Transferring Files over your LAN via BitTorrent

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Sometimes you may need to transfer files over a network to several computers. While you could put it on a flash drive or CD/DVD, you would have to go to each computer an copy the files and it may take a while to copy all the files (especially with flash drives, most have bad read/write speeds). An FTP server would also be possible, but it would not work well when several computers were downloading from it at the same time.

When you are using a lot of computers with large files, BitTorrent works best. Of course, you may not want to use a public tracker. Luckily, uTorrent has the option to act as a tracker. This article only covers operating this on a LAN, but you can use port forwarding if you wish to share the files with people on the Internet. This is not covered in this article though.

When to Use this Method

BitTorrent is made for transferring large files to a large number of computers. If you only need to transfer files to a small number of computers or the files are very small, it is much easier and quicker to use a flash drive or other removable media.

Note: We will not be explaining the basics of BitTorrent in this article. Some previous experience is recommended. Also, this is meant for LEGAL use such as home videos or sending large amounts of your pictures to other home computers. We are not responsible if this is used in an illegal way or if you somehow mess up your computer or network.

What you need

First, you need to have a LAN (Local Area Network). It can be wired, wireless, or a combination of both. An Internet connection is only needed to download the BitTorrent client.

Each computer needs to have the following:

Connection to your LAN

a BitTorrent client

You can use nearly any BitTorrent client, but a for this article we will use uTorrent.

The computers that do not have the files can use any client but the computer that will be used as a tracker should be uTorrent since we can't assure if other clients can also act as a tracker. Also, because of this, you can use a Linux based OS for the tracker since uTorrent is available for Linux too, at http://www.utorrent.com/downloads/linux.

The client computers can still have Linux, you can even use a different BitTorrent client.

Stetting Up on Windows

Now you need to set up the computers. The BitTorrent clients should be installed on all the computers and the computers connected to the LAN.

This step only needs to be done to the computer acting as a tracker!

Then you need to give the tracker a static ip address. This step explains the setup for Windows, the next step for MacOS.

Windows XP/2000/ME

1. Go to Network Connections in the control panel.

2. Double click on the connection used to connect to the LAN.

3. In the just opened Network Connection window, open the Properties.

4. In the next window, scroll down to Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), select it, and then click on Properties.

5. Now find the correct IP addresses you need to enter. Do this by going to command prompt and enter ipconfig.

Then take this info and enter it into the window you opened in the step before. Be sure to select Use the Following IP address/ Use the following DNS server address. The default gateway is usually the DNS address as well. You can safely leave the Alternate DNS server blank.

6. Congratulations, you have a static IP address on your computer! If you ever want to get rid of it, just change the Use the Following IP address/ Use the following DNS server address to the automatic one.

Windows Vista

Open up the start menu, and click Run.

Type cmd in the Open: box, and click OK. The will bring up a black command prompt window.

The command prompt may look different on your screen, but it doesn't really matter. Type ipconfig /all, or ipconfig to get less information (but fundamental), in that window, and then press the Enter key. This will display a lot of information. If it scrolls off the top you may need to enlarge the window.

Take down the IP address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, and Name Servers. Make sure to note which is which. We are going to use this information a little bit later. We are only concerned with IPv4 entries, you can ignore the IPv6 stuff.

NOTE: The name server entries are a bit complicated. Name Server is just another name for DNS (domain name server) server. Some router's act as a proxy between the actual name servers and your computer. You will know when this is the case, because the Default Gateway will list the same ip address as the Name Servers entry.

We need to have the correct Name Server IP addresses. If we do not, you will not be able to browse the web. There are a couple ways to get these. The first way is to log into your router's web interface, and look at your router's status page. On that page you should see an entry for DNS Servers, or Name Servers. Write down the ip adresses of your Name Servers.

Another way to get the correct Name Servers to use, is to give your ISP a call. They should know the ip addresses of your Name Servers right off. If they ask you why you need them, you can tell them you are trying to setup a static IP address on your computer.

[tweet]
If they try to sell you a static external ip address, don't buy it. That's an entirely different thing that what you are trying to setup.

Type exit in this window, then press the enter key to close it.

Once again open the start menu. This time click Control Panel.

Double click Network and Sharing Center.

Single click Manage Network Connections on the left side of the Network and Sharing Center window.

NOTE: You may have several network connections in this window. I want you to right click on the one you use to connect to the internet. Then click Properties.

If you are unsure of which one that is, right click it and then click Disable. Open a new copy of your web browser? Did it open a webpage? If you can not, then you've found your internet connection. Close that browser window.

Go ahead and right click the network connection again and then click Enable.

Once again open up a new web browser. You should see a webpage. Close the browser window. Right click on the network connection and click Properties at the bottom.

You should now have the above window on your screen. Click the Properties button to open up the Properties window of this internet connection.

Click Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) and then the Properties button. You will now see the following screen.

Before you make any changes, write down the settings that you see on this page. If something goes wrong you can always change the settings back to what they were! You should see a dot in the Obtain an IP address automatically box. If you do not, your connection is already setup for a static ip. Just close all these windows and you are done.

Pick an ip address and enter it into the IP Address box. The IP address you choose should be very similar to the router's ip addres. Only the last number of the ip address should be different. If the router's IP address is 192.168.1.1, I might choose 192.168.1.10.

The IP address you choose should end with a number between 1 and 254 (with a netmask of 255.255.255.0), and should not be the same as the router's IP address.

MacOS X

This step only needs to be done to the computer acting as a tracker! Setting a static IP address for a Mac is much easier.

1. Open System Preferences and select Network.

2. Go to AirPort if you are on a wireless network or Ethernet if on a wired network. The Ethernet layout may look a little different, but it should be close enough to the AirPort.

3. Find out the current IP address of the computer and remember it.

4. Go to Advanced and then TCP/IP and change the Configure IPv4 to Using DHCP with manual address.

5. Enter the IP address you had collected in step 3 and enter this in the field below it.

Congratulations! Your done!

Enabling Torrent Tracker (uTorrent)

Step 1: first, you’ll need to enable the tracker in µTorrent’s Advanced settings. Set bt.enable_tracker to “true”.

Step 2: now, enable the uTorrent WebUI, and set up a unique listening port for your tracker. To do this, go back to Preferences, select the Web UI tab, and put a checkmark in “Enable Web UI”.

Enter a username & password that won’t be easy to guess (both are arbitrary, since whoever you’re planning on privately sharing the torrent with will not require this “login” information - in this scenario it’s only required for enabling the Web UI interface).

Next, checkmark ”Alternative listening port” and enter a port number that you don’t use for anything else (this includes µTorrent). To finish, click “Apply” to save the new changes.

NOTE: Be advised that if you’ll need to forward the port if you use a router, and/or add a firewall exception for the new port.

Step 3: now that Web UI is set up with a working port, you’ll be able to create your own torrents using your own tracker ‘announce’ URL. The URL for the tracker is your IP address with the port number that you used in Step 2 above (i.e. “54321”).

For the first part of your tracker URL, you’ll need to find your IP address:

If you have a static (non-changing) IP address, simply visit WhatsMyIP.com (or .org) and copy the number. Skip to Step 4.

If you have a dynamic IP address (such as DSL Internet), it’s recommended you use your local IP address. To find this, go to your Start button, click ”Run...” and type ”cmd” without the quotes. At the command prompt, type ”ipconfig” (no quotes). The IP that you’ll need to use is the ”IPv4 address”. In the event that you use multiple ethernet (NIC) cards and/or a wireless LAN, you’ll need to use the correct IPv4 address for your Internet connection.

Step 4: assuming you now know your IP address and have the port number from Step 3, you’re ready to create a torrent using your own tracker URL. Again, the tracker URL is your IP address, separated by a colon ( : ) with the valid port number at the end.

Don’t forget you’ll need to add http:// to the beginning of the URL. You’ll also need to add ”/announce” to the end of the URL to identify it as so. Following the above examples, our tracker URL would be:

http://192.161.41.1:54321/announce

Back in µTorrent, create a new torrent and add your tracker URL to it. Be sure to select ”Start Seeding” and ”Private torrent” (this is optional). Click ”Create and save as…” and save your torrent.

That’s it! You can now share your torrent with anyone you want, and only they’ll be able to download the files.

TIP: Adding public trackers to the “Trackers” list (above) is not recommended, as it (and the files) could get indexed by that tracker, thus your torrent may end up being available publicly.

Also, never enter a private tracker URL in the Trackers list, for you may get tagged for cheating. You’ll also be able to encrypt the traffic by using the “Forced” option in Preferences > BitTorrent > Protocol Encryption.

Download

Here there is the uTorrent (Version 2014 - 3.4)

[wpfilebase tag="file" id=127 /]

MD5: 91-6E-A7-F9-B2-88-2A-6E-95-5D-F4-2D-6B-03-79-34

SHA1: 92-FC-9E-D9-8A-45-EF-1F-0E-E1-D8-2D-AC-7A-AB-DD-EC-BA-19-45