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uTorrent Portable

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horusofoz
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uTorrent Portable

I was having an issue with an access denied message in uTorrent Portable until I found in their forums that files flagged as read only can cause this error. Removed the flags from the downloads and torrents folder in the Data folder and working now. Can anyone else confirm this behaviour and if this solution works for them.

Cheers

Vagabond48
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transfering existing torrents to portable utorrent

Although, I didn't find any instructions to transfer my existing torrents, the portable app still doesn't see them.
I did the following,
I transferred the torrents to the existing torrent folder
I went to preferences, directories and changed the location for the downloads and torrents
Can anyone suggest what I need to do?

Mark Sikkema
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Don't think you should change the folders !

I am not using the new official portable version jet, but did used to use the old unofficial launcher from the test page. But I suspect the behavior didn't change that much.

The directories should be set as relative paths, cause of this uTorrent will be portable.

What I suggest is, you delete the data settings folder, so uTorrent has it's original relative paths back. Then you copy your partly downloaded files to Data\Downloads. Start uTorrent, and drag 'n drop the .torrent file onto the uTorrent window.
After this it should recheck the status of the download, and finally start downloading from where it did finish !!!

Hope this is some help !

Formerly Gringoloco
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Mark Sikkema
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Just tried it, works fine this way .

You made me, finally to update to the new version of uTorrentPortable.

Drag 'n drop the .torrent file on to uTorrent window, and it will start checking/downloading the file !

uTorrent will copy the .torrent file to the torrent folder by it self.

Formerly Gringoloco
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Vagabond48
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Did it tooooooo!

Worked great. Thanks
Where did your torrents go?
Not that it makes a difference to me, mine went into App/utorrent folder not Data/torrent folder where I thought it would have gone since the Data folder is where user created variable data normally goes?

Mark Sikkema
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The directories should be ...

Did you delete the Data\Settings folder, to get default settings ?

Otherwise, do it manual....
..\..\Downloads
..\..\Torrents

Formerly Gringoloco
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SyntaxError
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Don't understand..

I don't understand why uTorrent is even here. It's a portable app natively, no PA launcher needed. The info is in the uTorrent FAQ.

http://www.utorrent.com/faq/installation

Everything for utorrent goes in a single folder, skins, buttons, ip blocklist .dat file, tray icons, etc.

Chris Morgan
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Because:
  • µTorrent is not in the PortableApps.com Format - there are benefits to using the PortableApps.com Format such as ease of installation with the PortableApps.com Installer (no need to go messing around with settings.dat files in APPDATA or anything like that), and it's all portable right from the start.
  • Drive letter updating is done in the settings, a thing which I don't think is done with µTorrent itself but is needed for proper functionality.
  • PortableApps.com is really the authority on portable software. If it's here, it's trusted more as "really portable" than if it's just on their site (and requiring something to get it working portably)
  • Most applications labelled "portable" by their manufacturers (or with a red button labelled "portable" in them or something you can do to make it portable) leave things behind. That's part of the job of our launchers.

I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.

“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1

SyntaxError
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The only thing uTorrent

The only thing uTorrent leaves behind is it's file associations and an open port in windows firewall, both of which can be disabled in the settings.

After you run it the first time and it generates it's %APPDATA% stuff, you simply move it all to the uTorrent folder and it's done forever.

Yes, you have to manually change paths in the settings if you use it as a portable app. Not really a big deal since you would have to manually open a port not only in whatever firewall is on the system, but any router it's behind as well. Which makes uTorrent never truly portable, with or without a PA launcher.

When using uTorrent the way it was meant to be by the developer, you don't have to worry about any add-ons or other files being deleted like you do with this PA version as this very thread and the other utorrent threads show.

I've been using uTorrent for many years now and never had a single problem with it.
I can't say the same for the apps around here, though I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong.

I've been using the PA.com apps for several years now both as installed apps on my own machines and from flash drive on others, and before that I was making my own portable apps using AutoIt to write my custom launchers, so I'm no stranger to the concept.

The fact is on any Windows system, ANY software will leave something behind no matter how thorough the developer was in coding the cleanup routines. Just take a walk through the registry or even the event viewer if anything crashed and I guarantee you will find plenty of evidence of portable apps being run. Windows makes these entries itself, usually buried deep, but it's there.

And yes, I know PA.com is THE authority in portable apps. That doesn't make the PA.com team 100% correct every time, though their track record is pretty good.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not attacking John Haller, his team or their work at all. In fact, I'm thrilled their work is finally getting widespread acknowledgment. I don't know what I would do without portable software, as I hate installing stuff and having to reconfigure things to my liking all the time.

Thanks to the popularity of PA.com, I've noticed that other devs are finally starting to get a clue that coding apps the "Microsoft way" is not the right way and is in fact completely unnecessary, and as such, more and more devs are making their apps, freeware and otherwise, portable right out the box, so to speak.

Vagabond48
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utorrent acting querky

I started a thread over a week ago without 1 reply so I thought I would added here to have better luck.

I have used utorrent for over 2 years and was on 1.8.4. I never had a problem until I installed the portable version when it was introduced.
As I did with the non-portable version, I redirect the new downloads, and completed downloads to separate folders and the torrents to uTorrentPortable\Data\torrents but this may be creating occasional weird intermittent results.
It sometimes,
. restarts the torrent even when it has completed and left for seeding. A couple times it splits the completed folder between the new download and the completed folder.
. changes the location of the completed folder to the new download folder, forcing me to change the location back and do a forced recheck.
. On rare occasions when I am forced to do a force re-check, it calculates a few files as incomplete while 99% on the files are determined to be 100% complete.
. a couple of times, newly added torrents would disappear from the screen when the program was re-opened forcing me to re-add them again.
. changes to priorities to some torrents would return to the previous priority when re-opening the program
. just go a new problem that returns 2 torrents entries in the completed display even though the completed file and torrent have been removed using the software option.

The Preferences/Directories continue to point to the correct folders.

I had the problems with both PA 1.8.4 and 1.8.5.
I have been downloading torrents practically none stop using the port app utorrent.

Again, I want to stress these are intermittent occurrences but a pain in the royal a$$.

Hope someone can provide a constructive response. Thanks

SyntaxError
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I don't like suggesting not

I don't like suggesting not using PA.com apps, but since uTorrentPortable obviously isn't working correctly then you probably should go back to plain old uTorrent until the problems are solved.

Vagabond48
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I solved the problem

Apparently utorrent takes as much as a minute to close, so there were times when I exited the program and then powerdown the PC causing program to prematurely close before it could finish copying the settings files on App/utorrent folder back the the Data/settings folder.

SyntaxError
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It shouldn't have to copy

It shouldn't have to copy anything since uTorrent works just fine with every file in a single folder, portable or not.

I would have thought PA.com would have used that feature to it's advantage.

wraithdu
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It has to copy the files to

It has to copy the files to conform to the PApps platform standard of keeping user config files in the Data\Settings directory. If you don't understand how the platform works, please refrain from making comments about it.

SyntaxError
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I do understand how the

I do understand how the PA.com platform works.

The fact is since uTorrentPortable has obvious flaws caused entirely by strictly following the platform specs, then maybe those specs need to be revised a bit.

John T. Haller
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Separating Apps and Data

PortableApps.com Format keeps all app binaries within the App subdirectory and all the preferences and user data in the Data subdirectory within apps. It's part of the specification and designed to improve convenience and minimize dataloss. With app upgrades, there's never an issue with data or preferences being overwritten (as you'd have with ZIP files) and it makes backing things up very easy... the PortableApps.com Backup utility can automatically backup all the settings for all your portable apps at once in a relatively small file without needing to backup the whole drive or all your app binaries. The goal being to encourage people to make critical backups more often.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

SyntaxError
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Unfortunately, in uTorrent's

Unfortunately, in uTorrent's case, that specification of "dataloss prevention" and "improved convenience" is not working.

John T. Haller
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Few People

It only affects a few people (out of 110,000 downloads), and the only common issue we've seen is people not waiting for uTorrent.exe to close (it can take 1 minute or more AFTER you close uTorrent in the system tray) before either shutting down or pulling the drive. Ensure you are closing it and waiting for it to close before pulling the drive.

I'll have a look at enhancing the launcher to take into account the people who are pulling the drive prematurely as that's the only thing that could cause the issue and the only thing that is different that using uTorrent with the settings in the same path.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Mark Sikkema
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Since there are so many complaints about uTorrent Portable

Could it be fixed by updating the drive letters, instead of using relative paths ?

Even when using relative paths, uTorrent still seems to save (some) absolute paths in setting.dat & resume.dat !

I just tested to make sure, but the code in the following link can also update drive letters in uTorrent .dat settings files !

ReplaceInFileWithUnicode.nsh

It is made to deal with unicode utf-8 files, but basically it is just keeping all the bytes in order.

Formerly Gringoloco
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wraithdu
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As I've stated elsewhere, you

As I've stated elsewhere, you cannot manually update uTorrent's settings files. They are all protected with some hashing scheme. If they are externally updated, uTorrent rejects them and replaces them with default copies.

Mark Sikkema
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I am going to be stuburn again, but...

I have done a uTorrent script before with a similar piece of code.
So I am that sure that it is possible.

Just have a try, the code does make sure all bytes, except for the drive letter, stay in order. uTorrent wouldn't even realize the settings been changed !

Before I send the last comment, I did replace the drive letter and back again. Then I compared them with WinMerge, there was no change at all. (please see for yourself)

[edit] Just incase it doesn't work for the newest uTorrent anymore, I'll have a go on the script of the newest uTorrent Portable myself.

Formerly Gringoloco
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John T. Haller
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uTorrent Limitation

I'm pretty sure it's not a matter of updating the settings. uTorrent will then IGNORE the settings you updated because it stores a CRC check in the file to ensure outside forces are not altering it.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

wraithdu
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Trust me, it won't work. And

Trust me, it won't work. And it's more complicated than a simple CRC. It's a file protection that is more than just a simple hash. If you alter the file, uTorrent will trash the whole thing and reset it to the default.

Make it easy on yourself. Just try to edit a setting file offline with Notepad or Notepad++, then fire up uTorrent...see what happens.

Mark Sikkema
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I've just ran it a couple of times...

on different drive letters. And your right it makes these .bad files.

But does NOT TRASH the settings, it just goes on downloading the initial torrent and keeps all it's settings !

Have to do some more testing to see if it's save enough to just delete the .bad files.

Formerly Gringoloco
Windows XP Pro sp3 x32

Mark Sikkema
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Here is a quick fix, so you can have a look your self !

Just a zip file which includes the source folder and and a launcher !
Drive letter update+delete bad files

Formerly Gringoloco
Windows XP Pro sp3 x32

wraithdu
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It's a novel idea, but my

It's a novel idea, but my problem is that it's a hack, and certainly not guaranteed to work for everyone or every version of uTorrent. How thorough was your testing? Did you try it with multiple torrents going? Does it really solve the initial problem people were having?

If so...then I guess it's up to John if he wants to incorporate your fix.

Mark Sikkema
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Sorry for the late answer, but my internet died yesterday.

As it does often.
Cause I'm using one of those mobile usb sticks with a sim card for my intenet. It's cool that works, but doesn't work very well.

As well I'm going on holyday tomorrow.

So, that's why I can not test the 'hack' very thoroughly.

Anyway, when I did start the initial comment I all forgot about the .bad files. And as you say it's a hack. But if people are really having problems with it maybe John can decide to maybe make a development test out of it.

I just wanted to show that it is possible !

Formerly Gringoloco
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teamfatman76
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My whole drive dies

I can start a torrent, it will download a little bit, but then Utorrent will show an error that the path for the file is missing, I go to look at the drive, and it is no longer active under "my computer" or using windows explorer, the light on the drive is off. I can remove then insert the drive and start over again, but I keep getting the same results, help!

John T. Haller
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Bad Drive

That's either a bad drive or a bad port. Not a software issue.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Bruce Pascoe
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Are you sure about that?

I've seen the "bad path" errors with uTorrent before. I don't know whether or not it's been fixed (even now I have it specifically set to download into L:\Documents\Downloads), but I remember older versions of uTorrent used to have problems with relative paths. Usually after adding a torrent via the GUI, because the Windows Open dialog changes the current directory, therefore the paths are no longer relative to uTorrent, but some other folder.

John T. Haller
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I'm Sure

The user said: "I go to look at the drive, and it is no longer active under "my computer" or using windows explorer, the light on the drive is off"

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

KiDD420
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SOmetimes this happens to me

SOmetimes this happens to me if the paths and/or the file names exceed 255 characters....

Charles7
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Happy to say. . .

things seem to be working fine now.

Like others on here I have had trouble with utorrnet portable and the regular exe worked better as a portable; however, with this new version and some adjustments everything seems to be working excellent. It starts correctly from my browser (using the portable.exe) and more importantly loads .torrent files that are associated with the portable.exe--this was a main problem before but seems to be working now.

thx

techhjunkie
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magnet link

is it possible to link browser to go to utorrent portable when i click on a magnetlink??????????

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