Thread: Guide on How to Disable DHT (Update)

I saw a thread by Danz on how to disable DHT but it was only limited to utorrent. So i went online and searched and found an excellent comprehensive guide on how to disable DHT on some of the most famous clients, and so thought i should share with TI as this community has given me alot and i am indebted for good.

What is DHT?

Explanation: is an addition to certain BitTorrent clients that allows them to work without a tracker. What this means is that your client will be able to find peers even when the tracker is down, or doesn't even exist anymore. It allows downloads and uploads to continue as normal without a tracker.

This means, your ratio wont get updated if you enable DHT from your torrent client (ie: UTorrent 1.8.22, BitTorrent 6.0, Halite 0.3.1and many more) when downloading from IPT’s tracker. Nowadays, new torrent client comes with DHT enabled as default, so it is mostly advised to disable it.

(Introduction taken from Danz Thread)
http://www.torrent-invites.com/tutor...ash-table.html


How to Disable DHT


Disabling DHT in Azureus

>Tools >Options >Connection >under "Peer Sources - Select the default permitted sources for peer connections" only check "From a tracker"
>Tools >Options >Plugins >Distributed DB >uncheck "Enable the distributed database"
>Tools >Options >Plugins >Distributed Tracker >uncheck "Only track normal torrents when their tracker is unavailable"
>Tools >Options >Sharing >check "Private torrent - only accept torrents from the tracker (This should automatically grey out and disable "Allow decentralized tracker when tracker is unavailable")
>Save >restart Azureus
You should see a red dot and "Disabled" on the bottom of the main Azureus window.

Disabling DHT in µTorrent

>Options >Preferences >Torrent Options >uncheck "Enable DHT" >Apply >OK
You should see "DHT: Disabled" on the bottom of the main µTorrent window.

Alternative option (only use this if you know what you're doing):
As of µTorrent 1.2.1 you have another option, use that if you'd like to use DHT for public torrents:
1) >Options >Preferences >Torrent Options >check "Enable DHT" >Apply (this will enable DHT globally)
2) >Options >Preferences >Torrent Options >uncheck "Enable DHT for new torrents >Apply >OK (this will automatically disable DHT for new torrents)
This way you don't have to worry about disabling DHT for private torrents because that's done by default for all new torrents. Enable DHT manually for public torrents if you please.

Disabling DHT in BitComet



1) >Preferences >Advanced >Connection->uncheck "Enable DHT network"
2) >Preferences >Advanced >uncheck "Add DHT Network as backup tracker"
3) >OK >restart BitComet (to be sure the changes are saved)

This will disable DHT globally. If you start a new torrent and look at its Task Properties, it's possible BitComet leaves the boxes "Enable Public DHT network" and "Enable Peer Exchange" checked. This doesn't mean DHT is enabled for that torrent. If you'll look at the Tracker tab, you'll see "DHT network is disabled in user settings, please enable it.". i.e. leaving those boxes checked under those circumstances is a bug/inconsistency, but DHT is still disabled.

BitComet has a feature that will enable DHT when the tracker is unresponsive, even for private torrents. Meaning, even though you disabled DHT, it will use DHT when the tracker is down, and thus, will share your passkey. (See the BitComet Forum for details: e.g. here and here. This isn't a bug, it's a feature BitComet's developer added to it.) You could use older versions of BitComet to avoid this, but then you'd only create another problem as those don't report stats correctly.
Don't use BitComet, you've been warned!
BitComet 0.61 supposedly respects the private flag. It's still a leach client, don't use it.
Use a proper client like ABC, Azureus (turn DHT off) or µTorrent (turn DHT off) instead.


• "Does ABC use DHT?" No.

• "Does BitTornado use DHT?" No.

• "Does Mainline (BitTorrent) use DHT?" Yes, BUT you don't need to worry about that because it will only use DHT for torrents made explicitly without supplying a tracker url. You won't find such torrents on BHD (nor any other private or public tracker, because this feature doesn't need a tracker at all to begin with).

• "What about Peer Exchange (PEX)?" Don't use that or any other feature/option that allows peers you did not get from the tracker to connect to you. Only allow peers from the tracker. PEX isn't exactly the same as DHT but the effect is similar: such feature allows non-member peers to connect to the swarm.

and also for the love of privacy... enable ENCRYPTION in your clients...

You have to mention the source if you got it from someone/somewhere else.

Originally Posted by Archi

You have to mention the source if you got it from someone/somewhere else.

Mate the source for this is BItHdtv

one question.. might help others too
should we do this???

private tracker = DHT disable
public tracker = DHT enabled???

I'm a bit confused. According to the OPs post, if DHT is enable, your ratio will not be updated on IPT.

I'm using uTorrent 2.0.4, Enable DHT is checked and my ratio updates on IPT.

I just disabled DHT and Peer Exchange.

I pray that my tracker stats update properly after this.

Originally Posted by maverick2001

I just disabled DHT and Peer Exchange.

I pray that my tracker stats update properly after this.

I am using IPT and of course i have DHT and Peer Exchange disabled.
My stats update without any problem in IPT tracker so mate don't be afraid your stats will be ok.