Magnet Links are the best way to download any torrent files from the internet using an application like ‘uTorrent’. But, if you are using the Google Chrome web browser, then sometimes the magnet links become unresponsive and do not work at all.
About Magnet Link
A magnet link is kind of a hyperlink that lets users download any file or data from the P2P sharing networks mainly the torrent networks. This hyperlink functions in the serverless ecosystem and has all the information within it that the torrent client needs, in order to download a distinct file. The reason for magnet links’ popularity is due to the fact that a user can copy these links and paste them anywhere like emails, text messages and etc.
Why the Magnet Links are used over ‘.torrent’ Files
The traditional ‘.torrent’ files that the users download consist of trackers, names of files to be downloaded’, hash code, URL and takes up some amount of storage space. Sometimes, along with the downloaded ‘.torrent’ file, you can get malicious code. However, the magnet links are safer, protective and remove the requirement to hash single files to secure them from any cyber threats.
The magnet link connects the users directly with the source of the file via a hash code. This hash code will be used by the torrent client to locate the peers who upload the requisite files. That is why there is no need to download ‘.torrent’ file and then execute it to download a file.
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How Magnet Link not working issue occurs on Chrome?
When you click a magnet link of a file that you need to download on Google Chrome, next, the browser will analyze the hash code and launch it on the torrent client installed within the computer. Now, this problem arises when Google Chrome is unable to identify the magnet link and as a result returns an error.
How to Fix the Magnet link not working problem on Google Chrome Browser?
Here, get two specific methods to rectify the magnet link is not working issue on the Google Chrome web browser.
Change a key in the Registry
Sometimes, the given issue can be triggered due to another problem which shows the following message – “this file does not have an app associated with it”. This error message can come up due to the fact that either ‘Google Chrome’ or the ‘Windows’ OS is unable to identify the correct application i.e ‘UTorrent’ for the job. Thus the magnet link cannot be associated with the installed torrent client. Get steps here, on how to alter the registry.
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- First, tap on the combination of ‘Windows + R’ key simultaneously, to open the ‘Run’ dialog box.
- Inside that dialog box, type in the text “regedit” on the empty space beside the label ‘Open:’ and then press the ‘OK’ button.
- As soon as you click on that button, then a new window with the name ‘Registry Editor’ will come up.
- Inside that window, go to the left side and then follow the path to navigate to a ‘command’ folder location – “Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Magnet\shell\open\command”
- Next, go to the right pane and then see the location path of the ‘UTorrent’ client within the ‘Data’ column.
- Usually, the path where the torrent client is as follows – “C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\UTorrent\UTorrent.exe”
- Now, tap on the ‘Windows + E’ key together, to open the ‘ Windows Explorer’ folder. Then, go to the left pane and choose the ‘This PC’ section. Within this section check the location of the torrent client.
- Now, if it is present in a different directory, then go to the ‘Registry Editor’ and change the location path of the torrent client, by right-clicking on the ‘Default’ key and then choose ‘Modify’ option.
- At last, once the change of the path is successful, next try to download a file using a magnet link and check if this problem is there or not.
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Enable the site Settings on Google Chrome
If the site settings within the Google Chrome web browser are not active, then you can get the magnet link is not working error. The one and only answer to fix this issue is to activate the site settings of the Chrome browser. How can you do it is as follows.
- First, on the desktop locate and double-click on the Google Chrome icon to open the same.
- Next, go to the top right corner of the window and click on the ‘three vertical dots’. This action will open a drop-down menu with a list of options.
- Out of all those options locate and select the one that says ‘Settings’. As soon as you do that, then a new page with the name ‘Settings’ will come up.
- Inside that page, go to the bottom, and click on the ‘Advanced’ option. After that, move to the bottom a little more and choose the ‘Site Settings’ option, under the ‘Privacy and Security’ section.
- Once a new page comes up with the name ‘Site Settings’, next, find and choose the ‘Handlers’ option.
- Now, on the new ‘Handlers’ page, shift the switch to the right side of the ‘allow sites to ask to become default handlers for protocols (recommended)’ option.
- At last, check if the magnet URL is working correctly or not.