How to run uTorrent in Mac OS X

Written by Smaran on September 15, 2006 

As a x-Windows guy and an ardent BitTorrenter I can confidently say that uTorrent is one of the best BitTorrent clients available for Windows 95 through Vista. It’s lean, takes up very little memory and doesn’t need to be installed, you can even run it off a USB pen drive. It also offers all the important features like Selective Downloading, Universal Plug ‘n’ Play Support, Super Seeding Mode and RSS Feeds Subscription. Soon we will also be able to use uTorrent via a web-interface.

If you don’t like torrents try MP3 Search. The site carries in excess of 50,000 albums from 46,000 artists. Prices start at $0.19 per track. Most tracks are in high quality bitrate, 320 kbps. The site accepts major credit cards.

uTorrent is currently only available for Windows. But that isn’t going to stop us from running it in OS X.

We currently have two ways of doing this. The first and more obvious way to do this would be to install Parallels and just run it as we would any other Windows program. The second is with an exciting new program (not so new for Linux users) called CrossOver. CrossOver is still in beta, but is already a very usable and stable alternative to installing a copy of the entire Windows operating system on your Mac, which is essentially what you’re doing when you run Parallels.

So, here’s what you need to do:
Sadly, CrossOver only works on Intel-Macs, so don’t try this on a PPC one (I won’t be responsible if it blows up in your face :-P).

  1. First off, go download CrossOver Beta, it’s available as a free download on the developer’s site. Once you have it installed, you will be able to run quite a few Microsoft programs, as well as other small Windows programs within OS X. uTorrent is one of those other small programs.

  2. Next, you need a copy of uTorrent. After you’ve downloaded the Windows executable (utorrent.exe), double-click it and CrossOver should start bouncing in the dock with the little .exe symbol displayed on it. After a few seconds uTorrent will load up.

  3. That’s it, you’re done! You’re running uTorrent in Mac OS X!

Waitasecond, slow down. There are still some things you need to know…

The file structure that you see while trying to download a torrent is a tad confusing. You see, CrossOver tricks programs into believing that there’s a C: drive on your Mac, when there actually is none.
Make sure you do not save your files in the C: drive. You can get to your user folder by choosing:

Desktop > / > Users > Yourusername
File Structure

Another annoying thing is the fact that you can’t just untick files you don’t want when trying to download selectively. You have to right-click on the file and choose “select” or “deselect.”

Select, Deselect

But seriously, do I really want to run a BitTorrent client that has to be emulated through CrossOver? No. For me this was just a fun side-project. Just like attempting to run IE6 in OS X. A major drawback is that CrossOver hogs too much RAM to be able to constantly run in the background. The day there’s something like Rosetta for Windows applications, it’ll open up a whole new market to developers. Even better would be a Mac-version of uTorrent, which is incidentally in the developer’s plan of action.

Have you tried running uTorrent in OS X? Do you think it’s worth the trouble? We want to know.

Previously: TorrentPod Episode 5

Next: Help Scott to stay out of Prison

36 Responses

1 Sep 16, 2006 at 19:05 by samrolken

uTorrent was the first and only Windows app I could even think to try and run on my Macbook once I saw the release of Crossover. A few quirks, but it works like a charm.

2 Sep 16, 2006 at 20:42 by knowologist

As a heavy bittorrent user, utorrent lover and, soon, a switcher to mac os x i would definitely be glad to run utorrent on my brand new macbook pro.

The best solution is no doubt the utorrent port to a universal packet. Second solution … well .. actually i think there’s no second solution. CrossOver’s memory hog isn’t a good thing, and running windows through Parallels just for utorrent seems stupid to me. I prefer to get along with Azureus or even Transmission. :)

Good article though. Let’s send a lot of apples to Lude and hope he like it … :P

3 Sep 16, 2006 at 21:41 by Keith

That’ a good choice! uTorrent is one of the best torrent clients around. I’m sure it works good in Mac OS X as well.

4 Sep 17, 2006 at 02:21 by greg

The best part about running uTorrent on MacOSX is uTorrent allows you to encrypt and use random ports thus sometimes faking out your ISP and not throttling down the speeds you can get on common torrent ports.

I run uTorrent on both Crossover and Parallel and get far better performance then using any of the other Mac based torrent programs.

My 2 cents.

5 Sep 17, 2006 at 06:17 by Yong Hwee

I really don’t know if it’s a good idea but I don’t have an Intel Mac to test. Anyway, there are some pretty good BT apps for the Mac like Transmission and BitRocket. Furthermore, XTorrent is in the works and it’s definitely a must-have..

6 Oct 01, 2006 at 21:27 by Arman

I’m kinda confused. There are some mixed feelings about doing this Crossover thing for uTorrent. I have an Intel-based Mac (Mac Mini to be exact) and I don’t know if I should or should not do it. Lot’s and lot’s of people said that they preffer uTorrent over anything else and I’ve been itching to use it as well. Can someone tell me if this is a practical and more importantly, safe, method of getting uTorrent on a Mac?

7 Oct 06, 2006 at 22:16 by Hjalti

Well I recently switched to Mac and what i missed the most was uTorrent. I just tried this method and i don’t think it is a good solution. When downloading torrents at good speed Crossover is using 90% cpu (90% of one core). That’s not usable. But thanks for the tutorial :)

8 Nov 21, 2006 at 00:52 by carmen

yea i just downloaded this for my macbook pro.. it downloaded fine and i opened it and everything.. but my torrnet won’t actually download.. i’m not sure why. i don’t use uTorrent as my primary torrent thing, but i really need this software and i can only download it through this.. so if anyone has suggestions.. let me know!!

9 Dec 07, 2006 at 20:11 by joe

Do anyone know how to pretty up the interface to aqua because it is pretty odd looking like windows 98?
please reply

thanks

10 Dec 09, 2006 at 19:35 by theDoseâ„¢

I use http://www.xtorrentp2p.com/, works great and has a simple interface. I guess if you’re coming from windows and like to “tweak” everything then you might be dissapointed. It does however have one of the best interfaces and works like a charm. Free while in public beta.

11 Dec 21, 2006 at 23:02 by ozzy sburne

For me work great. i use utorrent on my windosyp computer and i like it in my mac..THANKS for this release i enoy download torrent now on my mac!

12 Dec 30, 2006 at 19:32 by Mr. 2 cents

USE TRANSMISSION FOR MAC OS X> ITS THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!

13 Feb 14, 2007 at 21:10 by shadow

I’m currently using Xtorrent, and it works like heaven, even though uTorrent is definately the best client around, unless they do a port to Mac, it’s not really worth the amount of CPU :S

14 Feb 18, 2007 at 11:17 by Astrid

Hi. I have downloaded crossover and everything seemed to go well. Then I downloaded the utorrent exe file and tried to open it. When I open it I get a message saying that the file is broken. Any ideas?

15 Mar 02, 2007 at 22:07 by cthfe

http://www.blogger.com/profile/17277354392047923200

16 Apr 09, 2007 at 23:43 by lglg

hsjan…jsi#sda+edas#da

17 Apr 13, 2007 at 18:46 by newb

so i downloaded crossover and utorrent, but i cannot get anything to download on my macbook pro? it wont seed, i have azeurus and anytime i go to download a torrent, it automatically saves that torrent to my hardrive as an azureus file, but even when i try to change it, it wont let me…any help?

18 May 01, 2007 at 08:51 by Hippo

Why should I emulate a windows-only torrent-client when I get a native one (azureus) for free, which also works perfect.

With CrossOver in background it uses exactly as much memory as azureus – but azureus is still more powerful.

19 Jun 19, 2007 at 17:25 by TranLuong

thank u very much for this
Better than ove

20 Jun 21, 2007 at 07:33 by Demi

I have a iMac, and I’ve downloaded Azureus.. But I still can’t download things from Torrent! Any help? xx

21 Jul 27, 2007 at 03:51 by Hshin

@Demi (20): you need to port forward. Learn to use the search fuction on your Safari. Depending on your ISP, you may be heavily bandwidth throttled. If so you need a VPN. Search for this too.

@ Hippo (18): Just be thankful Azureus still works for you. It’s stopped working for a lot of people since ISPs around the world are now trying their best to stop people from using BT.

@ Mr. 2 cents (12): Do tell how you got your Transmission to even connect to some trackers. Transmission has been steadily going downhill since they started NetEnforcer. Look that up too.

22 Aug 02, 2007 at 14:30 by joecarleone

hi, i just want to say is there a way to download the newwst version of msn live in mac? even with the turrent and all applications i cant usu it :s
help please!

23 Aug 06, 2007 at 17:41 by ann

umm! i need help. when i open crossover it gives a list of many prgrams (bottles, packages) do i need to install all of them to run torrent or do i choose a specific one. i am kinds new to mac but i really want torrent on it. thnx

24 Sep 22, 2007 at 01:20 by Brent

Well, that settles that. I’m getting a Mac!

25 Sep 29, 2007 at 19:25 by limepile

Ignor all the packages in crossover, just install and close (move file to applications). D/L utorrent and run, crossover will automatically pick it up.Its important to specify the drive to save files to, I have mine on an external drive, to configure in utorrent, click on orange gear wheel>downloads> browse to location, open.Done.
I find it usefull to have a download (incomplete) folder and to move completed d/ls to a new location.
Hope this helps.

26 Oct 05, 2007 at 02:09 by adamz

i have a mac with os x and a dell with xp so no
need to crossover.i kept my old dell just for utorrent windows is too sucseptible of problems.+it’corrupted ; )

27 Dec 20, 2007 at 16:23 by Jian

I used uTorrent flawlessly through CrossOver for a while. I just got a new Mac and have been making do with Transmission. Transmission has greatly improved recently, and does what i need.

28 Dec 28, 2007 at 13:07 by Hrm. . .

People, telling someone how to run virtualization (or emulation) software in order to run another application is hardly running it *on* the native platform. Please quit with the misleading article titles. I mean, I could start posting articles called “play Playstation 3 from your new AstroVan” and speak about all the hoops (and extra money) I’d need to spend to do so. . .but that’s completely misleading.

Thank you.

29 Jan 31, 2008 at 19:42 by Karel

Does anybody know a solution for my problem:

I have a powerbook G4, Crossover can’t be runned at my mac…

Does anybody has a solution?

thx

30 Mar 01, 2008 at 17:23 by Patt

Ok, works well – noticeably faster than Azureus – but not without a few glitches. I’ll rather wait for the real OS X version of uTorrent. Sorry, I won’t buy CrossOver at 60$, maybe at 20$ though.

31 Mar 03, 2008 at 23:52 by amo

dude, i appreciate torrentfreak. i do. still, read the post date – it’s 2006. you have Transmission now for OSX, Azureus works excellent, why would do play tennis with your left hand? Really.

32 Mar 08, 2008 at 09:11 by unclTbag

Aright. Straight up. Is my new macbook gonna get F’ed in the A if i do this whole crossover/utorrent business?…Is it completely safe?

33 Mar 15, 2008 at 10:28 by jamal morelli

azureus. the grown up choice.

34 Mar 25, 2008 at 07:49 by juliuscesaro

utorrent works great on my brand new imac,
way better than stuf like frostwire or bittorrent!
is there anyone who can help me with finding perfect mac torrents?

35 May 17, 2008 at 16:48 by diamond cutter

transmission for mac is good, considering that is has the selective download feature but its rather slow comparing to utorrent. ps i hope the mac version is as fast as the windows version

36 Jul 15, 2008 at 01:29 by IB

Could you please show me how to install Parallel on a macbook pro? I’m afraid I’m not familiar with the terms that the installer is using. Thanks.

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