be unable to see the corresponding interface in the list later
  • Now, go to "Tools", "Options" in the menu.
  • Under "Mode", select "Advanced" so that Vuze shows all settings.
  • Go to "Connection". Doubleclick it or click the arrow to get into the submenu "Advanced connection settings".
  • You should see something like this:

Important: Make sure the checkbox next to "Enforce IP bindings even when interfaces are not available" is checked;
otherwise it can happen that Vuze keeps downloading without using the VPN.
Of course your adapter list will be much longer, since it will show all network adapters your operating system has.
But for the purpose of IP binding for VPN, we only need the VPN related adapters, which are:
  • TAP-Win32 Adapter V9
  • WAN Miniport (PPTP)
  • WAN Miniport (L2TP)
The TAP adapter is responsible for OpenVPN connections, and the WAN Miniports for PPTP and L2TP connections.
OK, let's say you want to set Vuze so it only down/uploads while an OpenVPN connection is active.
For that, you just need to enter the interface identifier into the field next to "Bind to local IP address or interface".
Note that the interface identifier is named different on every system, so make sure to check how exactly it is called on yours.
In this example, it is "eth15" for OpenVPN, "net2" for PPTP" and "net1" for L2TP.
You'll most likely have several similar named interfaces in the list, for example "(TAP-Win32 Adapter V9 - Deterministic Network Enhancer Miniport)".
Make sure to only use the interfaces that are exactly named like in this example, without any suffix.
For testing, just use one of the adapters, e.g. "eth15" for OpenVPN. Enter it into the field and click "Save".
When you're disconnected from the VPN at the moment, the current downloads in Vuze should immediately stop.
That's a good sign - now, please connect to the VPN via OpenVPN protocol. You should notice that the download starts again.
Upon disconnection, the downloads will stop again. Exactly as expected, so far so good.
That's all if you're only using OpenVPN. For setting up the same for L2TP and PPTP, you can

a) replace the "eth15" with "net1" or "net2"

b) append the interface identifiers after each other, so that you would enter "eth15;net1;net2" into the field.

When doing that, make sure to test all protocols if Vuze is working correctly. Due to firewalls and additional protocols installed into the adapters, it might not work as expected.
If you were unable to find the correct interface in Vuze's list, please first connect to the VPN using your preferred protocol, and then open the options of Vuze.
Well done!

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