How do you import a subscription into Clash, and why might webpages still fail to load afterward? This guide walks through adding a subscription, activating the configuration, and testing the connection, and explains how your exit IP, DNS, and browser settings can affect the results. Menu names vary slightly between Clash clients using different cores, so look for “Configuration,” “Subscription,” or “Profiles,” as appropriate.
1. Before importing: Check your client and subscription link
Install a trustworthy, actively maintained Clash-compatible client, preferably from the project’s official release channel. Avoid modified versions from unknown sources. When you first launch the client, follow the system prompts to grant the required network permissions.
Get a subscription link that the provider explicitly identifies as compatible with Clash or Mihomo. A subscription link is not a webpage URL, and it is not necessarily the same as a link for a single node. Single-node share links beginning with schemes such as vless:// usually cannot be imported directly as Clash configuration subscriptions. Subscription links may contain access tokens, so don’t share screenshots of them or send them to strangers.
2. How to import a subscription into Clash
- Copy the entire subscription link. Check that it has no extra spaces, line breaks, or Chinese punctuation at either end.
- Open the “Configuration” or “Profiles” page in the client and look for “Add,” “Import from URL,” or a similar option.
- Paste the link, enter a name that’s easy to recognize, and click “Download,” “Import,” or “Save.” Wait for the client to retrieve the configuration.
- Select the imported item in the configuration list and make it the active configuration. A successful download does not mean it has been activated.
- Open the “Proxies” page and select a node from the available policy groups, or choose the automatic selection group provided by the configuration. Latency tests are only a guide; verify the connection by actually opening a webpage.
- Turn on “System Proxy” and start with “Rule” mode. This is a good way to test access from a regular browser. If you need to route more applications, learn about the client’s TUN mode and its permission requirements.
Activate the configuration first, then select a node and turn on the proxy. This is the sequence people most often miss. To update nodes later, click Update next to the configuration. If the client supports scheduled updates, configure them as needed. If this site offers a compatible subscription on its free nodes page, you can import it the same way; availability depends on whether the connection works in practice.
3. How do IP, DNS, and browser settings affect the results?
Your exit IP indicates where a request appears to be coming from. With the system proxy enabled, webpage requests routed through the proxy usually use the node’s exit IP, while applications that bypass the proxy may still use your local network. So the IP shown on one webpage does not necessarily represent the exit IP for all traffic on your device.
DNS translates domain names into IP addresses. If DNS resolution fails, a node test may get a response even though webpages won’t load. Start by keeping the DNS settings recommended by the subscription or client. Avoid copying random settings from online snippets, as they may conflict with your existing rules.
Your browser may also be affected by proxy extensions, Secure DNS, cache, and cookies. Switching nodes does not automatically clear your login state or change your browser fingerprint. A website may also determine your region based on your account details, so its region indicator alone cannot confirm whether the proxy is working.
4. If the import fails or you can’t connect, troubleshoot in order
- Download fails: Check that your local network is working and that the link is complete and hasn’t expired. Contact the provider if needed to confirm the subscription URL.
- Format error: Check that the response contains a compatible configuration, not a login page, error page, or format intended for another client.
- Import succeeds but sites won’t load: Make sure the configuration is active and the policy group isn’t set to Direct or Reject, then try a different node.
- Only the browser has problems: Temporarily disable other proxy extensions, compare results in a private window, and check whether the browser has its own proxy settings.
- Still not working: Check the logs for download, parsing, or timeout errors. If you ask for help, hide your subscription token and personal information.
Change one setting at a time and test again. Changing the node, DNS, and proxy mode all at once makes it difficult to identify the cause of the problem.