Using A VPN Inside A Virtual Machine For Extra Anonymity

Sometimes you might need to be extra anonymous on the internet. A easy way to achieve this is to run a VPN inside a Virtual Machine. You create a Virtual Machine by running another Operating System within an application on your computer. Most often, the free VirtualBox application from Oracle is used to do this, although you can use another virtualization application such as Parallels.

Here’s how to set things up using Virtual Box:

  1. Install Virtual Box (free)
  2. Download the ISO of an operating system (for example Mint Linux or Tails)
  3. Boot the ISO file inside your Virtual Box application
  4. Configure the VPN settings inside your Virtual Machine
  5. Use internet applications anonymously inside the Virtual Machine

Because all your VPN activities are contained inside the Virtual Machine, you do not have to worry about DNS leakage. Also, any identifying logs or files will be contained inside the Virtual Machine, and you can destroy that instance of the Virtual Machine, and create a new one at any point.

Chaining VPNs

If you don’t trust your VPN provider, and are concerned they might eavesdrop, you might consider chaining two VPN together. This way you are tunneling your already encrypted connection through another tunnel.

First, simply set up at least two VPN accounts as normal (see our article Best VPN Services Of 2012 for recommendations). Then connect to one VPN, and when complete connect to another without disconnecting the first. Your internet connections will be routed through the tunnel within a tunnel.

8 thoughts on “Using A VPN Inside A Virtual Machine For Extra Anonymity”

  1. IS anyone Still using Socks on top of each other or am i the only one left using ProxyF… on top of VPN ? – any suggestions

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