How to launch Chrome window with proxy using any ssh server

I will show how to use any server with ssh as a proxy, I’m doing this on Debian Linux, but it should be the same on all Debian derivatives, and very similar on any other Linux distribution. I use this method to watch Netflix and bypass country restrictions, and to test website access speed from different locations, but it can be used for many other purposes.

First thing you need is server with SSH access. To avoid having to deal with password, copy your ssh key to the server (run ssh-keygen in case you don’t have key pair yet).

ssh-copy-id [email protected]

Then, create a file, for example /opt/netflix.sh

#!/bin/bash

cd
autossh -f -N -D 8888 [email protected]
google-chrome-stable --user-data-dir=.netflix/ --proxy-server="socks5://localhost:8888" https://www.netflix.com/browse

This will run Chrome with localhost using ssh tunnel as a proxy, and use dedicated browser profile, so it will start completely different process and don’t mess with your normal Chrome processes in any way.

Notice I’m using autossh. If you don’t have autossh installed, you can install it with apt, or replace “autossh” with “ssh” in the script, if you have very reliable connection to the ssh server. Autossh simply restarts the SSH connection in case it drops.

Then mark the file as executable:

chmod a+x /opt/netflix.sh

And, if you wish, create a loucher in tray:

Custom application launcher
Custom application launcher

One thought on “How to launch Chrome window with proxy using any ssh server

  1. Ossie Fricker February 24, 2016 / 11:38 am

    Thank you!
    This is working great. I created 3 chrome icons in the panel, each with different IP.

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