qBittorrent in Container Manager on a Synology NAS

Last updated on 8 January 2025

What is qBittorrent?

qBittorrent is a torrent downloader used to both manage torrent downloading and seeding.

If you are looking to combine a VPN with this set up see the GlueTUN guide on the left Menu

Let’s Begin

In this guide I will take you through the steps to get qBittorrent up and running in Docker

In order for you to successfully use this guide, please complete the three preceding guides

• Docker Package, SSD and Memory Recommendations
  
• Step 1: Directory Setup Guide
• Step 2: Setting up a restricted Docker user
• Step 3: Setting up a Docker Bridge Network (synobridge)

Folder Setup

Let’s start by getting some folders set up for the containers to use. Open up File Station create the following.

/docker/projects/qbit-compose
/docker/qbittorrent

Container Manager

Next we are going to set up a ‘Project’ in Container Manager, a project is used when you want one or more to all be loaded together and uses Docker Compose to do this.

Open up Container Manager and click on Project then on the right-hand side click ‘Create’

In the next screen we will set up our General Settings, enter the following:

Next we are going to drop in our docker compose configuration copy all the code in the box below and paste it into line ‘1’ just like the screenshot

services:
  qbittorrent:
    image: linuxserver/qbittorrent:latest
    container_name: qbittorrent
    environment:
      - PUID=1234 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_UID
      - PGID=65432 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_GID
      - TZ=Europe/London #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_TZ
      - WEBUI_PORT=8090
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/qbittorrent:/config
      - /volume1/data/torrents:/data/torrents
    ports:
      - 9854:9854/tcp # Forwarded Port on Router TCP
      - 9854:9854/udp # Forwarded Port on Router TCP
      - 8090:8090/tcp # port for qbittorrent webui
    network_mode: synobridge
    restart: always

Environment Variables

We are now going to amend some key variables to make sure the container has access to our folders and also knows where we are in the world. Don’t change any other settings other than those I mention.

Ports

Nothing to change here, the webui will run on port 8090 and the ports we will be using for the torrent protocol will be 9854 for TCP and UDP.

Volumes

By default, I have assumed you have your config files stored on /volume1 if these are located on another volume amend this line accordingly.

Click ‘Next’

You do not need to enable anything on the ‘Web portal settings’ screen click ‘Next’ again

On the final screen click Done which will begin the download of the container images and once downloaded they will be launched!

The images will now be downloaded and extracted. You should see ‘Code 0’ when it has finished.

You will now see your qbit-project running with a green status on the left-hand side.

Firewall Exceptions

(Skip if you don’t have the Firewall configured)

If you have the Synology Firewall enabled please see this additional guide for further info on exceptions and correct set up.

Changing the default WebUI login and password

If you skip this step you won’t be able to log in.

Now the container has started open it in the Docker UI by clicking the qbittorrent container select ‘details’ and then view the ‘log’ tab. Within the logs you will see the login details.

Now before doing any more of the guide go to the Web UI by going to the IP of your NAS followed by port 8090 and log in. Then on the WebUI tab change the defaults to your own and save them.

Now continue on..

Router Port Forwarding

As you can imagine there are thousands of possible router configs out there, so you will need to check the manual for your own.

Essentially you need to Port Forward port 9854 TCP and UDP to your NAS IP address. This will make you connectable for all peers. Most routers support UPnP or NAT-PNP which will automatically set up ports however it’s usually more secure to turn these off and do it manually.

Final qBittorrent Setup

Changing the default WebUI login and password

If you skip this step you won’t be able to log in.

Now the container has started open it in the Docker UI and go to the Log tab. Within the logs you will see the login details

Now before doing any more of the guide go to the Web UI by going to the IP of your NAS followed by port 8090 and log in. Then on the WebUI tab change the defaults to your own and save them.

As we have used /data/torrents as the mount point for our downloads we need to make sure qBittorrent uses this same file path. Open the settings and edit the following paths and save.

In prior versions of this guide I had a command to unzip RAR and ZIP files, I have removed this as it is not reliable, check out Unpackerr from the menu.

Connection Settings

The last step is to tell qBittorrent to use the correct port for communication enter 9854 in the Listening Port.

I am not going to walk through all the other settings as you can customise these as you wish.

That’s it.

FAQs

Q: I am getting the ‘errored’ status for all my torrents

This is very likely a permissions issue, go to the User and Group guide and see the permission fixes towards the bottom.

Q: Everything seems to be connected but nothing is downloading.

Try grabbing the Ubuntu torrent as that is a sure fire way of testing as generally it has over 3k seeds.

Looking for some help, join our Discord community

If you are struggling with any steps in the guides or looking to branch out into other containers join our Discord community!

Buy me a beverage!

If you have found my site useful please consider pinging me a tip as it helps cover the cost of running things or just lets me stay hydrated. Plus 10% goes to the devs of the apps I do guides for every year.