qBittorrent official forums

The Canyouseeme website reports an error and that my my qBittorrent Port 8999 is blocked, but I have been downloading with this setting for some time. Can anyone explain? If I change the port setting will I get faster more reliable downloads.

I cannot see a sticky on here for the best QB configuration. Am I missing something?   

You probably need to configure/remove the software or hardware firewalling qBitTorrent to connect to more peers+seeds to possibly get faster speeds.
Antivirus/antimalware often has a software firewall in them that blocks unsolicited incoming traffic on port 8999.

Or a router/gateway or wifi link that is a NAT firewall due to placing the qBitTorrent computer in a LAN ip range.

qBitTorrent having UPnP enabled in its settings probably does almost nothing except cause problems.

[quote="Switeck"]
You probably need to configure/remove the software or hardware firewalling qBitTorrent to connect to more peers+seeds to possibly get faster speeds.
Antivirus/antimalware often has a software firewall in them that blocks unsolicited incoming traffic on port 8999.

Or a router/gateway or wifi link that is a NAT firewall due to placing the qBitTorrent computer in a LAN ip range.

qBitTorrent having UPnP enabled in its settings probably does almost nothing except cause problems.
[/quote]

Many thanks for your reply, but can you assist with the following questions.

1. If 8999 is blocked how have I been downloading torrents?

2. Is there stickie somewhere with recommended settings and detailed instructions? There are loads on Google but I would prefer advice from here.

3. "You probably need to configure/remove the software or hardware firewalling qBitTorrent" How do I do this in Windows 10

4. "Or a router/gateway or wifi link that is a NAT firewall due to placing the qBitTorrent computer in a LAN ip range." Sorry I am a newbie and this is beyond me. Is there something I need to change?

5. "qBitTorrent having UPnP enabled in its settings probably does almost nothing except cause problems" Is this something I should disable?

To confirm I am using IPVanish with QBittorrent on Windows 10 all up to date and latest versions.

1. Being firewalled is like a telephone that never rings -- you can still call other people so long as they have a telephone that rings, they just can't call back. (Not a very useful phone is it?)

2. Not really, because it's not qBitTorrent that probably needs to be configured.

3. Windows 10 is only the operating system. It's your antivirus/antimalware software and any extra software firewalls (beyond Windows firewall itself, which qBT can auto-configure) that needs to be configured.

4. If you have a router/gateway/modem (typically supplied by your ISP to connect to the internet), they need to be port-forwarded to port 8999 to your computer in order for qBT to NOT be firewalled.
BUT! Since you said you use IPVanish...you should NOT do port forwarding on your router/gateway/modem!

5. UPnP in qBitTorrent should probably be disabled -- it's not helping and could conflict with IPVanish by trying to forward to your router instead of to IPVanish's remote server.

IPVanish is either a VPN and/or proxy service. It is quite likely that which causes qBitTorrent to be firewalled. Port-forwarding your router/gateway/modem won't help in that case because it is their remote server that you're connecting to that needs to be port-forwarded. If they don't offer that as an option, you will always be firewalled on qBitTorrent when using that service.

Thanks again for you assistance. To confirm my understanding based on you reply:

1. I can connect to other computers and download/upload, but other computers cannot see or connect to me. This means my downloads still work but are likely to be slower.

2. Noted.

3. Noted, although the antivirus/antimalware is built into Windows 10.

4. As IPVanish does not support port forwarding I am stuck with port 8999, and potentially slower downloads, unless I change my VPN.

5. I have now unchecked "Use UPnP / Nat+PMP port forwarding from my router" on the connection tab.

Can you please confirm I have understood correctly?

   

1. Yes, 2 firewalled peers/seeds cannot normally connect to each other. On private trackers, almost certainly cannot connect to each other. So you can only download/upload with peers/seeds that are NOT firewalled.

2. + 3. Yes

4. Yes, many VPNs don't support port forwarding -- it's a minor security risk for them and a major networking hassle.

5. Yes, disabling UPnP in qBitTorrent is a good idea if using a proxy or VPN ...OR if you've done manual port forwarding. Pretty much UPnP is the awful last-resort thing to try on a LAN you can't configure.