Running a torrent client in a VM

virtualbox virtual-machine ssd vpn bittorrent

5,723

Yes, this is a sensible approach if you want to ensure that your torrent traffic is all routed via a VPN while allowing the rest of your internet traffic to go directly.

Unfortunately there don't seem to be torrent clients that have inbuilt VPN support. You might want to check out tribler as it does this, although I can't say how reliable or secure the VPN part is.

5,723

user253227

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

user253227 over 1 year

My OS and apps are on a SSD, data files are on HDD.

Does it make sense to set up up a torrent client in a vm, and configure it to always run via a vpn: the intention is to be able to run torrents encrypted for privacy, and the other software in the clear.

Should I install the VM on the SSD, and would this generate excessive disk writes? Any suggestions?
- Admin over 10 years
  
  Why would you need to "run torrents encrypted"?
- user253227 over 10 years
  
  for privacy. However running all soft through vpn creates issues, such as: outgoing STMP email does not work + my clear" logins are logged from the VPN server, which I want to avoid
- Ramhound over 10 years
  
  torrents and privacy is nearly an oxymoron. I do hope you don't plan to download data you don't have the rights to.
- Keltari over 10 years
  
  I think we can assume what the answer is. So why bother asking. I would just "assume" it is for something legitimate and answer.
user253227 over 10 years

inasfar as I understand it from security forums, the torrent client encryption you mention (which I use) is not sufficient for teal privacy
chmac about 5 years

Encryption does not stop your IP being visible to the other peers on the swarm. This is really bad advice.
Keltari about 5 years

@chmac Your comment has nothing to do with the question being asked or the answer that was given.
chmac about 5 years

@Keltari Sorry, I was reading between the lines that the question asks how to hide their IP from the torrent swarm, and that the use of the word encryption was slightly misleading. The suggestion to use a VPN inside the virtual machine leads me to believe that the intent is to hide the IP address. Encryption in the torrent client will not achieve this.