URnetwork
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Getting started

Getting started on Windows

4 min readView as markdown ↗

This guide takes you from nothing installed to connected, in about five minutes. It covers install, sign-in, permissions, connecting, and where to get help. For every screen and setting, read the Windows tour.

URnetwork uses member-run exit devices. Providers do not receive your source IP on relayed paths. Native apps also encrypt traffic to the provider by default. Read How URnetwork works for the full model.

What you need

URnetwork for Windows runs on Windows 10 version 21H2 or later and Windows 11, on both x64 and ARM64.

Install

Download the signed MSI installer from github.com/urnetwork/build/releases. Pick the build matching your processor: x64 for most PCs, ARM64 for Snapdragon-based machines. Run it.

The installer puts four pieces on your machine:

  • URnetwork.exe. The tray app, running as you, unprivileged.
  • urnetworkd. A Windows service that starts with the machine and owns the tunnel. It restarts itself if it crashes.
  • wintun. A virtual network adapter, built by the WireGuard project, that the service uses to carry traffic.
  • The split-tunnel driver. An optional installer feature, included by default, that lets you exempt specific apps from the tunnel later.

Third-party security assessments, and their limits, are covered in the threat model.

Sign in

The app opens on the sign-in options. Pick the identity model you are comfortable with:

  • Email or phone. Enter it and continue. A new account asks for a network name and a password of at least 12 characters, then a one-time code sent to that address. A returning one asks for the password. Password reset runs through that inbox, so the account is as secure as the inbox or number behind it.
  • Auth code. Already signed in on another device? Generate a one-time auth code there, in any URnetwork app or at ur.io, and paste it here.
  • Try Guest Mode. One click, plus the terms box, creates a real, permanent network with nothing handed over. The button predates the current sign-up flow: the recovery phrase for that account is discarded rather than shown to you, so there is no way back into it from another machine. Treat it as a throwaway for evaluating. Before you keep anything in it, create an account from the Account tab's plan card.
  • Bittensor wallet. Approve a signature in your wallet. That signature is your sign-in.
  • Solana wallet. The same idea, via Phantom or Solflare.

There is no Google or Apple sign-in on Windows. If you want an email-free account you can keep, the phone and Mac apps offer a one-tap Create Instant Account that does show you its recovery phrase. Create it there and bring it to this PC with an auth code.

Every network starts on the free tier, a daily data allowance that refreshes each day. Pro ($5/month or $40/year) replaces it with a large monthly allowance. Current numbers: ur.io/products.

The administrator permission

The installer asks for administrator approval once, because it registers the urnetworkd service. That service, not the app, holds the privilege to create a tunnel. So connecting, disconnecting, and changing settings never ask for admin again, and Windows shows no consent dialog when you connect the way phones do.

For what URnetwork records about your connections, read the threat model.

Connect

  1. Click Connect in the app, or left-click the tray icon and use the flyout.
  2. The tunnel comes up. There is no permission prompt, because you approved the service at install time.
  3. The tray icon changes state. It has four looks, connected or not and providing or not, and matches your taskbar with light or dark artwork.

Closing the window does not disconnect you. The window hides to the tray and the tunnel keeps running, because it lives in the service, not the window. Even quitting the tray app leaves the tunnel up. Disconnect is what turns it off.

Choose a location

By default you connect to the best available provider. The network keeps picking fast, reliable providers for you. That is the right choice for most sessions.

To choose where your traffic exits:

  1. Click the location row on the Connect screen to open the picker.
  2. Scroll the list for countries, plus your own devices. Regions and cities appear only in search results, so type a city's name to find it.
  3. Pick a location. The app reconnects through providers there.

Each row shows a live count of providers online. Providers are member devices, not datacenters, so counts rise and fall with the time of day. The overview explains the path your traffic takes. The tour explains the connect drawer's settings and their trade-offs.

Confirm it works

Visit any "what is my IP" site. You should see a provider's address and city instead of yours. After that, the tray icon is your at-a-glance status for whether the tunnel is up.

If something fails

The Support section in the app sends feedback to the team. feedback.ur.io is the same channel from a browser. The FAQ answers common questions.

What next

  • Take the tour. Every screen and setting: the two-process design, per-app split tunneling through the driver, the connect drawer's options, custom DNS, and the kill switch (off by default).
  • Set provide mode. The connect drawer has a four-way selector: Auto, Always, Network (your own devices only), or Never. Providers participate in the UR protocol; ur.xyz documents how rewards work.
  • Try another platform: Android, iOS, macOS, Linux, and the browser.