How to Fix QBitTorrent Web UI Inaccessibility When VPN Is Active
QBitTorrent is a popular open-source BitTorrent client that offers a convenient web UI for remote management. However, users may encounter a common issue: the web UI becomes unreachable when a VPN is active. This typically happens because VPNs reroute all network traffic through their own tunnels, which can block local or remote access to services running on your system.
If you’re facing this issue, here’s a step-by-step guide to resolve it by properly routing traffic to the QBitTorrent Web UI even while the VPN is active.
✅ The Problem
When a VPN is enabled, all traffic—including that to and from your local services—gets routed through the VPN interface. As a result, attempts to access the QBitTorrent Web UI (usually on port 8080) may fail, even from the same LAN.
🛠️ The Solution
1. Enable VPN Only for Specific Apps
To avoid affecting your entire system’s network behavior, configure your VPN client to enable VPN only for selected apps. Most modern VPN clients (like NordVPN, ProtonVPN, Surfshark, etc.) support this feature under names like “Split Tunneling” or “App-based routing.”
- Add only the applications you want to route through the VPN (e.g., your torrent client or browser).
- Leave QBitTorrent out of the VPN tunnel if you want to access it via LAN or external IP.
This ensures QBitTorrent listens on the local interface and is reachable.
2. Redirect Traffic with Portproxy
Use Windows’ netsh utility to forward traffic from your LAN IP to the local loopback address where QBitTorrent is actually running.
Replace 192.168.1.5 with your actual local IP, and 8080 with your QBitTorrent web UI port if it’s different.
netsh interface portproxy add v4tov4 listenport=8080 listenaddress=192.168.1.5 connectport=8080 connectaddress=127.0.0.1
What this does:
- Listens for incoming traffic on
192.168.1.5:8080 - Forwards it internally to
127.0.0.1:8005, where QBitTorrent is serving the UI
3. Allow the Port Through Windows Firewall
You may also need to open the relevant port in your firewall to allow incoming connections.
For example, to open port 8096 (change this to your web UI port if needed):
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Allow Port 8080" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=8080
Repeat this for the actual port used by your QBitTorrent Web UI.
✅ Final Check
After applying the changes:
- Make sure QBitTorrent is running.
- Try accessing the Web UI from a browser:
http://192.168.1.5:8080(or the port you’re using) - Confirm that only selected apps are routed through the VPN.
By following these steps, you’ll be able to access the QBitTorrent Web UI while keeping your VPN active.