[solved] uTorrent 1.8.3 doesn't install on Linux via Wine

Posted on by acme

µTorrent is told to run on Linux through Wine. Well – version 1.8.3 does not, at least not for me. I’m using Jaunty Jackalope (9.04, x86_64), and the installation process just stops after the last button press.
The installation window disappears but doesn’t actually crash. The log on the console ends with these lines:

fixme:wininet:InternetSetOptionW Option INTERNET_OPTION_SECURITY_FLAGS; STUB
fixme:heap:RtlCompactHeap (0x5d0000, 0x0) stub

Unfortunately I haven’t found the reason, why it’s not working. But after a while I’ve just tried an older version (1.8.2), and it instantly start working right after the installation.

I’ve been using this version:

I don’t really know, if the old version might be insecure or very outdated, but I simply wanted to see how µTorrent is performing anyway. In comparison to Ktorrent, µTorrent offers a nice Season and Episode catcher in the RSS feed catcher.

But the reason why I really wanted to try out µTorrent, was that people at The Pirate Bay (TPB) reported, that the new personalized RSS feed service works just fine with µTorrent, but not with Ktorrent.

The idea behind this personalized RSS feed, every registered user at TPB automatically gets, is that where ever in the world you are, you can simply add a search result (torrent) by klicking the link: “Add this torrent to personal RSS” and your Torrent client, which was previously configured with this RSS feed, starts to download this torrent. Pretty smart.

Well, that’s the theory – at least for me. I first added this feed to Ktorrent, and kTorrent gave me a:

Failed to load feed http://rss.thepiratebay.org/user/axxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx !

then I’ve read, it should work with µTorrent flawlessly. It does not for me. Although I’ve managed to make this µTorrent version 1.8.2 work on Linux and also installed the version 1.8.3 on a Windows XP box, the RSS feed isn’t working for me. And in all Browsers (IE, Firefox, Opera) on Linux and Windows I’m getting a 404 – Page not found, if I follow this RSS link.
I’m beginning to think, it’s not my fault…

Anyway, as soon as I do have a solution for these two problems

  • TPB RSS feed not working either in KTorrent nor in µTorrent
  • Installation of µTorrent version 1.8.3 fails on Linux

I will post it here.

UPDATE:
I’ve found a workaround to install version 1.8.3. Do the following:

  • Install uTorrent 1.8.2 first
  • Copy the content of “Application Data/uTorrent” into “Program Files/uTorrent“. Do: 
    cd ~/.wine/drive_c
cp "./windows/profiles/$USER/Application Data/uTorrent/"* /home/$USER/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/uTorrent/
  • Now download version 1.8.3, don’t start it, but copy it into “~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/uTorrent/” and call it “uTorrent.exe”“.

you can replace $USER with your own user if this environment variable shouldn’t be set for some strange reasons.

That’s it.

13 thoughts on “[solved] uTorrent 1.8.3 doesn't install on Linux via Wine”

  2. hi,

    you should check that your run the latest 32 bit version of wine. in general, I have found utorrent very versatile.

    good luck,

    snoopy

  3. Creating a blank file named settings.dat and copying the exe into the same folder should let it run without an installer popup.

  4. Thanks much! The blog’s workaround did the trick for me and let me keep all my settings. For a new installation, I believe Firon’s would be fine as well.

  5. You can just install uTorrent 1.8.2, then start it, then it will ask you to update. Just update it and 1.8.3 will start.

  6. You can also start the downloaded utorrent “setup” file with the switch /NOINSTALL and it will work just as normal.

    I simply backed up my v.181 utorrent.exe, and copied the new utorrent 1.8.3 to the same place and name, and now I start it with the /NOINSTALL switch. Works just fine. Stupid, but it works.

  8. uTorrent doesn’t install on Linux via Wine

    utorrent ubuntu problem install

  9. Thanks for the solution. I had the same problem, but with utorrent 1.8.5 and your solution did the trick with that version, too.

  11. Thanks for the solution! I was having installation problems even with Ubuntu 9.10 and the latest version of Wine. Worse, using an old URL to download 1.8.2 directly from the 1.8.2 section of the uTorrent site would only download version 1.8.5.

    Thanks to your mirror of 1.8.2, however, I am now a happy camper with Ubuntu 9.10, Wine, and uTorrent. uTorrent easily upgraded to 1.8.5 without incident once 1.8.2 had established a beachhead. So thanks both for the solution and the mirror!

  12. Surprisingly, just running the Update option from within 1.8.2 did a success update to 1.8.5 for me. I had never tried doing that because I’d assumed that it wouldn’t work under wine.
    Thanks for the 1.8.2 links… it enabled me to restore my 1.8.2 installation and then so this update.

  13. Hi guys!!

    I just copy the 1.8.5 to the folder of 1.8.2 (previous I delete 1.8.2). And then just run the 1.8.5 like 1.8.2

    Work for me fine 🙂

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