How To: Download Torrents Through a Proxy/Firewall

April 16, 08 by sharky   45,192  views  

You may find yourself in a situation where you’re unable to download *.torrent files onto the PC that you’re using. Perhaps you’re sitting in an Internet Café, public Library or other place that blocks the actual downloading (or opening) of torrent files to the computer. I know that some Universities do this, as do many non-commercial ISPs & corporate firewalls (proxies) at the workplace.

Many firewalls and security measures will block P2P traffic, filesharing programs (and any new installations of such), or disallow new ports from being added to the “allow” list. These are somewhat difficult to override, depending on the situation (not to mention risky to attempt at work). But if you are able to install, use and launch a BitTorrent client, but not download *.torrent files for it, then this tip may work well. (You may still be able to run µTorrent through a USB stick in situations where new software installations/P2P programs are not allowed).

This works for both public and private BitTorrent sites, although the procedures vary slightly. “Public” is explained first, with some additional ‘private’ torrent tips to follow.

Public Torrents

1. Find a torrent:  Open your browser and visit a public tracker, such as thepiratebay.org. You may also be blocked from that site, as well — if so, visit http://anonymouse.org and enter the URL (http://thepiratebay.org) to get around it. Now, select a torrent that you wish to download, (do not use the green arrow quicklaunch); instead, click on the torrent title. Next, right-click where it says “Download This Torrent” and select “Copy Link Location“:

With many sites, you’ll be able to right-click the green arrow and select “Copy Link Location” — this is the same thing. Whichever way you decide to do it, the importance is being sure that you’re ‘copying’ a proper URL with .torrent at the end of it. This path will be shown in the bottom of the browser when hovering over a link:

2. Open µTorrent:  Launch µTorrent, and select File > Add Torrent From URL…

The data should automatically ‘paste’ into this window - simply click ‘OK’.

Occasionally you may get an error message (mininova is famous for this), just click OK and try the URL again.

The .torrent should now start in the BitTorrent client. NOTE: Sometimes it takes a few moments to update the tracker URL when importing torrents in this manner - not to worry, seeds/leechers are soon to be updated.

Alternative Method:

It’s entirely possible that none of this worked for you. Here’s a second option:

Follow the same steps as above by copying the URL of the .torrent. But this time, visit http://txtor.dwerg.net/ and “Paste” the URL into the field there. Click “Download”.

Save the “…torrent.txt” file to your hard drive. Here’s the Firefox screenshot:

Once downloaded, simply rename the extension of the *.txt file to .torrent by removing “.txt” from the title of the file name. You’ll now be able to open the torrent in your BitTorrent client!

Private Trackers:

The above methods will usually not work when importing a URL from a private site that does not include a passkey in the URL of the torrent. As an example, FunFile.org’s torrents do not, and therefore will not work in either manner. An example of a private .torrent that will work looks like this (note the passkey at the end of the URL):

http://www.torrentleech.org/download.php/48929/CoreAVC.Professional.Edition .v1.6.5.0-EDGE.torrent?passkey=6ha3dfe9dks3953927877cfa49du80

Here’s an example of a private tracker’s *.torrent URL that does not contain the passkey (and thus will not work):

http://www.funfile.org/download.php/28909/VSO.Software.ConvertXtoDVD. -v3.0.0.9.Multilingual.WinALL.Keygen.Only-BRD.torrent

One solution is to try and manually save the *.torrent file as *.torrent.txt through a web proxy (anonymouse.org), although many private sites don’t allow access through anonymous proxies.

Last chance: See if the private site has SSL. Try adding an “s” to URL of the private site in your browser (i.e. https://www.funfile.org). This may allow you to download torrents straight into your BitTorrent client.

Tips for mininova users:

1. Click the title of the desired torrent:

2. This will open the torrent info window. Click on the “Details” tab:

3. In Firefox, right-click on “Download This Torrent” and select “Copy Link Location“.

4. You should now be able to add the torrent in µTorrent (Add torrent from URL…)

HTTPS CGI Proxy

There are very few free CGI web proxies that support HTTPS connections. However; there are a few:

— https://www.securecgiproxy.com

— http://www.sneakoff.info

— https://www.polysolve.com

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Add your comment

40 responses for this post

  1. 01   •   Doug Says: 17.04.08 at 10:46 pm

    I’m not allowed to download at work, period, so I just leave Azureus on at home and use the web interface to start the downloads remotely.

  2. 02   •   Ignativs Says: 24.04.08 at 4:44 pm

    Your method is not working for me. I was using Ares, but it just won’t work, it will try to connect forever, without any success…
    Looks like it happens the same with uTorrent (which i downloaded when I read this post). On the bottom of the window it says: “waiting to log in” and in never does…
    I have tried using a program called Proxifier to use a free proxy to download p2p files and surf blocked pages, but doesn’t work either…
    Any advices?

  3. 03   •   sharky Says: 24.04.08 at 8:14 pm

    IGNATIVS: This tutorial is only designed for people who cannot open/save the torrent files to the PC they are using.  By the sounds of things, it seems that you’re able to download the torrents into your BT client (i.e. ‘Ares’), but you have connectivity issues with torrents in Ares and uTorrent.  Is this correct?  Are you, in deed, able to load torrent files?  I recommend that you send me an email and we could sort it out from there.  Cheers.

  4. 04   •   Ayush Says: 04.08.08 at 7:17 am

    This works out well if you only need to download the .torrent files. However, most of us are interested in what those .torrents are made for.

    What happens with me is that not only are the Torrent sites (eg. thepiratebay.org) blocked but also are their trackers (eg. http://tpb.tracker.thepiratebay.org:80/announce). Now I’m stuck with a torrent whose torrent is not working (HHTP error 403 : Forbidden). Without the tracker - 0 seeders & 0 leechers.

    Fortunately, Torrentz.com maintains a list of alternate trackers, if you are lucky some of those won’t be blocked. Happy downloading.

  5. 05   •   Trackback :: Does this torrentprivacy work? - Page 2 - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net 10.08.08 at 9:06 pm

    [...] How To: Download Torrents Through a Proxy/Firewall __________________ [...]

  6. 06   •   Trackback :: [laatedaa?] » How to Download Torrents Through a Proxy or Firewall 25.08.08 at 8:44 pm

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  7. 07   •   Kevin Says: 27.08.08 at 7:45 pm

    A much better solution is to use Torrent Relay.

    You don’t need any software.
    You don’t need any Java Applets.
    You don’t need to download the .torrent file.

    You can simply copy its url and download the torrent’s files instantly, without delay as a regular ‘Save As’.

    Works on any torrent, any file, any firewall, any NAT.

    Try it out,

    http://torrentrelay.com

  8. 08   •   Frank Says: 29.08.08 at 12:37 pm

    torrentrelay only lets you download to a certain limit unless you pay a tedious monthly suscription.

  9. 09   •   KEVIN Says: 29.08.08 at 5:36 pm

    The limits pretty generous considering you don’t pay for anything frank.
    14$ isn’t tedious its very well priced considering all the features you get.

  10. 010   •   Jay Ziegelbauer Says: 14.10.08 at 12:24 am

    awesome post sharky - helps a lot - university blocks download of torrent files, and filters torrent traffic from all/most torrent apps like bittorrent and azureus - kudos to you guys at FSF for the different tips on http tunneling and for this technique as well…I had to use the “copy link to location” technique because mass-torrent.com is now blocked by my school as well…they’re tricky lil devils ain’t they? Currently, they’ve blocked the searching function in piratebay as well - browse only - mondo pain in the arse, but we’ll prove they’re not so slick afterall…

  11. 011   •   p@r@noid Says: 13.11.08 at 11:19 am

    thanx for the useful tips..!!!!

    great!!!

  12. 012   •   the kid Says: 10.12.08 at 9:32 pm

    so im new to the whole torrent downloading world so bare with me. i am at a university and i use to limewire which does not work on campus due to the fact that the bars in the bottom left corner just stay red instead of turning green. so now i am trying the azuras or vuze thing so i am not having a problem downloading the torrent itself, i use mininova usually but use others as well. after downloading the torrent it shows up on my desktop but when i open it up in vuze it just will not start downloading i now its a block through my school just please someone help me out cause i need to download.

  13. 013   •   aeonfluxx75 Says: 23.12.08 at 4:34 pm

    this works for me PERFECTLY at work!!! many, MANY thanks !!! learned a lot and my downs are just a pourin’ in.

  14. 014   •   darkshades Says: 25.12.08 at 7:17 pm

    am also having the same problem with download torrents in campus i just figured it out i download torrents at home they resume downloading at campus the problem now that the servers keep blocking the Ip of the seeders also the trackers thats really sad cause the speed in Campos is amazing about 5 Mb/ sec
    if there is anyway to keep the collage servers from blocking the Ip that would be awesome…..

  15. 015   •   kraker Says: 09.01.09 at 4:45 am

    The problem to access the dowlod is little comlicated than just add torrent to the program……

    tthats the easy part….
    ….. the hard part is the download itself… when the wifi is protected agaisnt torent specifically..
    possibly with a Proxy adress system… and this will make impossible find a door available for connections…
    Do not telll me to add the proxy conditions to the Utorrent on settings… this is easy beacuse the library of course give this specs for every one to conect freely…
    I did already and still not find a Port for conection……

    So mates now u see the Fu…. problem right???

  16. 016   •   indi3 Says: 17.01.09 at 9:19 pm

    I keep getting corrupted torrents from txtor.

    is anyone else getting this

  17. 017   •   RagnarokAngel Says: 18.01.09 at 9:01 pm

    Yes INDI3, I am also getting corrupted torrents from txtor. I shot them an email but I doubt I’ll hear from them.

  18. 018   •   madhat Says: 20.01.09 at 2:43 am

    yeah, txtor is spitting out corrupt files. sucks.

  19. 019   •   madhat Says: 20.01.09 at 2:48 am

    btw ragnarokangel, how did yuo manage to email them?? i dont know how to also let them know that i am also experiencing the same problems.

  20. 020   •   RagnarokAngel Says: 20.01.09 at 7:04 pm

    according to the bottom of the website it should be txtor (at) dwerg (dot) net (name of site @ top level domain). email shot fine but no word back from them

  21. 021   •   RagnarokAngel Says: 21.01.09 at 10:20 pm

    MADHAT, I managed to snag a Demonoid account which does torrents as .txt files, If you’d like an invite I’d be happy to help out

  22. 022   •   Chadhurbhujaya Says: 06.02.09 at 6:10 am

    amazing stuff thanx :)

  23. 023   •   Shkora Says: 06.02.09 at 11:42 pm

    hey could someone send me an invite to demonoid thks!!
    marko.skoric@hotmail.com

  24. 024   •   Trackback :: torrents, download, unlimited downloads, torrent search, movie, film, software | GetAdviced.com 08.02.09 at 12:01 am

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  25. 025   •   jbc Says: 14.02.09 at 1:38 pm

    also looking for a demonoid invite
    jbcorama@gmail.com

    thanks!

  26. 026   •   EJK87 Says: 16.02.09 at 3:30 pm

    im having trouble at the end of step 2 where you rename the extension file name by removing the .txt so you can open it in utorrent

    When i go to rename it the file says: “filename”.torrent
    Text Document
    4mb

    there is no extension to remove and i have know idea how to change the file type??

  27. 027   •   EJK87 Says: 16.02.09 at 3:47 pm

    i figured out how to change the file type but now utorrent will not open the file. its says invalid file type. Any explanation and solution would be great?

    Thanks

  28. 028   •   Abe Says: 24.02.09 at 4:04 am

    Hey all i read all the comments it seams i could not seem to solve my problem,
    i tried downloading this torrent at home it went perfectly its almost 90% complete but im here in school, i am connected to the net through a proxy its under port 80 i have both internet explorer and firefox set-up with the settings for the proxy but my bit torrent cant and wont resume downloading, any ideas or suggestions on how to fix this?????? Thanks

  29. 029   •   Abe Says: 24.02.09 at 4:21 am

    oh ha i also configured the connection settings in bittorrent and still the same thing cant resume downloads..

  30. 030   •   Mark Says: 26.02.09 at 8:33 am

    “when the wifi is protected agaisnt torent specifically..
    possibly with a Proxy adress system… and this will make impossible find a door available for connections…
    Do not telll me to add the proxy conditions to the Utorrent on settings… this is easy beacuse the library of course give this specs for every one to conect freely…
    I did already and still not find a Port for conection……

    So mates now u see the Fu…. problem right???”

    Same problem, proxy address server thing. cant seem to get any torrent files to dl with any listed methods.
    Can dl the torrent file itself, but p2p connection for torrent files must be disabled or something?
    If someone knows the way round this you are a legend

  31. 031   •   Cory Says: 07.03.09 at 3:12 am

    I usually don

  32. 032   •   Celia Says: 14.03.09 at 3:57 pm

    I too am having difficulty with a University firewall. Limewire and deluge work, and I can download torrents from piratebay or other places with no problem, but then no peers will show up and the estimated download time will read ‘infinity’ forever.

    Any advice?

  33. 033   •   Larry Says: 02.05.09 at 11:58 am

    My boyfriend bet me a dinner that you wouldn’t post my comment and I said you would. Did I win (please, please).

  34. 034   •   Ahmet ATR Says: 05.05.09 at 10:14 am

    I was downloading via ssl proxy and thanks to SSH when security staff of university closes the vulnerability which I found.they did somehow I can not access almost all over the proxy sites.I guess when I accessed a website in which when explorer or mozilla finds in the index of which called ”proxy” or anything like that it blocks any site.and in utorrent client which finds seeds and peers but does not download/upload.Now my last trying is usenet but I have no hope.

    is it related or not I don’t know but if I buy a VPS connection does it work ?or not anyway, I’m now seeking a new solution to this problem but I don’t know what to do ‘cuz when I find new solution they will overcome again and I will be disappointed one more time.

  35. 035   •   GLORIFIED Says: 17.05.09 at 9:06 pm

    OK..this post was really informative..but (just as a few realized) this would only help those users that have torrent sites blocked..

    the real problem is how torrent applications like utorrent, bittorrent, azerus, etc. would be able to download the torrent files from these PCs running on proxy servers..

    haven’t seen any post on that, so i myself am working on this case..and that is FAR MORE COMPLICATED than what is dicussed in this POST..

    still we owe thanks to this post cause this is the FIRST PART of DOWNLOADING torrents from proxy servers..and that, my friend,should be the title of this post….XD

  36. 036   •   Abhi Says: 21.05.09 at 1:18 am

    hey!!!

    Can i also get an invite to demonoid pls
    koppireddi_6@hotmail.com

    thank u!!!

  37. 037   •   rayjay Says: 14.06.09 at 8:03 pm

    I too would love an invite to demonoid =D

    Great post by the way!
    I’m still looking for the ultimate solution to torrents, something that automatically helps me fix port forwarding, tweaks for highest dL and uL’s for a great ratio, and everything else!

    Thank you!!

    raydawg114@hotmail.com

  38. 038   •   Cyberfai69 Says: 25.06.09 at 9:27 am

    Cyberfai69: hey guys thanx 4 da awesome tips im gana try 2 becum a t0rrent junky lol, oh an can sum1 plz plz send me an demonoid invite 2 thanx.. Cyberfai69@gmail.com

  39. 039   •   Paanchajanyadharaaya Says: 29.06.09 at 1:20 am

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  40. 040   •   Carol Says: 03.07.09 at 7:09 pm

    Thoughtful post and well written. Please write more on this if you have time.

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