Do I need a phone to use Nodetonet, or does the Windows agent work on its own?

The Windows agent works completely independently. You pair it with a token just like an Android device, and it acts as a fully functional proxy device using your Windows machine's residential IP. Phones give you mobile carrier IPs with the highest anti-bot trust, while the Windows agent gives you a stable desktop residential IP — both are valid depending on your use case.

Is it safe to click "Run anyway" on the Defender SmartScreen dialog?

Yes, provided you downloaded the file from the official Nodetonet panel and the publisher shown in the expanded dialog reads "Nodetonet". The SmartScreen prompt appears because the executable is signed by a newer publisher that has not yet accumulated enough downloads for Microsoft's reputation system to auto-trust it — not because the file is malicious. You can also verify the SHA-256 hash on the download page before running.

What protocols does the Windows agent support — HTTP or SOCKS5?

Both. The Windows agent serves HTTP/HTTPS and SOCKS5 from the same device, on whichever port your token is configured to use. If you are unsure which protocol your tool needs, read our guide on HTTP vs SOCKS5 — the short version is: use HTTP for browsers and most scrapers, SOCKS5 for anything that sends raw TCP or non-web traffic.

Will the agent change my system settings, firewall rules or network routing?

No. The agent runs entirely in userspace. It opens one outbound WebSocket connection to the Nodetonet edge server and forwards TCP sockets through that connection. It writes no files outside its own installation folder, installs no drivers, and changes no system-wide network settings. The only optional system change is the Task Scheduler entry you create in Step 4, which you can remove at any time.

The Windows agent gives me a residential IP — is that better or worse than a mobile proxy?

Neither is universally better — they serve different needs. Mobile carrier IPs sit inside carrier-grade NAT shared with thousands of real subscribers, making them the highest trust tier for anti-bot systems. A Windows residential IP is clean and unshared, which is excellent for stable, long-running tasks where the exit IP must not change. If your target aggressively classifies traffic by ASN or carrier, a phone is the better tool. See the comparison table in this post for a quick summary.

Can I run the Windows agent on a headless or remote server?

Yes. The agent has no GUI window — it only uses the system tray icon, which is available in Windows Server desktop sessions. For a fully headless setup (no interactive session), use the Task Scheduler command with the /SC ONSTART trigger instead of /SC ONLOGON, so the agent launches at system start rather than at user login. Note that a server IP from a datacenter ASN will have lower trust than a residential home or office IP; for a home or office machine the residential trust level applies.

Running the Nodetonet agent on Windows — tray icon, Defender, autostart

Phones are the natural home for Nodetonet proxies — they bring real carrier IPs from Turkcell, Vodafone or Türk Telekom and rotate through carrier-grade NAT shared by millions of genuine subscribers. But phones aren't the only option. If you need a stable residential desktop IP — for a long-running scraper, a sandboxed browser profile, an HTTP tunnel endpoint, or just because you have a spare Windows box in the office — the Windows .exe agent does exactly the same job as the Android app, and it's arguably simpler to operate once you know the two small hurdles.

This guide walks through every step from download to a green tray icon and then to a persistent autostart entry, so your proxy survives reboots without you thinking about it. It also covers the two things that trip up almost everyone the first time: the Defender SmartScreen dialog and antivirus exclusions.

What the Windows agent actually does

The agent is a small compiled binary — a self-contained Node runtime bundled into a single .exe. When you pair it with a token, it opens a persistent WebSocket connection to the nearest Nodetonet edge server and registers itself as a proxy device. Incoming proxy requests from your clients land on that edge, are handed to the agent over the WebSocket, and exit from your Windows machine's public IP to the target.

From a traffic standpoint, the agent handles both HTTP/HTTPS and SOCKS5 on whichever port your token configuration specifies. Everything runs in userspace — no kernel driver, no network-level filter, no system-wide routing change. If you stop the agent, your internet connection is completely unaffected.

Capability	Windows agent	Android agent
IP type	Residential ISP (home/office)	Mobile carrier (4G/5G)
IP stability	Changes on ISP lease renewal	Changes on airplane-mode or reconnect
CGNAT shared pool	No — usually a single leased IP	Yes — carrier CGNAT, highest trust
Protocols	HTTP/HTTPS + SOCKS5	HTTP/HTTPS + SOCKS5
Autostart method	Task Scheduler or tray toggle	Android system boot receiver
Best for	Stable residential desktop IP, tunnels	Anti-bot targets, geo/carrier targeting

If your use case demands a genuine mobile carrier IP — for ad verification, social media automation or any target that classifies traffic by ASN — pair a phone instead and read your first token and Android pairing. For a desktop residential IP, the Windows agent is the right tool.

Step 1 — Download and place the agent

Open the Nodetonet panel and go to the download page. Grab nodetonet-agent-windows-x64.exe. The file is signed with a code-signing certificate, but it has not yet accumulated the volume of downloads Microsoft uses to auto-trust a new publisher — hence the SmartScreen prompt in the next step.

Place the file in a permanent folder you control, for example C:UsersYOU odetonet. Do not run it from Downloads. Windows periodically empties that folder, and you will waste time debugging a proxy that silently vanished. If you want to verify the download before running it, the SHA-256 checksum is listed on the same download page — compare it with certutil -hashfile nodetonet-agent-windows-x64.exe SHA256 in PowerShell.

Step 2 — Get past Defender SmartScreen

Double-click the exe. A blue banner appears: "Windows protected your PC." This is normal for a low-volume publisher and does not mean the file is unsafe. To proceed:

Click More info — the dialog expands.
Confirm the publisher reads Nodetonet.
Click Run anyway.

If you want to bypass the prompt permanently for this file, right-click the exe, choose Properties, scroll to the bottom of the General tab, tick Unblock, and click Apply. The flag is cleared and the prompt will never appear again for that file.

Enterprise / aggressive AV environments: some corporate antivirus products quarantine unsigned or low-reputation binaries automatically. If the file disappears after download, add the folder C:UsersYOU odetonet to your AV exclusion list. The agent is a WebSocket client — it opens one outbound connection to the edge server and forwards TCP sockets. It writes no files outside its own folder and makes no system-wide registry changes beyond the optional autostart task you create in Step 4.

Step 3 — Pair the token

The agent runs without a main window. On launch, a small icon appears in the Windows system tray (bottom-right, near the clock). If you cannot see it, click the chevron to expand hidden tray icons.

Right-click the tray icon and choose Paste token. A small input dialog opens. Paste the token you created in the panel (under Tokens / creating your first token) and click OK. Within two to three seconds:

The tray icon turns green.
The token row in the panel switches to ONLINE, showing Windows 11 (or your OS version) as the device label and your current public IP.

Hover the tray icon at any time for a live tooltip: Connected · 0 bytes/s · uptime 00:03:12. Right-click for the menu options: pause, reconnect, view logs, quit. The View logs option opens a small text window that is useful if you ever need to diagnose a connection issue — the first line of relevant context when you contact support on Discord.

Once the token is online, you can verify the exit IP instantly with the What is my IP tool — point your proxy client at the token endpoint and open the tool to confirm the machine's IP appears as the egress address.

Step 4 — Autostart on every boot (recommended)

The agent does not install itself as a service or add a Run-key entry without your consent. You have two equally good options:

Option A — Tray menu toggle (easiest)

Right-click the tray icon and tick Launch at startup. The agent registers a Task Scheduler task behind the scenes. That's it. The next reboot will bring the agent back up automatically, already paired with its token.

Option B — Task Scheduler command (scriptable)

If you prefer to script the setup or deploy to multiple machines, open an elevated Command Prompt and run:

schtasks /Create /SC ONLOGON /TN "Nodetonet Agent" ^
  /TR "C:UsersYOU
odetonet
odetonet-agent-windows-x64.exe" ^
  /RL HIGHEST /F

This schedules the agent to launch at every login for the current user, with elevated privileges so it can bind to lower-numbered ports if needed. Verify the task was created with schtasks /Query /TN "Nodetonet Agent". To remove it later: schtasks /Delete /TN "Nodetonet Agent" /F.

Step 5 — Understanding IP changes on Windows

Residential ISPs assign IPs via DHCP leases that renew periodically. When your lease renews and the ISP hands you a new address, the agent detects the change, reconnects automatically, and the token stays ONLINE — but the proxy's exit IP changes. Check the panel's device row or use the proxy checker to confirm the current egress address any time.

If a stable exit IP is critical for your use case:

Ask your ISP for a static IP lease — most home ISPs offer this for a small fee or on a business plan.
Or configure your router to reserve the same DHCP address for your machine's MAC address.
If carrier-grade stability and the highest anti-bot trust level matter more than a desktop IP, consider pairing a phone instead — see mobile proxies for why mobile carrier IPs are treated differently by anti-bot systems.

Using the agent with HTTP tunnels

The Windows .exe agent also powers HTTP tunnels — a way to expose a local port (a dev server, a webhook receiver, an internal tool) through a public Nodetonet subdomain over HTTPS. Instead of pairing with a proxy token, you pair with a tunnel token and the panel gives you a public URL that routes inbound requests to whichever local port you specify. The same Defender and autostart steps above apply equally to the tunnel use case.

Troubleshooting quick reference

Tray icon stays grey / "Connecting" — check that port 443 outbound is not blocked by a firewall. Corporate networks sometimes block all non-HTTP WebSocket connections. Try from a different network to confirm.
Token shows ONLINE but proxy returns errors — confirm the proxy client is using the correct host, port, username and password from the panel. See what the ONLINE badge really tells you for the distinction between device-connected and proxy-reachable.
Agent disappears after reboot — either the autostart task was not created, or the exe was moved. Re-run Step 4 from the new path.
Protocol questions — if you are unsure whether to use HTTP or SOCKS5 for your tool, read HTTP vs SOCKS5: which to pick.

Get started

A Windows proxy device is three steps: download, pair, autostart. Once the tray icon is green, the machine behaves identically to an Android device in the panel — it shows up in token pools, participates in round-robin rotation, and its traffic is metered against prepaid credit with no monthly subscription. Create a free account to get your first token, or browse the full feature set if you haven't yet.