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Upgrade error, when uTorrent is installed in a custom directory.


Serge

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I upgraded from 3.3 to 3.3.1 (free), using the upgrade notification. That resulted in the new version of uTorrent, but without all my torrents and settings.

Why? I have uTorrent installed in a custom directory. At upgrade it 'saw' my old uTorrent was running, closed it, and installed the new version, but in the default directory C\users\username\appdata\roaming\uTorrent.

So it did not 'upgrade', but installed a new version of uTorrent. The old version remained intact.

I could not choose a installation directory in the install program.

Solution: I copied uTorrent.exe from the new directory to the old directory, overwriting the old uTorrent.exe. (and deleted the new directory completely) That worked.

The same happened, when I downloaded uTorrent Free from the website, and tried to install with that installation program.

Can the uTorrent team fix this? It's a problem for anyone that upgrades a uTorrentversion in a custom directory.

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Thanks Andreas! :-)

* So you never can choose a custom installation folder for uTorrent, but you can cut/paste that folder to any place, like any portable app.

* But what is the “feature” you are mentionning? The fact you can use the installation program also as the installed executable by renaming it to “utorrent.exe”, and paste it into the installed folder?

* Your advice to stop the upgrade-process, of course does not prevent the trouble for many. Shall I post a better upgrade-procedure under Future Requests?

Good luck in Sweden! :-) Greeting from the Netherlands.. Serge.

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What kind of a "feature" is this? I was shocked to find to find it installed in the Roaming folder instead of my custom folder. This makes no sense at all. This has to be classified as a serious bug that affects and misleads users ("where are all my torrents and settings??!!!!").

uTorrent started out as being portable, which is what it should have been. A light-weight portable torrent client. I have no idea why the developers decided to force installation of it... and now it's bloated with so much unnecessary stuff... I suppose we are gonna have a "nTorrent" soon? And then a "pTorrent"? What's the big idea here?

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>"where are all my torrents and settings??!!!!").

They will copy those too to appdata. Soon...

>I have no idea why the developers decided to force installation of it

So, why don't you just ask ?... Has to do with the "quite install" feature, and bypassing UAC/access issues that way (btw, I don't like it too...)

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They will copy those too to appdata. Soon...

They really should have already had that before introducing this feature, instead of letting it run free so broken... oh well... hey thanks for tip #R. I'm using that now, and I'm hoping I won't have to deal with this again.. Are you considering of switching to a better client? The ads and the bloats are annoying.. the devs are spending a lot of time these days on worthless "features" that don't improve the original intent of the application at all. Sigh...

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uTorrent started out as being portable, which is what it should have been.

No. Many computer users hardly can find their way in the folder tree of Windows Explorer. (wich sucks anyway, find a replacement like Dopus or Xplorer2) They never make shortcuts, and don't know how to make desktop-icons or Start Menu items. They may access their downloads through the "Open containing folder" option (right click), and thats it. And perhaps someone else installed uTorrent for them.

This kind of users cannot handle portable versions or portable upgrades.

and now it's bloated with so much unnecessary stuff... What's the big idea here?

First ask yourself: How is uTorrent ever going to generate any money? Windows once was free, and so were Google and YouTube. They all started for fun, hoping for success. And in the process they found ways to make money. The uTorrent developpers certainly deserve this too (being vey popular for many years), but I always wondered, how they were going to do this? I guess, in this case it was/is not that easy..

So for now, I don't critisize them. I am very gratefull for uTorrent, and wish them all the best. I support them by posting solutions to problems, that's all I can do. I think they are not too happy either with everything, but it's up to them to find answers..

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Tip #R in my best practice guide will do the trick too...

Yes, but it is much easier to install the update, copy the new uTorrent.exe to your custom folder, and delete the new uTorrent folder in AppData.

Thanks for the MKlink-tip! It can be very usefull in many cases, but it takes time to learn about it. I found the free program Symlink Creator, that offers a GUI instead of a command prompt.

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Yes, but it is much easier to install the update, copy the new uTorrent.exe to your custom folder, and delete the new uTorrent folder in AppData.

Or you could skip the installation and simply place the downloaded .exe in the directory where the settings files are and overwrite the existing one.

Close uTorrent first though and unblock the new exe

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hey thanks for tip #R. I'm using that now' date=' and I'm hoping I won't have to deal with this again.. [/quote']

But what happens, if you install a new version of uTorrent? Did it install uTorrent in your custom folder? Did you really try that?

This is a serious and fully tested tips-guide, what do you think? Sure it does. You insult me... :P

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but it is much easier to install the update copy the new uTorrent.exe to your custom folder' date=' and delete the new uTorrent folder in AppData. [/quote']

Nope... It is much easier to only press the update button... :P

Yes, and that results in the problems, this topic is about. :P Easiest way to keep us off the streets. :P

You insult me... :P

Is it that easy?! :P Then I'll be back next week! You inspire me to devellop a browser plugin called Insult.exe, producing a banner with personalised insults, based on someones cookies and browsing history. :P (from my encyclopedia of valid and effective insults, collected over the years..)

(serious) Thanks Rafi! 007 did not say, if he had really tried to upgrade, using MKlink.

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Upgrade Manual, to version 3.1.1.30011 (sept 2013):

Note: Since version 3.1.1.30011, uTorrent has auto-update, and this manual will be obsolete.

1. Upgrade from within uTorrent will usually work fine.

2. Upgrade will NOT work fine, if you previously moved the uTorrent-folder to a different location. Your torrents and settings will seem to be lost. To understand and repair that, think of this:

3. uTorrent and upgrades wil always be installed in the default Folder:

C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Roaming\uTorrent

(Note: the folder name “Users” depends on the language of your Windows)

4. But uTorrent is a Portable app: You can manually move the default folder “uTorrent” to any location on any computer. But then, you'll have to create or adjust all shortcuts (icons) to uTorrent.exe in the StartMenu or on the Desktop.

5. If the uTorrent-folder was previously moved, every upgrade will install a new version of uTorrent to the default location. But your old uTorrent installation folder will still be there too. So you have two seperate versions now.

6. To repair this: Exit uTorrent completely (also in the systemtray). Copy uTorrent.exe from the new default folder to the old uTorrent folder, overwriting the old uTorrent.exe. Delete the new default folder “uTorrent” in AppData\Roaming. Done!

Note: To find the location of your old folder, rightclick any shortcut (icon) to uTorrent in your StartMenu or on your Desktop > Properties > Tab Shortcut > see “Target”. But the shortcut may already be overwritten by the upgrade, pointing at the new location now. Then search for the old folder manually in Windows Explorer.

7. Shortcut (icon) problem. If the upgrade overwrote the existing shortcuts to your old installation, now pointing at the new location, you can repair this in two ways:

a. Rightclick a shortcut > Properties > Tab Shortcut. At “Target”, type the correct old path.

b. Delete the shortcut. Find uTorrent.exe in Windows Explorer. Drag uTorrent.exe to the Desktop with your right mouse knob. Let go, and choose “make shortcut”. Or drag it to the Start-button > All Programs > program list, and let go. Done!

8. To prevent all this: Do NOT upgrade from uTorrent! When notified, click NO. Exit uTorrent. Go to www.utorrent.com . Download the newest version, and paste it into your uTorrent-folder, overwriting the old uTorrent.exe. Done!

(there is an alternative method via uTorrent/Updates, but I had some problems, and leave it.)

Funny is, the downloaded uTorrent.exe can have two functions. It's a program to install uTorrent, but when placed in an existing uTorrent folder, it functions as the uTorrent program itself. (without installing anything).

9. At first time run, you may receive a warning before it executes the file. Uncheck the warning in that message.

10. Problem: the downloaded uTorrent.exe may not respond at all. If you click on it, nothing happens.

Solution: Find it in Windows Explorer > Rightclick it > Properties > Click button Unblock.

11. One can use the Mklink or symlink method to install future upgrades in a custom folder (see Rafi), but uTorrent has introduced auto-update now, so we first have to see how that will work.

(Andreas, Rafi a.o. Thanks! I thought, a summary would be good)

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  • 1 month later...

The new Automatic Update feature does not solve the problem of the custom installation folder, or portable app.

The feature itself is nice: If you start uTorrent - while an update is available - it will start with a short upgrade-wizard, immedeately leading to a working new version. So you don't have to check for updates, or manually download anything anymore.

But the problem remains. See the solutions above.

But it will be a rare problem, since people can't choose an installation location during any uTorrent installation.

Still I reccomend adding a text on the first page of the upgrade wizard:

Note: Do NOT upgrade, if you use uTorrent as a portable app, or have uTorrent installed in a non-standard location. Please download the newest version at www.utorrent.com. Close uTorrent, and copy the download directly into your installation folder, overwriting the old uTorrent.exe. Restart uTorrent.

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Thanks 'Ciaobaby', you do a lot of good work here.. :-)

But my portable uTorrent (in a custom folder) is working fine, even with the wrong exe-path line in my settings.dat. (the path-line of course remained the same, when I moved the uTorrent folder) The only problem I have, is the upgrade problem.

But I did a test to see if upgrade works after editing Settings.dat. So far, it did not. Any editing resulted in a new file "Settings.dat.BAD" or something. That might be caused by spaces in the path. (I use spaces and points in folder names)

Also, editing Settings.dat might be too compilcated for many average users. And it's not really a solution, if they first have to find out, how to solve the problem.

But thanks for your engagement and all your support on the forum..

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I have three different versions set up two as "portable" and only 3.4 in the default location set to auto update

Any editing resulted in a new file "Settings.dat.BAD"
If you do edit resume.dat or settings.dat files you have to delete the "fileguard" entry which is a checksum verification signature of the file, removing it means the client will not check the file and just accept it as new.
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If you do edit resume.dat or settings.dat files you have to delete the "fileguard" entry which is a checksum verification signature of the file, removing it means the client will not check the file and just accept it as new.

I see "Fileguard" at the beginning of Settings.dat, when opened in Notepad. But could you post an example of what you cut out, exáctly? Just copy-paste here, what you would cut out. (I like experiments, but not too many..)

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