Free Download Manager proxy settings: downloads yes, torrents unconfirmed

Free Download Manager's proxy settings are in its Settings panel, under Network, where you choose "Configure manually" and enter the proxy. FDM is a download manager first, and that setting clearly serves its ordinary downloads. Whether it also covers the torrent side, meaning peer connections, DHT and UDP trackers, FDM does not say, and we could not confirm it. Test before you rely on it.

The rest of this page separates what FDM documents from what it does not, and gives you a meter test that answers the question for your own copy.

Where the setting is

FDM's own tutorial site gives the route. Open the main menu, the icon with three lines, and go to Settings. Then "Head to the Network panel and select the 'Configure manually' option." Enter the host and port from your service page there, and a login if FDM offers fields for one.

The current version is 6.34, from May 2026, available for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android.

What we could not confirm

• Which proxy types FDM supports. Its documentation does not list them. The history is contradictory: a 2016 reply on FDM's blog said SOCKS5 was not supported, while a 2013 forum answer describes a per-download proxy tab in versions 3 and 5. Neither describes version 6.
• Whether it takes a username and password. If you see no login fields, add your address to our IP allowlist, and the proxy will not ask for one.
• Whether the setting reaches the torrent engine. FDM's torrent support is built on libtorrent; its 6.29 release notes say "Libtorrent updated to version 2.0.11". libtorrent can proxy peers, and over SOCKS5 it can even try to relay UDP. But nothing we found says FDM passes its Network proxy to libtorrent at all.

Do you need a proxy for this?

Probably not. FDM is very good at fetching a large file from an HTTP mirror, such as a distribution image or a public dataset, and none of that needs a proxy. Through a metered proxy, every byte of the file is traffic you pay for.

A proxy fits when you need FDM's downloads to leave from a particular address. Whatever you download, keep it lawful: distribution images, open-source releases, Internet Archive and Creative Commons items, research data. Unauthorised sharing is not allowed on ProxyPanda, and our acceptable use policy makes staying within the law your responsibility. If you do use FDM for torrents, peer-to-peer traffic for lawful content is fine on our residential proxies and on dedicated ISP or datacenter IPs with no traffic cap.

The limits that apply anyway

• UDP will not come through us. We have not verified a UDP relay on our gateways, so treat our SOCKS5 as TCP only. If FDM's torrent traffic did go through the proxy, DHT, UDP trackers and uTP still would not. An HTTP proxy carries no UDP at all. HTTP vs SOCKS5 has the details.
• No encryption. A proxy relays your connection. HTTPS downloads stay encrypted end to end; the proxy itself adds nothing.
• Torrents move data both ways. If peers are proxied, seeding crosses the proxy too. How each direction counts on your plan is under metering.

Test it: one download, one torrent

Two small tests tell you what your copy of FDM does.

The download test. Note your service's traffic figure in the dashboard (where to find it). Download one file of known size through FDM from an HTTPS mirror. A few minutes later, since figures update regularly rather than live, the dashboard should have risen by about the file's size. That confirms FDM's proxy works for downloads.

The torrent test. Note the figure again, download a small, lawful torrent in FDM, and note how much FDM says it transferred. Compare after a few minutes:

• Moved by about the torrent's size: peers went through the proxy.
• Barely moved: peers went direct, and the proxy is not doing what you need for torrents.

If the torrent test fails, a client that documents its proxy handling will serve you better for that part of the job: qBittorrent runs on the same libtorrent engine and says exactly what each box does.

Quick answers

Where are the proxy settings in Free Download Manager? Main menu (three lines) > Settings > Network > "Configure manually".

Does FDM support SOCKS5? We could not confirm it for version 6. Older sources disagree.

Does FDM's proxy apply to torrents? Not documented. Run the torrent test above.

Next step

If you only need files from HTTP mirrors, FDM and its proxy setting will do. For a torrent job that needs a separate address, see which torrent clients work with SOCKS5, and bring your test results to Discord if they surprise you.