v2rayN: setup, modes and errors

• v2rayN is a free Windows front end for a routing core. It holds your keys and decides what goes through them.
• It is not a VPN service and has no servers of its own. It reads a key you already have.
• Recent builds need the Microsoft .NET desktop runtime. Without it the window never appears and nothing explains why.
• Adding a key is one shortcut: copy the vless:// line, then import it from the clipboard.
• System proxy mode covers browsers. TUN mode covers everything and needs administrator rights once.
• Unpack it to a plain folder such as C:\v2rayN rather than a cloud synced Documents folder, which causes file locking problems.
• The log panel at the bottom of the window is where the actual error text lives.

Take the release from the project's own page rather than from a mirror, because modified builds of popular clients circulate. Windows SmartScreen will probably warn you, since these are small projects without expensive code signing, so check what you downloaded rather than clicking through out of habit. Unpack the archive into its own folder and run the executable from there. It does not install in the usual sense and it keeps its configuration next to itself.

If the program appears to do nothing at all when you double click it, the missing .NET desktop runtime is the first thing to check. If it starts and then reports that the core failed, the two common causes are a security suite quarantining the core file and a port already taken by an older copy of the same program still running in the background.

• 5 days free, no card, no account, to test a key in the client.
• 1 month: $4.90.
• 6 months: $3.90 a month, charged once as $23.40.
• 12 months: $3.20 a month, charged once as $38.40.
• 24 months: $2.90 a month, charged once as $69.60.
• One key across 5 devices, with six locations: US, Canada, Mexico, UK, Netherlands, France.
• Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and crypto in the bot. Nothing renews on its own, and the client itself is free either way.

One: the core will not start. Read the log panel, and if it mentions the core file, add an exclusion in your antivirus for the folder. Two: the port is already in use. An older instance is still resident in the system tray, so close it from there and start once. Three: it says connected and nothing changed, which is system proxy mode covering only the browser, and TUN mode fixes it. Four: the handshake fails instantly, which usually means an old build without full Reality support, so update the client.

There is a fifth that is not an error at all. The server list keeps everything you have ever pasted, and the entry at the top is not necessarily the one you just added. Select the right profile, test the latency from the context menu, and then connect.

• Windows only. On Mac and Linux use Hiddify or sing-box with the same key.
• Menus move between versions. The sequence stays the same even when a screenshot no longer matches.
• TUN mode installs a virtual adapter, which corporate machines often block by policy.
• The client is free and independent of us. Problems with the key belong in the bot, problems with the program belong with the project.