Contents
Preface
I introduced proxychains in my previous two articles (see:Home data center series of powerful local proxy tools: proxychains) and gost (see:Home data center series uses gost to build its own proxy server and forwarding proxy chain)These two software.
In logical order, gost solves the problem of whether there is a proxy and what protocol the proxy is, and proxychains solves the problem of how to let various TCP-based applications in the Linux command line use these proxies when needed. Following this logic, proxifier, which I will introduce today, solves the problem of how to use these proxies in desktop systems that do not originally support setting proxies.
Some desktop software supports proxies, such as Telegram (in fact, it has only been supported in the past year or so, and it was not supported before):
Some can use a proxy, but it is not a common protocol, such as the desktop version of WhatsApp:
ps: There is a special way to build the WhatsApp proxy, but after I finished building it, although everything was normal in the container, WhatsApp showed that the connection was unsuccessful, which made me very angry. In the end, I gave up and just regarded it as not supported. Anyway, it does not support the traditional socks5 protocol.
Strictly speaking, only a few software support proxy settings, and most software do not support proxy settings. However, if I want to scientifically process the traffic of my entire computer in order for these software to work properly, it will be inconvenient for me. For example, what should I do if I want to use Thunder to download a movie or something? And there will be problems accessing many domestic websites in this way. . So for these software that actually need to use a proxy (such as some foreign software), but there is no proxy setting option in the actual interface, proxifier is the best solution.
Configure proxifier
The proxifier software can be downloaded from the official website:https://www.proxifier.com/The default software has a 31-day free trial period. I won’t introduce the specific installation. It is a normal software installation process under macOS and Windows (those who want to get it for free can only find a way themselves). There is nothing much to say, so just enter the interface for configuration introduction.
Adding proxies
Proxies:
This interface is to add the proxy server address:
Why do I recommend using the socks5 protocol in the above picture? Because the only protocol supported by proxifier by default is https, in addition to socks4 and 5. You should know that the https proxy server involves the issue of trusted certificates, and its construction is definitely a little more complicated than that of the http proxy server (for details on how to build an https proxy and solve the certificate problem, please refer to my previous article:Home data center series uses gost to build its own proxy server and forwarding proxy chain), then why doesn't proxifier provide an http proxy option by default?
The official explanation is as follows:
It is a common misconception to confuse HTTP proxies with HTTPS proxies. HTTP proxy servers can handle HTTP connections (port 80). They can also support HTTPS connections (SSL), but usually such connections are allowed only on port 443 (the standard port for HTTPS). This is, for example, the default configuration of Squid and Microsoft ISA proxy servers. If an HTTP proxy server allows HTTPS connections on arbitrary ports, it can be called an HTTPS proxy server (also called a CONNECT or SSL proxy). In this case, it can be used for generic TCP connections, like a SOCKS v4/5 proxy. Proxifier can be used with HTTP proxy servers that do not support HTTPS on arbitrary ports. Due to technical limitations of the protocol, only HTTP connections can be handled with such proxy servers. This means that the Proxification rules must be configured accordingly.
The general idea is that proxifier believes that common http proxies can support https connections, but in fact they are conditional (for example, http proxies that only listen on port 443), and if this http proxy can listen on any port and implement https connections, it is actually not an http proxy, but an https proxy. Well, it's a bit confusing, but the general meaning is clear, that is, you can't trust common http proxies. If you must use an http proxy, you need to turn on the following options:
Then there is an additional http option:
Configuring Rules
The previous section added available proxy servers. This section uses Rules to associate software that needs to use a proxy with available proxy servers.
First of all, it is important to understand that once proxifier is started, it actually takes over all outbound network connection requests in the system, except that there is a default rule that allows all network connections to access the network directly in "Direct" mode, as shown below:
So what we need to do is to add new Rules for the software that needs to use the proxy, hijack its traffic and send it to the proxy server.
Take Telegram as an example:
Other software that needs to use a proxy can be added in this way. It should be noted that this rule is matched in order from top to bottom, so you need to consider the matching order when adding rules.
Another thing: What if you want a global proxy for the entire machine? Just change the default rule's Action from "Direct" to use a proxy of your choice.
DNS
The most important things in DNS are the two options in the red box: "Detect DNS settings automatically" and "Resolve hostnames through proxy". You can choose one of these two options.
"Detect DNS settings automatically" is the default option, which means using the local DNS to resolve domain names. "Resolve hostnames through proxy" uses the DNS on the proxy server to resolve domain names. If you think the local DNS resolution results may be contaminated, and the DNS resolution results on the proxy server are trustworthy, just check this option.
http proxy configuration tips
We mentioned in the previous content that proxifier does not trust http proxies. If you only have one http proxy available, you have no choice but to use it. If the software does have problems after the configuration method is followed, for example, steam can access the page normally, but the following error is reported when accessing the community and market:
If the following is not normal, you can consider the following solution. Simply put, add the same proxy twice, once for http and once for https, as follows:
Then, add the target ports 80 and 443 respectively in Rules, 80 is associated with http proxy, and 443 is associated with https proxy, as shown below:
Proxy Chain
Proxifier also supports proxy chaining:
Friends who need it can configure it themselves.
Note: For detailed concepts and construction of proxy chains, please refer to my other article:Home data center series uses gost to build its own proxy server and forwarding proxy chain.
Afterword
The three musketeers of proxy: gost, proxychains, and proxifier are finally all written. If you have a scientific or magical export, and add tailscale to cooperate, these three can achieve scientific freedom for almost all devices you can manage, no matter where the device is. It's so cool, and how much you can use it depends on the flexibility of your brain.