Bind VPN to Torrent Client Guide

VPN killswitches aren't always reliable. The best way to avoid exposing your IP address is by binding the VPN network interface to your torrent client. This ensures that downloads/uploads occur only while the VPN tunnel is active, reducing the chance of leaks to virtually zero.

Requirements:
A torrent client that supports network interface binding, such as:

qBittorrent - Windows, macOS, Linux
Tixati or BiglyBT - Android

This guide focuses on qBittorrent. Method is similar for other clients.

Method (All OSes)

Open qBittorrent. Go to Preferences → Advanced tab.
Note any changes in the Network Interface list when you connect/disconnect your VPN (you may need to restart qBittorrent to refresh the list).
Select the interface that appears/disappears when toggling the VPN — this is the VPN tunnel interface.
Click Apply.
Restart qBittorrent.

OS-Specific Instructions

Windows

Start the VPN and connect to a location.
Open qBittorrent, go to Preferences → Advanced tab.
Change Network Interface to the one labeled with your VPN name (e.g., Mullvad). Click Apply.
Right-click the qBittorrent icon in the system tray. Click Exit. Reopen qBittorrent.

macOS

Start the VPN and connect to a location.
Open the Terminal (Applications/Utilities).
Run the following command:
```
ifconfig | grep -A 2 utun
```
Identify the utun interface with an IP that starts with inet 10. (e.g., utun3).
Open qBittorrent, go to Preferences → Advanced tab.
Set Network Interface to the utun interface found in step 4. Click Apply.
Right-click the qBittorrent Dock icon, click Quit. Reopen qBittorrent.

Note

The utun interface may change if you reboot or reconnect to the VPN.

Linux

Start the VPN and connect to a location.
Open qBittorrent, go to Preferences → Advanced tab.
Set the Network Interface to one of the following (depending on your VPN and protocol):

Mullvad (OpenVPN via app): tun0
Mullvad (WireGuard via kernel): wg-mullvad
Mullvad (WireGuard via userspace): tun0
WireGuard (standalone): mlvd-xx
OpenVPN (standalone): tun0

Click Apply.
Right-click the qBittorrent icon in the tray. Click Exit. Reopen qBittorrent.

How to Test

Download any legal torrent such as Ubuntu and load it into qBittorrent.

If binding is correct, the download will only start when the VPN is active.
If disconnected from the VPN, nothing should download — confirming the binding is working.

Recommended VPNs

FMHY VPN Section

Credits

Original guide written by Daiqo. Proudly backed by FMHY

VVispy/VPN Binding Guide.md