PowerShell script to auto update the qBittorrent listening port when ProtonVPN is connected

update_qbit_port_protonvpn.ps1

########################################################################################################################
# Script to Synchronize qBittorrent Listening Port with ProtonVPN assigned port on Windows.
#
# Description:
# This PowerShell script automates the synchronization of qBittorrent's listening port with the
# port number assigned by ProtonVPN's port forwarding feature. It continuously monitors the
# system to check if ProtonVPN is connected and if qBittorrent is running. When both conditions
# are met, it retrieves the latest port number from ProtonVPN's notifications and updates
# qBittorrent's listening port via its Web API if there's a mismatch.
#
# Usage:
# 1. Ensure qBittorrent's Web UI is enabled and note the username and password.
# 2. Encrypt and store your qBittorrent password:
#   - Convert your password to a secure string and export it:
#       `$securePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString "YourPassword" -AsPlainText -Force`
#       `$securePassword | ConvertFrom-SecureString | Out-File "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\qBittorrentPassword.txt"`
# 3. Adjust the qBittorrentURL and qBittorrentUser variables as needed.
# 4. Run the script, when ProtonVPN is connected the qBittorrent Listening Port should be automatically updated.
# 5. Optional - Configure the script to run automatically via Task Scheduler.
#
# Disclaimer:
# Use this script responsibly and ensure compliance with all applicable laws and terms of service
# of the software and services involved.
########################################################################################################################

# Define qBittorrent API credentials and URL
$qBittorrentURL = "http://localhost:8080"
$qBittorrentUser = "admin"

# Function to retrieve the secure password from an encrypted file
function Get-SecurePassword {
    # Path to the encrypted password file
    $passwordFilePath = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\qBittorrentPassword.txt"

    # Check if the password file exists
    if (Test-Path $passwordFilePath) {
        # Read the encrypted password and convert it to a SecureString
        $encryptedPassword = Get-Content -Path $passwordFilePath
        $securePassword = $encryptedPassword | ConvertTo-SecureString
        return $securePassword
    }
    else {
        Write-Error "Password file not found at $passwordFilePath"
        return $null
    }
}
$qBittorrentPassword = Get-SecurePassword

# Install and import the PSSQLite module for SQLite database interaction
if (-not (Get-Module -Name PSSQLite -ListAvailable)) {
    Install-Module -Name PSSQLite -Scope CurrentUser -Force
}
$modulePath = "$env:USERPROFILE\Documents\PowerShell\Modules\PSSQLite"
Import-Module -Name $modulePath


# Function to check if qBittorrent process is running
function Get-qBittorrentRunning {
    return Get-Process -Name 'qbittorrent' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}

# Function to check if ProtonVPN is connected by checking network adapters
function Get-ProtonVPNConnected {
    # Adjust the adapter name pattern if necessary
    $adapter = Get-NetAdapter | Where-Object {
        ($_.Name -Match 'ProtonVPN') -and ($_.Status -eq 'Up')
    }
    return $null -ne $adapter
}

# Function to get the latest port number from ProtonVPN notifications
function Get-ProtonVPNPort {
    # Define the paths for the notifications database
    $databasePath = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\Windows\Notifications\wpndatabase.db"
    $databaseCopy = "$env:TEMP\wpndatabase_copy.db"

    # Copy the database to a temporary location to avoid file locks
    Copy-Item -Path $databasePath -Destination $databaseCopy -Force #-ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

    if (-not (Test-Path $databaseCopy)) {
        Write-Error "Failed to copy the notifications database."
        return $null
    }

    # Query the Notification table
    $query = "SELECT * FROM Notification;"
    try {
        $notifications = Invoke-SqliteQuery -DataSource $databaseCopy -Query $query
    }
    catch {
        Write-Error "Failed to query the notifications database."
        return $null
    }

    # Initialize the variable to store the port number
    $portNumber = $null

    # Loop backwards through the notifications to find the latest port
    for ($i = $notifications.Count - 1; $i -ge 0; $i--) {
        $notification = $notifications[$i]

        # Extract the Payload column
        $payloadBytes = $notification.Payload

        # Convert bytes to string using UTF8 encoding
        $payloadString = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetString($payloadBytes)

        # Parse the payload as XML
        try {
            $xml = [xml]$payloadString

            # Navigate the XML to find the message content
            $messageNodes = $xml.Toast.Visual.Binding.Text
            $message = $messageNodes -join " "

            # Check if the message starts with "Active port:"
            if ($message.StartsWith("Active port:")) {
                # Extract the number after "Active port:"
                if ($message -match "Active port:\s*(\d+)") {
                    $portNumber = [int]$matches[1]
                    # Exit the loop since we've found the desired notification
                    break
                }
            }
        }
        catch {
            # Ignore parsing errors for non-XML payloads
            continue
        }
    }

    # Check if the port number was found
    if ($null -ne $portNumber) {
        return $portNumber
    }
    else {
        Write-Host "No matching port notification found."
        return $null
    }
}

# Function to get qBittorrent session for authentication
function Get-qBittorrentSession {
    param (
        [String]$qBittorrentUrl,
        [String]$username,
        [SecureString]$password
    )

    $passwordPlain = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto(
        [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($password)
    )

    $session = New-Object Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WebRequestSession

    try {
        Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "$qBittorrentUrl/api/v2/auth/login" -Method Post -WebSession $session -Body @{
            username = $username
            password = $passwordPlain
        } | Out-Null
        return $session
    }
    catch {
        Write-Error "Failed to authenticate to qBittorrent. Please check your credentials and URL."
        return $null
    }
}

# Function to retrieve the current listening port from qBittorrent preferences
function Get-qBittorrentPort {
    param (
        [String]$qBittorrentUrl,
        [String]$username,
        [SecureString]$password
    )

    $session = Get-qBittorrentSession -qBittorrentUrl $qBittorrentUrl -username $username -password $password
    if (-not $session) { return $null }

    try {
        $preferences = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "$qBittorrentUrl/api/v2/app/preferences" -Method Get -WebSession $session
        return $preferences.listen_port
    }
    catch {
        Write-Error "An error occurred while retrieving the port."
        return $null
    }
}

# Function to set the listening port in qBittorrent preferences
function Set-qBittorrentPort {
    param (
        [String]$qBittorrentUrl,
        [String]$username,
        [SecureString]$password,
        [int]$port
    )

    $session = Get-qBittorrentSession -qBittorrentUrl $qBittorrentUrl -username $username -password $password
    if (-not $session) { return }

    try {
        Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "$qBittorrentUrl/api/v2/app/setPreferences" -Method Post -WebSession $session -Body @{
            json = "{`"listen_port`": $port}"
        } | Out-Null
    }
    catch {
        Write-Error "An error occurred while setting the port."
    }
}

# Main routine to synchronize qBittorrent port with ProtonVPN port

# Check if ProtonVPN is connected
if (-not (Get-ProtonVPNConnected)) {
    Write-Host "ProtonVPN not connected."
    return
}

# Check if qBittorrent is running
if (-not (Get-qBittorrentRunning)) {
    Write-Host "qBittorrent not running."
    return
}

# Get the latest port from ProtonVPN
$protonPort = Get-ProtonVPNPort
if ($null -eq $protonPort) {
    Write-Host "Could not determine ProtonVPN port."
    return
}

# Get the current port from qBittorrent
$qbitPort = Get-qBittorrentPort -qBittorrentUrl $qBittorrentURL -username $qBittorrentUser -password $qBittorrentPassword
if ($null -eq $qbitPort) {
    Write-Host "Could not determine current qBittorrent port."
    return
}

# Update the qBittorrent port if it differs
if ($protonPort -ne $qbitPort) {
    Set-qBittorrentPort -qBittorrentUrl $qBittorrentURL -username $qBittorrentUser -password $qBittorrentPassword -port $protonPort
    Write-Host "Configured qBittorrent port to: $protonPort"
}

(I hope that you don't mind. I added the content I found on Reddit that refers me to this gist. It seemed like it might be useful to have it all in one place.)

Wrote a script to automatically configure the listening port in qBittorrent when ProtonVPN is connected in Windows

I've gotten sick of needing to manually configure the port in qBittorrent whenever ProtonVPN starts, so I wrote up a script to automate it. Took a couple hours and I thought someone here might find it useful. It can probably be pretty easily adapted to other VPN providers as well.

https://gist.github.com/idwpan/420d7d5e702240026bd2b65cf33515fe

Some info about it

When running the script, first it checks if ProtonVPN is connected by checking to see if the ProtonVPN network interface is up. Then for qBittorrent it just checks to see if the process is running.

protonvpn-cli isn't available on Windows, and since there doesn't seem to be an easy way to capture notifications in PowerShell and I couldn't find any logs from ProtonVPN showing the port, I had to dig into the Windows notifications database to find the port number that Proton VPN assigned.. But that DB shows the message from ProtonVPN that contains the port number. We compare that against the current qBittorrent port number, and if they are different we set the new port number.

I added the script to Task Scheduler, triggered when I log in, and repeating every couple minutes. So once ProtonVPN connects the port in qBittorrent should automatically be updated within a few minutes. It seems to work pretty well when the task action is set up with:

• "Program/script" = powershell.exe
• "Add arguments" = -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -WindowStyle hidden -File "C:\Path\To\update_qbit_port.ps1"

and I couldn't seem to get it to stop popping up a window when running unless I checked:

• "Run whether user is logged in or not".

Note, before running, it just needs to store the password for the qBittorrent WebUI in an encrypted file (using the PowerShell SecureString module). This was mostly just to get rid of some yellow squiggles in my editor, rather than just using string for the password types... In powershell, run the following:

# change "YourPassword"
$securePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString "YourPassword" -AsPlainText -Force

# store encrypted password file
$securePassword | ConvertFrom-SecureString | Out-File "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\qBittorrentPassword.txt"

Also make sure to double check the username and the URL at top of the script.

Anyways, hope someone finds it interesting. I'm happy to answer any questions and try to provide brief support if you have any trouble!