App to Download BitTorrent on Synology NAS

by Rian

Synology offers an official version of BitTorrent client, Download Station, but it lacks many features I would consider given in this day and age: a. it would need comprehensive web UI to manage BitTorrent traffic, and b. it would need VPN or proxy support natively. Neither were the case when I gave Download Station a look on DSM 6, — it may have been updated since — and I already know some clients do offer exactly what I would want.

Once you have added SynoCommunity to Package Center, it offers variety of known apps. One of which is qBittorrent. There are other options such as Deluge and ruTorrent. I, for one, recommend qBittorrent for its web UI, performance, and well written community support documents covering VPN and proxy supports. Known VPN service providers actually do have support documents on how to connect to their network on qBittorrent. Ultimately, it’s a matter of preferences.

Side note, if you decide on using qBittorrent on a Synology NAS, do be sure to have a shared folder ready before the installation. Once it is installed with the default downloads folder, there is no way to change it as far as I can gather. Running the package will always create a new folder with that name. The only solution, once that mistake is made, is to reinstall the entire package with the right designated folder. Settings from the previous installation will be picked up, if you did not delete them.