uTorrent on Linux Mint and Ubuntu: Why It No Longer Works and What to Use Instead

Updated: 8 October 2026 · Applies to: Linux Mint 22.3, Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04, Debian 13; qBittorrent 5.1.4, Transmission 4.1.1 and Deluge 2.2.1 (Ubuntu 26.04), qBittorrent 4.6.3, Transmission 4.0.5 and Deluge 2.1.2 (Ubuntu 24.04 and Linux Mint 22.3)

There is no current uTorrent for Linux Mint or Ubuntu. uTorrent has no desktop app for Linux at all, and the only Linux download, µTorrent Server 3.3 (build 30470), is still offered only for Ubuntu 12.04 and 13.04 and Debian 6 and 7. The old install steps fail on current releases. Use qBittorrent instead: its developers describe it as an open-source alternative to µTorrent, and it is in the standard repositories:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install qbittorrent

Why the old uTorrent instructions no longer work

• The uTorrent Linux download page lists only server builds named like utorrent-server-3.3-ubuntu-13.04-x86_64-30470.tar.gz, for Ubuntu 12.04 and 13.04 and Debian 6 and 7. There is no package for Ubuntu 24.04, 26.04 or Linux Mint 22.
• The download address used in older guides (download.utorrent.com/linux/utorrent-server-3.0-25053.tar.gz) no longer answers.
• The old prerequisite library is gone from current Ubuntu and Linux Mint:

  $ sudo apt-get install libssl0.9.8:i386
  E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'libssl0.9.8'
  E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'libssl0.9.8'

Running an unmaintained, closed-source network program as a server is also a security risk, so we do not recommend forcing it to work with old libraries.

Torrent downloaders that work on Linux Mint and Ubuntu

All of these come from the official repositories, so they install with apt and update with the rest of the system. On Linux Mint you can also find them in Software Manager.

qBittorrent (closest to uTorrent)

Ubuntu's package description calls it very similar to uTorrent, with a uTorrent-like interface, a built-in search engine, RSS downloads with filters and remote control through a web interface. This is the one to pick if you are used to uTorrent on Windows.

sudo apt install qbittorrent

Transmission

A simple, light client. Ubuntu's full desktop package set (ubuntu-desktop) recommends transmission-gtk on both 24.04 and 26.04, so it may already be installed. Use the GTK version on GNOME, Cinnamon and Xfce, or the Qt version on KDE Plasma:

sudo apt install transmission-gtk
sudo apt install transmission-qt

Deluge

Deluge uses a client and server design: the deluge package gives you the desktop window plus the background daemon, and the same daemon can also be controlled from a console or web interface.

sudo apt install deluge

KTorrent

The KDE client, a good fit on KDE Plasma, with extra features such as bandwidth scheduling available as plugins: sudo apt install ktorrent

Torrent downloader without a desktop (like uTorrent Server)

uTorrent Server was popular because you controlled it from a browser. qBittorrent does the same with qbittorrent-nox:

1. Install it and create a system user with a home folder for its settings (without --home, adduser gives a system user the home /nonexistent and qBittorrent cannot save anything):

   sudo apt install qbittorrent-nox
   sudo adduser --system --group --home /var/lib/qbtuser qbtuser

2. Accept the legal notice once, as that user. qBittorrent prints the web address and a temporary password; press Ctrl+C to stop it:

   $ sudo su -s /bin/bash qbtuser -c "qbittorrent-nox --confirm-legal-notice"
   WebUI will be started shortly after internal preparations. Please wait...
   ******** Information ********
   To control qBittorrent, access the WebUI at: http://localhost:8080
   The WebUI administrator username is: admin
   The WebUI administrator password was not set. A temporary password is provided for this session: 8bwtE92pf
   You should set your own password in program preferences.

3. Run it as a service (the package ships a qbittorrent-nox@.service unit) and start it at boot:

   sudo systemctl enable --now qbittorrent-nox@qbtuser

4. Open http://localhost:8080, log in as admin and set your own password in the preferences. Until you do, every start creates a new temporary password, which you can read with sudo journalctl -u qbittorrent-nox@qbtuser.

Alternatives: transmission-daemon (web interface on port 9091; in Ubuntu's default /etc/transmission-daemon/settings.json, rpc-whitelist is 127.0.0.1 and a password is required) and deluged with deluge-web. If you run any of these on a remote server, do not open the web port to the whole internet; reach it through an SSH tunnel instead, for example ssh -L 8080:localhost:8080 user@server (see connecting to SSH on a different port if needed).

Fedora and Debian

Debian 13 uses the same package names as Ubuntu. On Fedora 44 the packages are qbittorrent, qbittorrent-nox, transmission-gtk, transmission-qt, deluge-gtk and ktorrent, for example:

sudo dnf install qbittorrent

Only download and share files you have the right to share.