How To Install uTorrent on Windows Home Server
I used to use my PC to download torrent files whilst sleeping, but since my PCs are now turned off overnight and Windows Home Server is on 24/7 it seemed logical to install uTorrent onto WHS. The other advantage of installing it on the server was that if more than one of us in the house was using uTorrent it would not cause a lot of traffic on the connection and most importantly by the time you finish this tutorial it will also run without a logged-in user.
Create the New User
First of all we need to create a new user on the server. This is done for security reasons as we do not want to install uTorrent under the default Administrator account. Once this step is completed you may continue with the following.
Install and Configure
Connect via the Remote Desktop Connection as the user you have just created e.g. “WHS” and your newly created password.
Download the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools and install rktools.exe using the default options.
Next install the µTorrent 1.6.1 Installation Program using the default options.
If this is the first time you have installed uTorrent on your server then a dialogue will appear asking if you want to associate .torrent files with µTorrent. Click Yes. If a Windows Security Alert pops up asking if you want to Block or Unblock uTorrent Click Unblock and if the Speed Guide appears set your Connection Type and the Current Port that you would like to use.
You will now need to forward the port you selected above into your router. Details of router setup screens can be found at http://www.portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/routerindex.htm (select your router and then uTorrent)
In uTorrent select Options then Preferences. Make sure your General screen matches this one:
Make sure that your download screen matches the one below. You can change the location for your Put new downloads in but do NOT use a server share. It has to be under a drive letter on the WHS otherwise the Drive Extender Migrator Service will cause data corruption errors as it tries to move the file onto another drive while uTorrent is in the middle of writing to it, or just before uTorrent tries to open the file to write to it again. The Move completed downloads to can be changed to any server share location.
The other screen should match this one. Once again the Automatic load torrents in directory location can be changed to any server share location. This setup enables uTorrent to monitor this specific folder for .torrent files and start downloading them automatically. All you have to do to start a download is place the .torrent file in that folder and uTorrent will do its stuff.
Using the Scheduler tab you can set your downloads to occur during “off-peak” periods by setting up a schedule if you so require.
As below, under Advanced Web UI Enable Web Interface and configure a Username and secure Password of your choice.
Click the OK button and close uTorrent.
Next Download the uTorrent WebUI and extract webui.zip from the rar archive.
Click Start then Run and type %AppData%\uTorrent. Place the webui.zip into this opened folder (do NOT unzip it).
Next download the uTorrent add-in for the Windows Home Server Console from here or here. Do NOT run it but place it in your Add-Ins Shared Folder (\\SERVER\Software\Add-Ins). Log In to your WHS console and go to Settings, Add-ins the Available tab and then click Install under “Windows Home Server – uTorrent”.
Once the console re-starts log back in to the console and go to Settings, uTorrent and for Server type in http://YourIP:Port/gui/ e.g. http://192.168.1.110:22345/gui/
YourIP is your server name or IP address and Port is the uTorrent Port that you set up earlier.
Next insert your User Name and Password as set up earlier. You can press Test Configuration to check all is OK. Red is not and green is fine. You may now OK out of the Settings and close the Console.
Create the User-Defined Service
From your Windows Home Server click Start then Run and type cmd. In the window that opens type the following which is all on one line, including the quotation marks.
"c:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\instsrv.exe" uTorrent "c:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\srvany.exe"
NOTE: Cut and paste will not work, instead highlight and copy the above line and then right-click in the open CMD window and select paste.
Press Enter on your keyboard. Once the screen displays The service was successfully added! you may close the cmd box.
We need to now create a .Reg file using notepad and paste in the 3 lines of code below.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\uTorrent\Parameters]"Application"="C:\\Program Files\\utorrent\\utorrent.exe"
When saving make sure that Save as type is set to All Files *.* and save as service.reg. Double click on this saved file to import the settings into the registry on your server.
Now click the Start button and then select All Programs, Administrative Tools and then Services. Find uTorrent right-click and select Properties.
Select the Log On tab. Click the This account button and enter
OK out and close the Services dialog.
Click Start, Shut Down then Restart.
That’s it job completed. You can now connect to uTorrent either via the web interface using your browser using the format http://YourIP:Port/gui/ or via the WHS console (uTorrent heading).
All you have to do to start a torrent download automatically is place the .torrent file in the \\SERVER\Public\Torrents folder and forget about it.
P.S. Whose of you with Windows Vista may like to know that there is a sidebar gadget called µTorrent Stats that enables you to Start, pause or stop any torrent and allows you to view the stats and files for each torrent separately, all from the desktop sidebar within Vista.
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Ok i fugured out that uTorrent will not auto-load torrents that are created by another user:
-If i log into \\Server\Torrents from my PC with my PC account and save a torrent file, the file will not be auto-loaded and will not appear in webUI
-If I log into \\Server\Torrents from the PC with the user account that I am using to run uTorrent (ex: “WHS”) the torrent file WILL auto load then appear in webUI
is there anyway to make uTorrent open torrent files that were not created by “WHS” ?
Sorry, I had tried to reply a while back and it wouldn’t let me.
The problem is with the logged in users at the server itself. You can’t be logged into the server through terminal services as a new user when you add the torrents.
It won’t let me put the link in my post…
“Log off (Don’t simply disconnect) all users on the server.
Then go Start -=> Run -=> mstsc /console
And then log in.
When you remote desktop into a windows server version without /console it creates a NEW user session. You can see this when you open the Users tab on the Task Manager in the remote session. You’ll see your username twice. This also means a second session of µtorrent was started which will fail to listen on the utorrent port (check the logger tab of µtorrent) because the original µtorrent session is listening there. Which means the webui still connects to the first µtorrent session while your remote desktop session is looking at the the second µtorrent session.”
Thanks! This is my first hands on with my WHS and it gave me a good insight in its workings.
Works perfect
thanks for clear information… I`ll trying to download uTorrent
[...] this guide over at mswhs.com. I’ve reproduced it here but you may wish to check for any updates to the [...]
The WebUI 0.310 link is not valid. CAn anyone repoint me in the right direction please as l cn not find the files anywhere!
I followed the guide and uTorrent is installed on my windows home server and is working nicely. However I was wondering what the point of having the uTorrent installed into the console is. I have the application running as if it were in windows 7, and it is down in my taskbar. I can maximize it from there and mouse over it to see my dl/ul speeds etc. When I put torrents into my folder that I have utorrent watching it then sends the command to either my console utorrent or my full app utorrent. For instance if I put 5 differerent torrents into the folder im having uTorrent monitor, the first 2 will be processed by the application and the final 3 will be processed/shown by the uTorrent instance in my home server console. Whats the point of having it in both places?
This should also work with the latest stable release of µTorrent (1.8.5 at time of writing) and the latest WebUI WIP build (WebUI v0.370 WIP at time of writing) available in a sticky on the µtorrent Web API forum.
I have problems instaling the utorrent as service. I don’t get the ENUM in the registry and I’m not able to start the service. (error code 1053) I had to change the syntax a bit and added the location of the utorrent.exe “instsrv uTorrent “c:\program files\utorrent\utorrent.exe” srvany” otherwise I got an error indicating I had to specify the path of the exe.
Where have I gone wrong
i am having a similar problem. can’t get the reg file to load. i am not extremely familiar with this part of computing so any very explicit help would be greatly appreciated.
WHS-utorrent or uTorrentplus (uTorrent client for Windows Home Server) v.1.1.1.0 does not work with uTorrent 2.0. I hope there will be an update soon.
[...] How To Install uTorrent on Windows Home Server « MS Windows Home Server (tags: whs torrent utorrent server bittorrent howto homeserver windows) [...]
Guys, have same problem as Jaap within installation of RKTOOLS.exe. Have tried downloading within WHS but still do not get permission to install it. It states that Admininstrator has not set up rights for this account to do so. Help !
Hi!
Have problem with the GUI on my web browser. Have tried Firefox, chrome and explorer. It comes to “loading” then nothing happens on all browsers. I use the utorrent 1.6.1
Is this to old for the gui or what.
I like to reach the preferences in utorrent to set up a scheduler so I only download at night. But Because of not reaching the gui I can’t do the setup. Any Idea? the setup in utorrent is the main thing. Can I do it someother way?
Thank’s in advance
Roger
whenever I try to test configuration in the uTorrent add-in it’s red and i have tried everything. can someone give me a hand?
How do I install these programs without Remote Desktop?
Iam using the same setup in windows xp, but while restarting the system utorrent is behaving like crashed and reopen, its not having the download list which i have added already.
When i ran as normal windows mode after stopping the service its working fine.
have any one faced this and hv solution?
I installed uTorrent using Remote Desktop but cannot install the web GUI or download a torrent file using the server due to “security restrictions.”
Any idea what I am doing wrong?
[...] ———-If you want to have a utorrent service on your computer look HERE. [...]
I’m running uTorrent on my Vail box. The updated instructions are available at http://pravesh.me/installing-utorrent-on-whs-vail-as-service/
I’ve got a permission problem… is there a way to automatically give the all users full access on the completely downloaded files in order to open them with all accounts?
Actually my downloaded files get only full access for administrator group!
I have the same problem. Did you find a solution?
[...] The “Install and Configure” section of the “How to Install uTorrent on Windows Home Server“ [...]