I just opened the app found all settings reverted to default, all torrents gone
Even got the one time legal agreement screen from when you first open the app
Been using this app for a long time without issue, so not sure what caused this
When I google this issue all the results are shut downs, power outages, updates, which do not apply to me because i had just closed the app a mere hour ago and everything was fine, no shutdowns or updates in that time
I opened the app folder and found my custom theme is still there (although not applied anymore)
Would this mean theres a chance I can recover my torrents and settings too? (dont know where to even look)
also found something very interesting in the log file
whenever the app is opened there is a line that says
"Using config directory: C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\qBittorrent"
i checked that directory and there is indeed an ini file in there
why is a portable app using the appdata folder?
is it like this for everyone? seems antithetical to the whole portable thing
You are here
qbittorrent 4.6.2 lost all data + app is not portable?
January 1, 2024 - 4:02am
#1
qbittorrent 4.6.2 lost all data + app is not portable?
Visit the Community page
Join our forums
Subscribe to our email newsletter
Subscribe with RSS
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on LinkedIn
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Mastodon
Follow us on BlueSky
How did you launch the app now compared to before? It's meant to either have qBittorrentPortable.exe run directly, via the PA.c Platform, via a pinned taskbar or Start Menu shortcut created by the PA.c Platform. If you pin the app yourself within Windows, it'll pin it in local mode, not portable. Same if you use the app to associate it with torrent files or the magnet protocol.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I am confused
I am launching it now the same way as always, by clicking associated magnet link or unpinned desktop shortcut
the initial launch where everything was reset was through clicking a magnet link, but i've been doing it this way forever without issue
I do remember initially when I installed the app, every time I clicked a magnet link I was surprised to see a screen asking me which of 2 qbittorrents i wanted to open with
however i understood that one was the application, and the other was the portable launcher for the application (or something to that effect), but both had similar or maybe the same name, so i would sometimes accidentally click the non portable exe, but i would know right away i had made a mistake because i would see the default theme instead of my custom, so i would simply x out, click the magnet link again, and this time choose the other correct portable option
but this was a while ago and i've long since simply set it to always associate magnets with the portable one
but since this new thing where everything got reverted to default, it does not matter how i open it
via magnet, via shortcut, via portable apps
heck i even tried opening the non portable exe thats located in the portable directory
all open default blank slate
"If you pin the app yourself within Windows, it'll pin it in local mode, not portable"
that does sound kinda familiar actually now that you mention it
i think i might've encountered that problem when I installed initially and maybe thats why I have a desktop shortcut now instead of a taskbar pin
did not know i could pin it to taskbar via PA app, so i'll try that, thanks for the tip
but first i'd still like to get the bottom of the mystery where my data went...
Think of it as having two separate sets of settings. One when you launch qBittorrentPortable.exe and one when you launch qBittorrent.exe directly. There's a twist, though. If you launch qBittorrentPortable.exe first and it's already running, then if you launch qBittorrent.exe directly, it'll continue on with that initial instance.
In your scenario, ensure all copies of qBittorrent are closed and then run qBittorrentPortable.exe. Are your settings there? If not, close all running copies again, and then run qBittorrent.exe within qBittorrentPortable\App\qBittorrent. Are your setting there?
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
followed your instructions, my settings were not there in either scenario
after making my last post, you did have me wondering if i had been accidentally using qbittorrent directly this whole time
as i told you the two ways i open qbittorrent are magnet link association and desktop shortcut
so first thing i did to test was click a magnet link again, and it opened qbit with the portable splashscreen, which does not appear when you open qbit direct copy
next i double checked the path for my shortcut, and it points to qbittorrentportable.exe, not qbittorrent.exe
additionally i do not have anything set to start up automatically, so i checked task manager after a computer reboot and there were no copies of qbit running, and while checking after closing qbit as you suggested, saw no copies running there either
If you open up your APPDATA folder, typically C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming, do you see a qBittorrent.BackupByqBittorrentPortable or similar folder in there when qBittorrent Portable is not running?
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
yes
Ok, that's probably your settings. Likely either local mode and portable messed each other up. Or possibly it was left running when Windows was shut down. Or a crash.
In either case, with all qBittorrent instances closed, rename your qBittorrentPortable\Data\settings\AppData_qBittorrent folder to qBittorrentPortable\Data\settings\AppData_qBittorrent-old. Now copy the qBittorrent.BackupByqBittorrentPortable folder from C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming to qBittorrentPortable\Data\settings. Once there, rename it to AppData_qBittorrent. Now try running qBittorrent Portable and see if your settings are there.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
"rename your qBittorrentPortable\Data\settings\AppData_qBittorrent folder"
I dont have this folder
the settings folder just has qBittorrentPortableSettings.ini
What version of qBittorrent Portable do you have? If you're not using it with the PA.c Platform, you can open up the appinfo.ini file within qBittorrentPortable\App\AppInfo.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
version 4.6.2 and i have the portable apps platform thats how i update it
It should create the folder when it's run. Please close all instances of qBittorrent. Now run qBittorrentPortable.exe either directly or via the PA.c Platform. Open up Tools - Options and change something like turning off Confirm when deleting torrents. Then fully exit (including the system tray). See if that creates the folder.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
That created the folder. This was the first time I clicked anything within qbittorrent since everything got reverted, so maybe thats why there was no folder
Just did the folder switch and rename fix you instructed earlier to no avail
It restored default state (confirm deleting torrents was rechecked)
Are there any other qBittorrent folders within C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming?
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
yes as i mentioned in the first post, after everything got reset i poked around in the log file and found that every time the app was launched it was followed by this line
"Using config directory: C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\qBittorrent"
and i checked that directory and there was a lone qbittorrent.ini file in there (now its got a few more files and an rss folder)
but i am still confused about why this directory is used every time i launch the portable app
i thought the idea of a portable app was that it's supposed to keep all files within a single directory
The configuration for qBittorrent is moved from qBittorrentPortable\Data\settings\AppData_qBittorrent to C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming on start and back on exit. Any existing setting on the local machine are backed up to qBittorrent.BackupByqBittorrentPortable while the portable version is running and then back on exit. If there's an improper shutdown or Windows crash, the launcher will restore things on first run. Unfortunately, it looks like at some point there was a collision of portable and local mode. Or something else went wrong. And caused your settings to be lost. If you have a recent backup using the PA.c Platform's built in App Data (just app settings) or Complete Backup function, you can restore from that. If not, you'll unfortunately need to recreate the settings. I'm sorry this happened to you.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I gotta think maybe this is something to do with the fact that i was using the direct exe way back when. But weird for it to suddenly happen now, so long after i stopped using it, like 2 years or so
i guess the smart move for me at this point is to just move to qbit stationary and backup all my other portable apps
sucks but i appreciate your help through this john
thanks