Can I get SOCKS5 for free?

How do I enable SOCKS5 proxy in Chrome?

I'm trying to use the Tor hidden service that Chrome uses for its proxy.

The idea is that the SOCKS5 connection to the SOCKS server will be made to a destination that is already being redirected, so I can use either one.

I've enabled SOCKS5 in my router's configuration, but when I open Chrome and go to about:flags, SOCKS5 is disabled. I'm not sure if this is a browser or router setting, but I've tried both in case it's a problem with one or the other.

The website is. I've tested all of the other options, except "Do not use browser proxy settings" on "Use a different proxy for the internet" (I don't use the router), but nothing changes the behavior. After some more digging, I found that the browser defaults had changed to have SOCKS5 on. It wasn't the router setting I was looking for, but it worked.

Can I get SOCKS5 for free?

Yes, you can. I've mentioned before that SOCKS5 is not really a mainstream protocol in the sense that it is commonly used in most Internet environments. Instead, SOCKS5 is more often used as a means to establish a secure tunnel. However, there are some instances when you want to use SOCKS5 directly without a tunnel. The most popular one is IRC, the Internet Relay Chat protocol.

This page is about getting SOCKS5 on your own server. There are many different ways to do this, and it's all more or less possible. I'll write about the pros and cons of each method in the following paragraphs.

Before we start, I have to mention that you should never try to use SOCKS5 on public networks like your regular Internet connection. Doing so would make all traffic on your machine visible and would break all security rules. Therefore, I'm only writing about private networks here.

Using SOCKS5 from the command line. I think the easiest way to use SOCKS5 is to put it into your /etc/hosts file. This works perfectly fine for me and for a lot of other people, but it does have its disadvantages.

The biggest problem with this method is that you have to manually add the server to your host file. This means that if you are using a router, it has to be configured to forward the requests to your server. You also have to configure your router to send the right PORT requests to your server. There are plenty of options for how to do this, but most of them are not very easy to set up. Some routers even have their own web-based configuration pages, which are almost always full of scary looking text. If you don't want to deal with all that hassle, just ask your router manufacturer how to set it up.

Another disadvantage of using the hosts file is that it only works for the TCP protocol, not UDP. This means that you will have to use the PASV option when you use port number 990. The same goes for SMTP (port 25) and IMAP (port 143). There is no way around this if you want to use the hosts file. This can be fixed by putting an entry into your /etc/services file.