Installation & activation

Windows

Download the installer (.exe) from your account at blanktrail.com.
Run it and choose your language (English, Russian or Chinese).
Read the installation notice, then complete the wizard. Optionally enable a desktop icon and "start on sign-in".
When prompted by Windows, approve installing the root certificate — this lets the proxy serve HTTPS without certificate warnings.
The app launches automatically and its icon appears in the system tray.

The app installs to Program Files and adds two Start-menu shortcuts: one launches the tray app, the other opens the dashboard in your browser.

Updating or reinstalling

If a previous version is present, the installer offers three choices:

Update — keep license, settings and password. Only the program files are replaced.
Reinstall from scratch — reset to a fresh state. Optionally keep the license and root certificate.
Remove — uninstall BlankTrail Proxy from this computer.

NoteBecause BlankTrail Proxy intercepts TLS with its own certificate, some antivirus tools may flag it. If yours conflicts with the app, add BlankTrail Proxy to its exclusions.

The quickest way is the personalized one-line installer shown on the Downloads page of your account — it fetches the right package for your architecture, installs OpenVPN, and activates your license automatically.

To install a package by hand, download the .deb for your architecture and install it:

sudo dpkg -i blanktrail_1.1.18_amd64.deb
sudo systemctl enable --now blanktrail

The service runs as a dedicated system user. Its configuration lives at /etc/blanktrail/config.yaml and its state (license, certificate, database) under /var/lib/blanktrail.

Managing the service

sudo systemctl status blanktrail     # check status
sudo systemctl restart blanktrail    # restart
sudo journalctl -u blanktrail -f     # follow logs

The dashboard is served on port 8891. On a server, reach it over an SSH tunnel or a private network — for example: ssh -L 8891:127.0.0.1:8891 user@host, then open http://127.0.0.1:8891 locally.

TipPrefer a tarball? Extract the .tar.gz for your architecture and run the bundled install script as root.

Root certificate

BlankTrail Proxy terminates TLS locally, so every device that connects through it must trust its root certificate. Otherwise browsers and tools will show certificate errors on HTTPS sites.

On Windows the installer adds the certificate to the system trust store automatically. To install it on another device, open the dashboard, click the CA Certificate button in the header, and follow the per-platform instructions. You can also download the certificate directly from the API (see License & access).

ImportantOnly install the certificate on devices you control and route through your own BlankTrail Proxy instance. It exists solely so those devices can trust your local proxy.

First run

On first launch the app prepares its local state, generates the root certificate, and starts the dashboard. Open http://127.0.0.1:8891 (or use the tray's "Open Dashboard" item) to finish setup.

You'll be guided through activating your license and setting a dashboard password. After that, the dashboard is ready for managing ports.

Activating your license

A license is required for BlankTrail Proxy to run. You can activate in a few ways:

Email + password — sign in with your blanktrail.com account credentials in the onboarding screen.
Ticket + license ID — use a confirmation code when two-factor confirmation is required.
Zero-touch — a gated installer can carry an enrollment token and activate automatically on first boot.

Get your license and downloads from your account at blanktrail.com. A running instance keeps working through short authorization-server outages thanks to a built-in grace window, so a brief hiccup won't interrupt a job.