corewerkz

As previously mentioned, Transmission works for downloading torrents on your Mac. But lately, at least for me, it’s been slow and unreliable — so I’ve set out to find a new solution.

While browsing forums for ideas, I found a post mentioning uTorrent. A few hours later, I was downloading torrents VERY quickly and reliably using a streamlined process: downloaded torrent file, torrent automatically opens in uTorrent (in Fusion/XP), torrent downloads very quickly, once completed the file is moved back to my Mac.

Keep reading for instructions on setting up this streamlined process…
Requirements:
• Intel Mac
• VMware Fusion with XP SP2 or higher and VMware Tools installed (probably works with Vista, but not tested)
• Knowledge of static IP addresses and port forwarding

Setup “Bridged” Network in Fusion (so you can have a static IP address and port forward):
1) In VMware Fusion, go to “Virtual Machine” then “Settings”
2) Make sure “Connected” is checked and then select “Connect directly to the physical network (Bridged)”

Setup Static IP Address in XP:
• Open Control Panel –> Network Connections
• Right-click on your LAN or High-Speed Internet connection and click “Properties”
• Under “General” double-click “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)”
• Enter a static IP address and DNS server

Forward Torrent Port On Router:
• If you don’t know how, use these instructions – BUT, instead of port 51952 as instructed, use port 32772 — it’s uTorrent’s default.

Setup XP Torrent Folders:
• Create two folders in XP; “Torrent Downloads” (for temporary storage of downloading torrents) and “Torrents” (for newly downloaded .torrent files)
• Right-click “Torrents” –> Properties –> Sharing –> “Share This Folder”
• Set permissions to allow everyone

Setup Shared Mac Folder:
• Create a folder on your Mac called “New Torrents” (this is where downloaded torrents will eventually end up)
• In Fusion –> Virtual Machine –> Settings –> Sharing –> Click “Share folders on your Mac” and add “New Torrent” folder

Setup uTorrent:
• Download & install uTorrent in XP
• Run the “Speed Guide” and check to make sure torrent port is open
• In main uTorrent window, click “Options” –> “Preferences” –> “Directories”
• Check “Put new downloads in” and select your “Torrent Downloads” folder
• Check “Move completed downloads to:” and select your “New Torrents” folder on your Mac (for me it’s located in My Computer\Shared Folders on “.host” (z:)\New Torrents)
• Check “Automatically load .torrents from” and select the “Torrents” folder
• Check “delete loaded .torrents”

Now, to finish the uTorrent setup, we need to add it to your Applications folder.:
• In Finder, right-click your VMware XP image file (probably in Documents –> Virtual Machines)
• Click “show package contents” then go into the “Applications” directory
• Create an alias of “µTorrent — Windows XP Professional” (very bottom of list) and drag to your Application’s folder

Firefox Setup (preferred over Safari for downloading torrents):
• Open Firefox –> Preferences –> Applications
• Find “TORRENT file” and select the uTorrent alias in the Applications folder that you just created

Safari Setup:
• In Finder, press Apple+K, enter “smb://static-ip-of-xp” and mount “Torrents” folder

• If your username/password doesn’t work, make sure you’ve setup a password for your XP account in Control Panel –> User Accounts –> Change an Account –> Create a Password
• Drag “Torrents” folder to left Finder sidebar under “Devices”
• Open Safari –> Peferences and set default “Downloads” folder to “Torrents”

Keep in mind, all downloads will go to this folder, which for me is fine since just about all I download on my computer is torrents. It’s for this reason that Firefox is preferred.

Setup .torrents to automatically open in uTorrent when double-clicked:
• In a Finder window or on the Desktop, Apple+I on a .torrent file
• Click the drop down box under “open with” and choose “other”
• Select uTorrent alias in Applications folder and click “Always Open With” – click Add
• Click “Change All…”

* If you’re using TVShows, be sure to change the “Save torrents in:” folder to “Torrents” and select “Automatically open torrent with default client” just to be safe.

That’s it… any suggestions to further streamline this process would be very appreciated. All questions and comments are welcome.

* For other questions about torrents in general, including where to download them, how to avoid fake torrents, and other tips, be sure to read my Mac Torrent Tutorial.

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Tags: fast torrent downloads, fusion, mac bittorrent, mac bittorrent tutorial, mac torrent, mac torrent tutorial, mac tutorial torrents, mac utorrent, mac xp fusion torrent, torrent, utorrent mac, vmware fusion

This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 12:25 am and is filed under Applications, Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.