FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about SABnzbd

What is SABnzbd?

SABnzbd is a multi-platform binary newsgroup downloader.
The program works in the background and simplifies the downloading verifying and extracting of files from Usenet.
SABnzbd does not search for files, instead NZB files (similar to .torrent files, but for Usenet) are fed to SABnzbd from sites like newzbin.com binsearch.info and tvnzb.com
Access to SABnzbd is done through a web interface, meaning you can easily check and add files from other PC's around the world or on other devices such as the iPhone.

Why should I use SABnzbd over other programs such as Grabit?

Grabit is great for downloading a few moderately sized posts.
If you always have a large queue of jobs, wouldn't it be nice if you had an almost invisible program that takes your NZB and works hard to get the data, corrects it and unpacks it to a convenient location. Well, that's what SABnzbd does.
You can even put it on a lowly server and let work night and day. It can even schedule, so that, for instance, you only download at night.
Since it has a web interface, it can be controlled from a web-browser (like Firefox) and even from another computer.
There are also a couple of nice add-ons to make life easier (like the Firefox add-on "nzbdstatus")
If you set it up right, you hardly ever see SABnzbd. Just throw NZB files at it and wait for the completed posts to arrive.

Why should I use SABnzbd+ over the original SABnzbd?

Less bugs, more features and continued development and support. The original SABnzbd stopped development at 0.2.5 and we have taken over for future versions under the name of SABnzbd+. Development is now very active with a growing community.

How do I view the SABnzbd interface from another computer?

In the web-interface of SABnzbd, go to Config—>General and clear the hostname field and click "Save".
Tell your firewall to allow SABnzbd to accept incoming data from other systems.
On the other system, point the web browser to:

http://HOSTNAME:PORT/sabnzbd

Replace HOSTNAME by the hostname or the numerical IP address of the system running SABnzbd.
PORT should be replaced by the port number you set.

If I close my Internet browser does SABnzbd close too?

No, SABnzbd will continue to run in the background. Restart the browser to connect to SABnzbd again.
You can only stop SABznbd by using the shutdown function in the web-interface or kill it with the Windows taskmanager (not recommended).

How can I download a set of PAR2 files without activating auto-par2 mode?

Select None as your PostProcess option while importing your nzb file.
You will have to do your post-processing manually!

How do I launch SABnzbd at startup?

Windows:
You can install it as a Windows service, tricky but possible.
Or you can set is as a scheduled task (e.g. start at system startup).
Windows users may put it in their "Startup" folder (in the Start Menu).

Where are my downloads?

Windows:
By default they will reside in "My Documents\downloads\complete" To change, simply go to your Config->Folders and under complete enter in the fixed path where you want them to go such as "C:\Downloads"
Unix:
By default they will reside in "~/downloads/complete", where "~" is your home directory.

How do I prevent SABnzbd starting the web browser when starting?

Start up SABnzbd with an additional parameter "-b 0". See also command line parameters.
You can also now specify the launch options in the "Switches" page of the configuration in the web-ui, look for "Launch browser on startup:".

What do I need to get started with using SABnzbd?

A newsgroup provider and a source for .nzb files. See Getting Started

How do I upgrade SABnzbd to a new version?

It's simple! All your settings are stored away from the main sabnzbd folder, and will be kept between upgrades.
If you are moving between major versions (such as a 0.4 version to a 0.5 version) it is recommended that you finish your current queue. As major versions may create new queue files (your old queue file will still exist if you choose to go back to it and finish up downloading)
For windows just run the installer and it will replace your old version!
For linux just overwrite your current sabnzbd folder with the new files.

Where are are my settings/logs located?

Settings

The settings are stored in an ini file away from the location of the main program. This allows for easy upgrading and full vista compatibility.
The default locations for the settings are:

Unix/OSX	~/.sabnzbd/sabnzbd.ini
Windows XP/2003	%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\sabnzbd\sabnzbd.ini
Vista/Win7	%userprofile%\AppData\Local\sabnzbd\sabnzbd.ini

Note for windows users, you do not need to replace anything in those paths, just paste them into a folder location bar or the run menu (start>run)

If you are on OSX and can't find the folder(due to it being hidden) see here

If you are storing your settings in a different place, you can check the location by navigating to the Config page, or the Folders page within the config and the location will be displayed there.

Logs

The log files are stored in the same the base folder as the ini, but inside another folder called "logs".

Unix/OSX	~/.sabnzbd/logs/
Windows XP/2003	%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\sabnzbd\logs\
Vista	%userprofile%\AppData\Local\sabnzbd\logs\

If you are storing your logs in a different place, you can check the location by navigating to the Folders page within the config and the location will be displayed there. You can also download your logging from your webbrowser by clicking "Download logging" on the connections page of sabnzbd.

How do I run SABnzbd as a portable/self contained program?

Simply copy your sabnzbd.ini file (and the cache folder if you wish to keep your current queue/history) to your main sabnzbd folder. That is all, when SABnzbd starts up it first looks for the sabnzbd.ini in the same folder it is run from and uses those settings if available.

If you wish for a clean install, run sabnzbd.exe with the command line parameter "-f sabnzbd.ini" and a blank settings file will be created in your sabnzbd installation folder.

It is recommended you use relative paths for your incomplete and download folders to make sure SABnzbd will have write access. The default download dir setting is an example of a relative folder, just specify the name of the folder you wish to be created and not the path.

(see previous question for the location of the sabnzbd.ini file)

SABnzbd is asking for a password and I didn't set one/forgotten the password, what do I do?

You need to open up your settings folder, see here for the location. Look for the location of the following.

username = user
password = pass

change them to the following:

username = ""
password = ""

Save sabnzbd.ini then you will need to restart sabnzbd for the changes to take place.

In windows if you can't access the web-ui then open up the task manager (ctrl+alt+del) go to the processors tab, find sabnzbd.exe select it and click end process. Then launch sabnzbd.exe again.

In linux simply kill the process and launch it again.

What does R/U/D or Repair/Unpack/Delete mean?

Long Name	Short Name	Description
		The blank option does nothing extra to the download files
+Repair	R	Verifies and repairs the downloaded files
+Unpack	U	Verifies and repairs the downloaded files +Unpacks downloaded files
+Delete	D	Verifies and repairs the downloaded files +Unpacks downloaded files +Deletes the left over rar files

How do I change my download folder to another drive?

Simply enter in the full path, such as D:\Downloads
A tip for OSX users, to save to an external drive, enter /Volumes/nameofdrive/Downloads

To save to a network share, make sure it has write access and enter \\NameOfPc\\Folder
You currently cannot use this for the incomplete folder in windows due to a par2 bug.

What versions of python are supported?

We currently support python 2.4.6 and python 2.5 (recommended). Python 2.6 and 3.0 are NOT supported.

How do I change the download directory to be a fixed path?

Just enter the fixed path. Although it mentions relatives path based on a folder on the Config>Folders page, that is only used if you enter in the name of a folder, or only part of a path. Enter in the full path, such as D:\Downloads\ and it will simply use that and not one based of your Home folder.

How do I get par2 files to be only downloaded if needed?

This already happens. PAR2 files are set as paused when an item reaches the top of the queue. We do download a fraction of each par2 file to verify the integrity of each filename, and then it is set to a paused state until it is needed.

The two smallest par2 files are always downloaded to be used in the par2 checking stage.