How to use i2pd: a comprehensive instruction under MS Windows

I2p is a network with a specialization in the anonymity of internal network resources; this is how it differs from the tor network, the main task of which is not internal resources, but building secure access to the Internet. Knowing these two features, people can work much more efficiently in both networks.

In i2p you can do a lot of things: visit and create websites, forums and trading platforms, receive mail, chat and download torrents, and much, much more. The i2pd program can work with a large number of programs and services.

It should be remembered - the program helps you achieve anonymity, but the anonymity itself depends on you. From your actions taken in the network and beyond, the settings of the equipment used and work programs. This instruction will help you to configure i2pd and start working on the network.
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Well, let's start:

Download from the official website of the program

i2pd.website/releases/2.3.0/i2pd_2.3.0_win32_mingw.zip

fresh archive. Unzip the program with one of the archivers supporting zip-archiving in any folder convenient for you. For example, it could be C: \ i2pd \.

Run the program. You will see a terminal window. This window tells you that i2pd is working. The window will remain open until the end of the session with I2P. You can roll it up.

Open any browser you choose to work with i2p. My recommendation is Mozilla Firefox or any other Gecko engine due to the flexibility of the working settings, however you can use the browser that you personally like.

Type in the browser the following address:

127.0.0.1 : 7070

At this address you will find a web console with online statistics.

In the console you will see different things, such as the address of the folder with the working files of the program. In the available release 2.3.0, the developers decided that this would be the way of the following content:

C: \ users \ USERNAME \ AppData \ Roaming \ i2pd

For further settings, go to this folder. If you cannot find the AppData folder, it was hidden (do not be afraid, the folder is not a system folder, it contains program files, one of which is i2pd). A brief instruction from Microsoft on how to show hidden files and folders will help you to reach your intended goal:

windows.microsoft.com/en-ru/windows/show-hidden-files#show-hidden-files=windows-7

In this folder we need two files. If they have not yet been created, please create them manually. The first file is the subscriptions file. It contains the addresses by which i2pd will update your list of sites with network-wide.

File name: subscriptions.txt

File contents:

http: //inr.i2p/export/alive-hosts.txt
http: //stats.i2p/cgi-bin/newhosts.txt
http: //i2p-projekt.i2p/hosts.txt
http: //i2host.i2p/cgi-bin/i2hostetag
http: //no.i2p/export/alive-hosts.txt
http: //rus.i2p/hosts.txt

The second file that we need is very interesting - this is a tunnel file. I2PD is a virtual router, literally, a box to which you can connect through many ports. So we can customize our programs and services on the computer to work with the programs and services of the network.

Each tunnel adheres to the same structure.

[IRC] is our name, we decide what will be written here.
type = client - by this we inform whether we will connect to the service within the network or vice versa, we are a service ourselves (and then the value will not be a client, but a server).
port = 666 - the port name on the router. Please note that the ports are assigned by you as the name, and can be any other, you can try to change them.
destination = irc.echelon.i2p is the name of the service with which we are going to interact.
keys = irc.dat - address with keys that are important to us for trusting work with the selected service. Sometimes you can use the same key file, for example, to work with the postman.i2p mail service (you will see how it is done below).

File name: tunnels.cfg

Content (as an example, we set up IRC chat on one of the servers on the network, as well as receiving and sending mail on one of the main mail resources):

[IRC]
type = client
port = 6668
destination = irc.echelon.i2p
keys = irc.dat

[SMTP]
type = client
port = 515
destination = smtp.postman.i2p
keys = mail.dat

[POP3]
type = client
port = 616
destination = pop.postman.i2p
keys = mail.dat

You can also download ready-made both files in the archive at

rghost.net/8QxX5gTf2

(the link will be working within 90 days from the last viewing. Reliable sources ensured that the creators will make a suitable installer during this time, so they don’t have to worry yet). It is enough to unpack them in the directory found by us above. Make sure that the files have the same content as above, by opening them with any text editor or processor.

Save and configure both files. Please note: after changing these files, you will need to restart i2pd: until this is done, the changes will not reach their strength!

Return to the browser window. Change proxy to

http 127.0.0.1 and port 4444 (up to version 2.3 -4446)

which is very easy to do using the instructions for any browser here

ru.wikihow.com/change- settings- proxy server

and feel free to visit the sites, we have specified two search network resources:

epsilon.i2p and search.i2p

# 1 Starting for the first time, i2pd will spend some time getting acquainted with various network nodes (quite possibly several hours) before it collects enough data for the sites to work (according to subscriptions.txt).

# 2 to ensure security i2p constantly paving different tunnels from you and to the resource you need. To build a tunnel takes some time, which may cause delays when opening sites. Therefore, if the site does not open, refresh the page several times.

# 3 Some sites keep the same people as you. Be condescending if the resource does not open! It is possible that the site being opened is not on a powerful server, but on the exact same computer as yours, and, possibly, is not always turned on!

More instructions on how to work with the network can be found here:

i2pd.readthedocs.org/en/latest

It seems that everything is ready. So far there are not very many people using the network, so there are not so many resources either. The network is primarily built by those who want to make life better for free. The developers of i2pd are also completely free, among them there are a lot of people who speak Russian, you can communicate with them on the # i2pd-ru channel through your IRC program (we’ve already used the port for this with you). They do everything to make it easier for you to use i2p and hope that users will also help make the network more interesting and better. With you i2p will become richer, we are sure of it. Good luck with your i2p!

PS If you need a tutorial for installing i2pd under Debian / Ubuntu, you can find it here: habrahabr.ru/post/275643