Good choice! Although there many opinions on which torrent client is better, I personally like qBitTorrent because:

• it's truly public (meaning: no ads)
• it's well-written (meaning: it's highly scalable & uses memory/CPU resources efficiently)
• it looks & runs nearly the same on all of my clients: Windows, Linux, and MacOS!

Win, Win, & Win!

Of course, if you want a list of other options, try Wikipedia.

Also, you will see that throughout this tutorial, I capitalize the 2nd T in qBitTorrent - that is because many people tend to miss the 2-t's in the name, so I highlight it!. It's just a personal whim...

So, let's get started with qBitTorrent on GT.ru:

Step 1: Getting & installing qBitTorrent:

The official website for qBitTorrent is qBitTorrent.org, and you can download their software: here <=- That's a link there!

• Windows users will want to use the TOP portion of the site to download & run the installer. (IMPORTANT: Use the 64-bit installer if you can... and you probably can!).
  NOTE: If you don't like the download redirections, try one of my favorite tools on the Internet: Ninite - (yes, that's a link there, too!) Just check the box for qBitTorrent, download your Ninite, run it, and IT (the ninite installer you downloaded) will install qBitTorrent for you - answering all the questions and making all the right choices for you... its magic!)
• MacOS users will see that support for you is there too, as a DMG (a disk image). Just download the latest DMG file, and load the qBitTorrent client from there.
• Linux users will see support near the bottom of the page. Unless you're using a rather uncommon Linux install, you should see your distribution listed in the 2nd level of drop-downs (first choose Linux, then choose your distro).
  NOTE: Some Linux distributions include qBitTorrent in their own distribution repos - you will be told as much here when you choose your Linux distro...
• If none of these options are for you, there is a tarball option available.

NOTE 1: I will not go into more detail than that about basic installation here... you need to know the basics of installing software on your system in general before continuing here!

NOTE 2: There exists a CLI (command-line interface) for qBitTorrent that I will not cover - at all - here. Google is your friend, however.

Step 2: Basic qBitTorrent Configuration

When you run qBitTorrent for the first time, you will have to admit that you understand that you will be sharing files (content) on the Internet, and that you are responsible for what you share! (vs. the qBitTorrent programmers).

• Click the "I Agree" button here, or stop and go play somewhere else...

That's all there is to it - except that the default settings likely will not be optimal for you... but some of the basics (like associating .torrent files and magnet links to your qBitTorrent client) are already done.

Still, while the settings below are all optional - and some are complex - you should follow along with this guide and make certain changes... I will try to explain each as we go through.
To get to these options, you will click on the GEAR icon at the top of the window (Linux users: it's actually a Wrench/Screwdriver icon for you).
That said, there are thousands of options... I'm only going to cover the ones that I, personally change:

===

We start in Behavior, which is split into sections, the first of which is:

• Interface (including language): this also has an option for a completely different User Interface (UI) - which I have never changed.
• Transfer List: I usually change the option under Action on double-click for Completed torrents: I choose Preview file, otherwise open destination folder.
  In particular, I choose this on my Windows clients - where I nearly always have VLC media player also installed (see Ninite above for a quick and easy way to install VLC!)
• "Power Management": I choose to "Inhibit system sleep*..." on all accounts. This is a personal choice.
  Indeed, I disable sleep in general for all of my systems, preferring to let the turning-off of my display(s) be all of the "power savings" that I choose to do...

Those are ALL the CHANGES I make on this page...

So, moving on to the Downloads section:

• Delete .torrent file afterwards (checked) so that I don't keep all those tiny little .torrent files around AFTER they have been processed by qBitTorrent - it just clogs up my Downloads folder otherwise
• Also when addition is cancelled (checked) so that I don't keep any aborted .torrent files around either.
  NOTE: It says that you might lose data... true, you might lose a .torrent file that you want again later... but GT.ru is a private tracker... if you need it again, you download it again... these .torrent files are TINY in size, but can become quite numerous as you download more and more content!
• Pre-allocate disk space for all files (checked) - I do this so that, in the event I start downloading something that I don't have the disk space for, I'll learn about it sooner, rather than later!
• Append .!qB extension to incomplete files (checked) - I do this so that I can browse my torrent download folder and not get confused when I try to open media that's still downloading (which can be frustrating!)
• Default Save Path: (changed away from the default Downloads folder) - I like to have a special place for my torrent downloads, and this is where I put that place into effect. Maybe it's Movies or maybe its my NAS storage device... this is a highly personal choice, but I recommend NOT letting it stay the default.

All of the other options here are options that are not needed to make the program work, but can be setup to help you if, for example, you run qBitTorrent on a VM in the cloud and want to know when downloads complete, you can make qBitTorrent send you an email (or a text message!). There are tons of these kinds of options - and there is a LOT of online support for qBitTorrent's other features that I don't cover here.

Next is the Connection section, where we get into some of the "nitty-gritty". This is BY FAR the most techincal of the options pages, and I will try to explain my reasonings for each option I recommend. That said, this is one of the areas where people have alternative opinions - some of which are simply outdated, as the Internet does things differently in the 2020's vs the 1990's and 2000's...

• Peer connection protocol: please allow this to remain TCP and uTP (which is really UDP - but a special UDP for torrenting)
• Listening Port: This can be any number from 1025 to 65,535. I recommend changing it periodically (just use the random button) - I change it weekly. HOWEVER changing this value may require you to make changes in your router or firewall.
  Special Note: In the OLD DAYS this port was of VITAL IMPORTANCE because you had to manually open your local firewall port AND tunnel that port through your home router to make torrenting (in particular: seeding) work at all! However, unless you're using a router from the 20th Century (or the early 2000's), it is PnP compatible and you no longer have to do anything to your router with qBitTorrent (it can do it for you with PnP); and unless you're on an older version of Windows, you no longer have to adjust the firewall on your Windows system, either! (The same goes for MacOS users... but, Linux users WILL still have to change their firewalld settings manually to allow these inbound connections. Making that change is beyond the scope of this article. Send a message to GT.ru staff member WikiDude if you need Linux support.)
• Use UPnP/NAT-PMP port forwarding for my router: this should be left on for this kind of connection, but turned off if you're using a VPN or other advanced networking. BUT If you turn this off, you're on your own to manage the port forwarding in your advanced setup. Left ON, this feature allows qBitTorrent to reset the port forwarding on your router automatically (as I explained above). SWEET
• Use different port on each startup: This may be checked ONLY if you have some automated port forwarding mechanism in place: either the UPnP/NAT-PMP above, or a smart-VPN connection - like the one I'll explain below. I do use this option personally.
• Connection Limits: I'm going to group all of these together -- but the defaults are especially LOW. They actually come from when most torrent users were using DIAL-UP MODEMS. Increase these to the extent your Internet Connection allows. On my Internet-connected Linux hosts, I literally turn them off!
• Proxy Server: This would be used ONLY if you were using some kind of old-school (e.g. SOCKS-based) VPN connection. See my VPN recommendations below, in Section 2b.
• IP Filtering: it is unlikely you will need these, unless you run into some specific kinds of problems - unusual problems. If you think you need these, get help online. I have personally never used them.

Next is the Speed section, which is dedicated to making sure you can leave some Internet for your other programs, too! As with the connection limits in the above section, these limits default to a DIAL-UP MODEM level! Unless you happen to *actually use a dial-up connection, you WILL want to change these limits!
A good "rule-of-thumb" is to limit your qBitTorrent to using 80% of your actual available speeds.
WHAT? You don't KNOW your actual speeds? Just head to SpeedTest to find out!
NOTE: On some platforms, this apparently defaults to "infinite" (that is, no limits) - depending on your Internet speeds, you may be OK with that - I personally set them to 80% of my measured Internet speeds!

NOTE: Some versions of qBitTorrent have a section in here to Enable uTP protocol - if that is there for you, enable it!

Finally, the BitTorrent section controls some specific ways that qBitTorrent works:

• DHT can be disabled if you ONLY use GT.ru - otherwise, leave it on! For public torrents, this is needed to help you find seeders. (On a private torrent tracker, like GT.ru, it is not of any value at all).
• PeX falls into the same category as DHT above: leave it on, unless you will ONLY use private trackers, like GT.ru - in which case, it doesn't help.
• Local Peer Discovery can be left on - but it will only work if you're in a network environment - like a school or college - where other GT.ru members may be on your same network. HOWEVER, it can also be turned off - because this is highly unlikely!

I leave the other options here all turned off - but in this section, you can control how many torrents can be "on" at the same time, as well as many other torrent-based limitations. I, personally, leave these off.

The RSS, Web UI, and Advanced sections are all more advanced than this tutorial, so I would not recommend changing any of them now.

Step 3: Configuring qBitTorrent to run on a VPN (highly recommended)

First, I am not going to recommend a VPN provider here. While I personally use NordVPN, I will write another article (separate from this one) on making that choice. Neither am I going to spend time here explaining why a VPN is such a GOOD IDEA. Nope this part is just about configuring qBitTorrent to USE the VPN after you have that piece othewise managed...

Again, my configuration guidelines here assume that you are using an advanced (P2P friendly) VPN service, and not just some SOCKS-proxy or something.

Here are the settings you will want to CHANGE if (and you should) choose to run your qBitTorrent client behind a VPN:

• Kill Switch
  In the Advanced settings we avoided above, there is an entry for Network Interface...
  It defaults to "any" - instead, force it to use your VPN interface
  NOTE: When you do this, understand that: No VPN = No torrenting!

• Listening Port
  When you use your own Router and your own ISP, you may wind up having to manually manage the port-forwarding needed to make torrent seeding work. With P2P friendly VPNs, that is not a problem! Indeed, with a P2P-friendly VPN, I choose the option to randomly select new ports every time I restart qBitTorrent.
  (It's in Connection - Use different port on each startup).

• UPnP / NAT-PMP
  New routers understand special commands that can be put into the connection strings of your torrents... commands that tell the router to forward your ports automatically!
  If you're connecting directly through your router (bad idea), then this is great because then you don't have to do it manually.
  But, if you're connecting on a VPN, turning this on can actually defeat your VPN and trick your router into managing your torrents instead of your VPN - wasting your money and exposing you to lots of bad things.
  So, if you're on a VPN, turn this feature OFF
  (It's in Connection - Use UPnP / NAT-PMP port forwarding from my router).

• Encryption
  We spoke above, albeit briefly, about encryption. Technically, if you're on a VPN, you're already encrypting all of your traffic. Still, I prefer the qBitTottent setting of "Prefer encrpytion" (or "Allow encryption") - that way, if it's there and it works, great, but if it's not there, it'll still connect.
  I know some MAC users who have had issues with the "Require Encryption" option in the latest (4.3.4.1) version.
  (This is in the BitTorrent section).

• Anonymous
  qBitTorrent's Anonymous mode hides the client fingerprint from the peer-ID, sets the User-Agent to Null and it doesnt share your IP-address directly with trackers (though peers will still see your IP address).
  I have had no issues with this setting being ON, though with GT.ru, you don't really need to worry about the tracker knowing your IP address.
  NOTE: You still have to "share" your IP address when you connect to the site... setting this will not help protect you from multiple-account detection on GT.ru.

B'dit, B'dit, B'dit... That's All Folks!

WikiDude
GT.ru Staff