when i go into options > preferences > choose random port im still not connected. the “ball” in the bottom right corner is still grey and it says DHT not connected.
any help is much appreciated.
Connection to the DHT network is not necessary for successful downloads. It’s position and prominence give it far more importance than it actually has.
DHT is an alternative way of finding more peers, or using trackerless torrents. Most of the time you’ll get plenty of peers from the tracker, and there are very few trackerless torrents. Most of the time, you don’t need DHT and can ignore it.
The probable reason it’s not working is because you’ve got the listen port blocked for UDP packets at your firewall.