How to Avoid YouTube Ads Using MikroTik and a VPN
I do not watch YouTube that often, but the ads get on my nerves whenever I do. For a while, I paid for Turkish YouTube Premium through my Apple account. That worked until recently, when I could no longer renew it. I did not feel like paying more for Premium, so I decided to try a nerdier way around the ads. And it seems to work. In some countries YouTube serves fewer or no ads. My workaround is…
In this story, the author describes an effective method to bypass YouTube ads using MikroTik routers and a VPN. The process begins with setting up a VPN connection on the MikroTik router, specifically using IKEv2/IPsec protocol. The author recommends using WireGuard or IKEv2/IPsec over OpenVPN due to the latter's limitations on MikroTik. They illustrate the process using NordVPN as an example, but advise that other VPN providers can be used as well.
To establish the VPN connection, the author provides step-by-step instructions on configuring the MikroTik router with the appropriate IPsec settings. This includes importing the VPN provider's certificate, setting up the IPsec peer, and configuring the relevant policies. The author also highlights the importance of choosing a reliable VPN provider and carefully inspecting the provided IP ranges before implementing the changes.
Once the VPN connection is established, the author explains how to route YouTube traffic through the VPN. This involves obtaining an up-to-date list of YouTube's destination IP addresses, which can be sourced from open repositories like touhidurrr/iplist-youtube. The author provides a detailed guide on importing this list into the MikroTik router and setting up a daily refresh script to ensure the list remains current.
After importing the YouTube IP ranges, the author outlines how to create a firewall rule that identifies YouTube traffic and marks it for routing through the VPN. This is achieved by adding a specific mark to the connection when it is detected as originating from the LAN and targeting a YouTube destination address. The result is a dynamic NAT rule that translates the marked connections through the VPN tunnel, effectively bypassing YouTube ads.
Throughout the article, the author stresses the importance of thorough research and verification before implementing these changes. They caution that any changes to the router configuration, especially those executed through scripts, can have significant consequences if not properly understood and managed.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
