Having a hard time configuring qBitTorrent with PIA VPN SOCKS5

[Sikakissa]

I cant seem to get any connection going with PIA VPN & qBittorrent. In PIA I have:
- Enabled port forwarding
- Mace enabled
- Tried disabling Windows Firewall, doesnt help

In qBittorent:
- SOCKS5 with Host to PIA VPN
- Authentication
- Correct Port from PIA used in settings
- Use proxy for BitTorrent purposes checked
- Use proxy for peer connections checked
- Use proxy for RSS purposes checked
- Use proxy for general purposes checked
- Perform hostname lookup via proxy un-checked

And I cant get anything. It did work with UTorrent for many years, until it stopped a few weeks ago. Cant login, now I tried to get it going with qBittorent but I'm unsure if I'm using the correct settings. Any help?

[Peter]

Sorry to ask but why use SOCKS5 and the VPN?
It's usually either.

SOCKS5:
cons:
- makes you passive; way harder to seed with it
- sometimes they handle the IP in a weird way which can result in the hammering of the tracker; this is especially true for Windscribe, I've heard accounts disabled before because of it
- it's not encrypted like a VPN connection usually is
- you cannot set it up in a killswitch kind of way. ie.: if a qBittorrent upgrade breaks the setting (happened once before), you are exposed.
pros:
- no need to run any program, connect with VPN, etc

VPN:
cons:
- have to run a program for it
- port forward is not available at every provider
- you need a specific way of connect like OpenVPN protocol to be able to bind via qBittorrent
- split tunneling almost never works OK
pros:
- all traffic gets encrypted/masked
- you can killswitch + bind

[Sikakissa]

Sorry to ask but why use SOCKS5 and the VPN?
It's usually either.

SOCKS5:
cons:
- makes you passive; way harder to seed with it
- sometimes they handle the IP in a weird way which can result in the hammering of the tracker; this is especially true for Windscribe, I've heard accounts disabled before because of it
- it's not encrypted like a VPN connection usually is
- you cannot set it up in a killswitch kind of way. ie.: if a qBittorrent upgrade breaks the setting (happened once before), you are exposed.
pros:
- no need to run any program, connect with VPN, etc

VPN:
cons:
- have to run a program for it
- port forward is not available at every provider
- you need a specific way of connect like OpenVPN protocol to be able to bind via qBittorrent
- split tunneling almost never works OK
pros:
- all traffic gets encrypted/masked
- you can killswitch + bind

I thought it was better and more secure to use Socks5 and VPN. I got a software for PIA VPN, and when I configured Utorrent years ago, PIA had a guide for configuring Pia VPN app and Utorrent Socks5 protection. It just stopped working a few weeks ago so thats why I wanted to try Qbittorrent.
I havent looked into protocols and configuring them yet, I think PIA defaults to Openvpn. That is about my knowledge

[Peter]

SOCKS5 + VPN is what Mullvad used.
https://mullvad.net/en/help/socks5-proxy

It's like a double-protection. But only at Mullvad because their SOCKS5 only becomes available, once you are connected via their VPN. So IF the SOCKS5 works THEN you know you are 100% protected.

But using VPN+SOCKS5 otherwise is shooting yourself in the foot.
Simple, just use either. You don't need both. Unless you are on Mullvad and you want to wear + 1 layer of tinfoil on your head.

[Sikakissa]

SOCKS5 + VPN is what Mullvad used.
https://mullvad.net/en/help/socks5-proxy

It's like a double-protection. But only at Mullvad because their SOCKS5 only becomes available, once you are connected via their VPN. So IF the SOCKS5 works THEN you know you are 100% protected.

But using VPN+SOCKS5 otherwise is shooting yourself in the foot.
Simple, just use either. You don't need both. Unless you are on Mullvad and you want to wear + 1 layer of tinfoil on your head.

Thanks!
So just to clarify, I got to just have Pia VPN (port forwarding on, input that port in qbittorrent) on and that's it?

[Peter]

So just to clarify, I got to just have Pia VPN (port forwarding on, input that port in qbittorrent) on and that's it?

Yup!

For extra safety...
1) set a connection method like OpenVPN in your VPN app
2) go into Advanced settings and put on "Interface binding" in qBittorrent so it cannot even work without an active VPN connection