V2Ray Guide: A Path to Internet Freedom

V2Ray is a product born out of frustration, a call for freedom. In 2015, after developers behind tools like Shadowsocks and GoAgent were pressured to shut down, the creator of V2Ray decided to take up the mantle of building a new "scientific internet access" tool. He once wrote:

I'm just an ordinary developer who has already left China and doesn't rely on these tools anymore. But seeing the forced takedown of ShadowSocks and GoAgent's code was too much, so I felt I had to do something.

V2Ray has grown into a mature and user-friendly tool since its inception. Today, I'll walk you through how to use it effectively.

First, here are some resources worth checking out:

Table of Contents

Getting V2Ray

The latest version of V2Ray can be found either on the official website or directly on its GitHub Releases page:

V2Ray is available as pre-built packages for many platforms. You can check the available packages here. For example, on Arch Linux, you can install V2Ray with the following command: 

pacman -S v2ray

Configuring V2Ray

There are many ways to configure V2Ray, and I highly recommend reading through the New V2Ray Guide (Plain Language) to tailor a setup that suits your needs. For beginners, I suggest starting with the "mKCP Configuration" from the guide, and I also recommend adding a seed parameter as described in the configuration documentation under KcpObject.

You can generate a UUID using this tool.

Using the Client

For a full list of third-party clients, please check the official website. Here, I'll focus on some recommended clients.

Linux

Running V2Ray

If you installed V2Ray via your system's package manager, you can skip ahead to the "Enabling Systemd Auto-Start for V2Ray" section.

After downloading and extracting V2Ray, copy your config.json file into the extracted directory and run V2Ray: 

./v2ray

If the file isn't executable, check its properties (right-click -> Properties -> Permissions -> Allow executing file as program) or use the following command: 

chmod +x v2ray

Once it's running, you'll see a message indicating where V2Ray is listening, such as: 

2000/01/01 00:00:00 [Info]TCP|Listener: Listening on 127.0.0.1:1080

In this case, the proxy address is 127.0.0.1, and the port is 1080.

Enabling Systemd Auto-Start for V2Ray

Enabling auto-start on boot significantly improves the user experience. There are various ways to do this, but here's a simple method using systemd (if you installed V2Ray via your package manager, you might be able to skip this configuration).

First, create a v2ray.service file under /lib/systemd/system/: 

vim /lib/systemd/system/v2ray.service

Edit the v2ray.service file as follows:

[Unit]
Description=V2Ray Service
Documentation=https://www.v2fly.org/
After=network.target nss-lookup.target

[Service]
User=nobody
CapabilityBoundingSet=CAP_NET_ADMIN CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
AmbientCapabilities=CAP_NET_ADMIN CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
NoNewPrivileges=true
ExecStart=/usr/bin/v2ray -config /etc/v2ray/config.json # you might want to update the config file
Restart=on-failure
RestartPreventExitStatus=23

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Remember to update the path to your configuration file. After editing, save and exit (use :wq in vim). Then, enable the service: 

systemctl enable v2ray.service

That's it! If you ever need to disable the service:

systemctl disable v2ray.service

For more information on systemd, refer to the Arch Linux Wiki.

Checking Systemd Logs

If you encounter errors while running V2Ray, you can normally check the logs directly. However, when using systemd, you can view the logs for v2ray.service with this command: 

journalctl -u v2ray.service

This method works for checking logs for other services as well, helping you quickly identify issues.

Setting Up the Proxy

Once V2Ray is running, you can set up a global proxy in your system. In GNOME, for example:

Settings -> Network -> Network Proxy -> Manual

Environment variables

You can also set up environment variables (replace fields marked with <> accordingly). To make the settings permanent, add them to your ~/.bashrc file: 

proxy=<http://ProxyServerAddress:Port/>

export all_proxy=$proxy
export ALL_PROXY=$proxy

export http_proxy=$proxy
export https_proxy=$proxy
export ftp_proxy=$proxy
export rsync_proxy=$proxy
export HTTP_PROXY=$proxy
export HTTPS_PROXY=$proxy
export FTP_PROXY=$proxy
export RSYNC_PROXY=$proxy

export no_proxy="localhost,127.0.0.0/8,::1,<LocalAddress>,<LocalDomain>"
Extending Proxy Access to sudo

To ensure that sudo commands also use the proxy, add the following to /etc/sudoers.d/05_proxy (from this guide): 

Defaults env_keep += "*_proxy *_PROXY"

There are many additional tweaks you can explore. I highly recommend reading this Arch Wiki page for more details.

After setting up a global proxy, you'll still need to configure your browser to use it.

Firefox

In Firefox:

menu -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Network -> Setting -> Manual proxy configuration

Enter the proxy address in the SOCKS Host field and the port in the Port field.

Chromium

In Chromium, the proxy settings follow the system's global configuration:

menu -> Settings -> Show advanced settings... -> Network -> Change proxy settings...

Usually, this will bring up your system's proxy settings. If it doesn't, manually open your system settings or follow the terminal prompts.

Android

You can download the following apps either from the Play Store or their project pages:

These apps work similarly—just import your config.json file to start using them.

Conclusion

V2Ray is not a simple tool, but it fulfills the purpose it was created for. Sometimes complexity is not something we seek, but rather something imposed by the times or society. Let this be a reminder for all of us.

Stay true to your purpose, and you'll see it through to the end.

Sincerely.