How to download torrents on a Chromebook

In the end, there won’t be three but four initial articles I’m going to dedicate to the Chromebook.

The reason is that watching videos on the device has a bit more to it, so instead of adding a section inside this same article, I preferred to write a separate tutorial where I explain exactly how to watch movies on a Chromebook in the best possible way.

That post, together with this one you’re reading and the previous ones about how to optimize a Chromebook and how to set up a VPN on it, make up this initial burst of articles covering the main aspects of these wonderful and surprising devices.

Well then, after this brief introduction, let’s get to what matters: how to download torrents here.

To do that, my recommendation is that you follow these steps.

#1. Have Linux enabled on your Chromebook

You enable it from Settings > About Chromebook > Developers and select "Turn on" next to "Linux development environment".

In the setup window, assign a username and define the disk size. 

If you are mainly going to use the device to download torrents or magnets and you do not have Android enabled, I recommend giving it 80% or 90% of the total capacity.

Once everything is installed, you’ll see that you have a Linux terminal as an app, ready to do quite a few things.

#2. Install the download app

The next step is to use the terminal to install the Linux app.

Here are two options:

1. Transmission: very light and with fewer options.
2. qBittorrent: less light, but with many more options.

I prefer the second one, and that’s the one I’m going to explain here.

To install it, all you have to do is type these commands into your shiny new terminal:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

And press Enter.

Then type:

sudo apt install qbittorrent -y

And Enter again.

Press Y if it asks you to.

When the installation finishes you’ll see the application in your Chromebook app drawer alongside the others, but inside the “Linux apps” group.

Just click it and it will open.

#3. Start downloading

With this you could already start downloading from your preferred torrent / magnet source, but you’d better read what comes next first, because it matters.

Important considerations

Install a VPN

Depending on what you are going to download and the country you are in, it will be advisable to use a VPN before starting your downloads.

I say this because, for example, downloading copyrighted movies via torrent (or magnet) in Spain is a crime (you share the material with others while downloading it) and you really should not even think of doing it without a VPN.

Lucky for you, here again is the link to the tutorial where I explain how to install a VPN on a Chromebook without reducing your device’s performance.

File access

Since we are talking about one operating system (Linux) running inside another (ChromeOS), directories and permissions matter.

Fortunately, it is quite easy to understand and use.

Share folder

By default, Linux does not have access to ChromeOS folders.

So qBittorrent will initially download inside a folder in the Linux container. 

If you want the ChromeOS video app to access them, the usual approach will be:

• Right-click the "Downloads" folder in the "Files" app and select "Share with Linux".
• Move the downloaded files to the shared folder so you can access them from ChromeOS.

Since that will take a while (several minutes if the movies weigh several gigabytes), there is a better option.

Set the path in qBittorrent

If you have shared the “Downloads” folder with Linux, you can tell qBittorrent to use that specific location. To do that:

• Open qBittorrent from your app drawer.
• In the top menu, go to Tools  > Options.
• In the Downloads tab, look for the "Default save path" section.
• Click the folder icon to browse and manually select this path: /mnt/chromeos/MyFiles/Downloads (the language-related part may vary).
• Click OK or Save.

From now on, downloads will be saved inside a ChromeOS folder, which will avoid having to move them manually.

Finally, I want you to know that there is one case where it may not be worth changing the path and you may want to let qBittorrent download in Linux:  

When you are going to watch the movie from the Linux VLC player.

The reasons why you might want to do this were explained in this article.

Conclusions

As you can see, it helps to know a few little tricks when you try to go beyond the use Chromebooks are designed for, so you can get as much as possible out of them.

Fortunately, allowing Linux apps is a huge advantage, because it enables things that were not possible on the first devices with this OS.

They thus become much more complete machines, making for terribly good secondary or rough-and-ready computers.

That’s why I invite you to read more articles with little tricks about these devices in the section of this website dedicated to Chromebooks.

Enjoy it.