Step-by-Step eMule Setup

Post any eMule-related questions and FAQ's here.
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Night457
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Re: Step-by-Step eMule Setup

Post by Night457 »   0 likes

Kriegshammer wrote:Anyone else have a fix for this other than manually typing in each server?
I can understand why you certainly don't want to do that!

In the "Server" tab of your eMule client, in the box "Update server.met from URL" you can paste the following and click "Update":

Code: Select all

http://upd.emule-security.org/server.met
The above is the address that I use to update my server list.

Some of the instructions here are out of date. To be fair, Phuzzy did give this warning:
Phuzzy4242 wrote:Note: The web addresses for the various update files detailed below may be transient - use Google search to find sources for server.met, ipfilter.dat, nodes.dat, etc.
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Re: Step-by-Step eMule Setup

Post by Kriegshammer »   0 likes

Night457 wrote:
Kriegshammer wrote:Anyone else have a fix for this other than manually typing in each server?
I can understand why you certainly don't want to do that!

In the "Server" tab of your eMule client, in the box "Update server.met from URL" you can paste the following and click "Update":

Code: Select all

http://upd.emule-security.org/server.met
The above is the address that I use to update my server list.

Some of the instructions here are out of date. To be fair, Phuzzy did give this warning:
Phuzzy4242 wrote:Note: The web addresses for the various update files detailed below may be transient - use Google search to find sources for server.met, ipfilter.dat, nodes.dat, etc.
It is fine, it is why I asked, thank you for the fix, I will try shortly.
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Re: Step-by-Step eMule Setup

Post by Heyana »   1 likes

Would anyone be interested or find it beneficial to have a more up to date and simplified eMule setup post? While I was able to follow the guide here, I feel like there's a lot of details that make it more complicated than it should be and could put off a lot of users, for example the port forwarding setup - I'm of the opinion that you shouldn't be doing it that way, using a VPN makes the entire process of port forwarding 5 simple clicks with no chance to mess things up. A single guide that covers the basics, and at the end explains advanced configuration options would be much more newbie friendly in my opinion.
I could put one together if people think it's a good idea.
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Re: Step-by-Step eMule Setup

Post by Night457 »   1 likes

Heyana wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 3:40 pmWould anyone be interested or find it beneficial to have a more up to date and simplified eMule setup post?
Yes. If you wish to do that and post it in this thread, it would definitely be welcome!

Personally, I am very bad in that I rarely RTFM and only look things up when I have a problem. I don't know if you looked at later posts in this thread, but INDEED there have been many newbies confused by some of the out-of-date parts, and I do my best to try to help them -- though there are others here with far more history and expertise in eMule than I.

I use a VPN that allows port-forwarding because that is the ONLY way I can do port-forwarding with my current ISP. With my previous ISP I changed the router settings. However, I don't have a particular desire to pay for software unless I have to have it. The VPN has the added benefit of allowing me to avoid at least some geoblocking by switching server countries, and I have come to like that.

I should state again as I have before that using port-forwarding and/or having HighID is useful but NOT absolutely necessary. There are many here with LowID who seem to get along just fine. It is really a matter of personal choice as to what people find useful and to what they are willing to devote time or money.

You sound like you are confident in your ability to create an accurate and simpler updated guide, so you certainly have my blessing to do so. After you have posted it, I can even create a link in the top-level post that will connect directly to your updated version, so that newbies know it is here without having to search through the entire thread. We very rarely eliminate old posts here, but we do upgrade when possible.

Thank you for your gracious offer, and welcome to FLM, Heyana!
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Re: Step-by-Step eMule Setup

Post by Heyana »   0 likes

Thank you Night! I discovered FLM a few days ago when I was searching for a movie and it's been amazing to see all of the content and people on here, I never would have guessed a community like this existed. I don't have any movies to post or much to give back, so I figured an updated guide might be something I can help with since I found the one here pretty confusing. (though I'm still very thankful it was here, no disrespect to Phuzzy!)
Here's the guide, if anyone has something to add to it please let me know!
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Re: Step-by-Step eMule Setup

Post by Heyana »   8 likes

Using eMule in 2022
*For images to load please sign in.

First of all, I highly, highly recommend using a paid VPN. Not only will it prevent your ISP from seeing what you do online, it also makes port forwarding incredibly easy. No messing with routers. For this guide a VPN is required. Optional steps are hidden by a spoiler.

The most important thing when it comes to choosing a VPN is trust. If you don't trust your VPN then stop using them. For me personally, and for many, Mullvad is currently the most transparent and trustworthy VPN service. It costs 5 euro p/m and makes port forwarding incredibly easy. If you're looking for something a little cheaper, AirVPN often has sales with the biggest one happening around black Friday.

*Important*
Depending on how paranoid you are, you may want to pay for your VPN via cryptocurrency. If you're going to do that, use Monero. If all you have is Bitcoin or some other currency, it's easy to convert it to Monero. I won't explain this more than that since this is about eMule, not the banking system, but it's worth mentioning.

Once you've got your VPN ready, let's start setting up everything!

_________________________
|Step 1. Configuring your VPN|
--------------------------------------------

VPNs are known to be slow, but over the past few years this has changed. There are many different VPN technologies, each with their own pros and cons, but the newest VPN technology is Wireguard. Wireguard is incredibly fast in comparison to OpenVPN, so always make sure you're using it! It has very little overhead, meaning you wont notice much of a drop in speed if at all.

_______________________
|Step 2. Opening your ports|
-----------------------------------------

The setup will be different depending on your VPN provider, I'll explain how to forward ports for both Mullvad and AirVPN, since these are the two I feel comfortable recommending. If you're using a different VPN they'll likely have a guide on their website, if they support port forwarding that is.

[MODERATOR EDIT, May 31 2023: Mullvad is now no longer supporting port forwarding. See this thread here:
viewtopic.php?t=14963 ]

Mullvad \
There's a short video on Reddit that perfectly shows how easy it is to forward your ports. You can view it here; https://reddit.com/rufv7u
OR you can view it via a private Reddit frontend here; https://libredd.it/rufv7u

AirVPN \
First, head to the AirVPN website and pop into the Client Area, find the "Ports" area and click "Manage". In here you'll want to click on the "Request a new port" button, leave the text field bellow it blank unless you know what you're doing. Take note of the port in a text editor, we'll come back to it soon.

________________________
|Step 3. Setting up "eMule" |
-----------------------------------------

Before setting anything up, I'd like to mention a few things about different clients. Currently the main two are aMule and eMule. While I personally prefer aMule as I'm a Linux user, it's currently broken. Downloads freeze after downloading 15MB~ and remain in queue for minutes to hours. At the time of writing, do NOT use aMule. Once aMule is fixed I'll remove this notice. As a workaround for Linux users, I've created an extra step on how to get eMule working just like it does on native Windows, it's actually rather easy, if you aren't very technical then follow the steps to a tee.
If you're a Mac user and have a working Mule setup, please let me know what it is so I can add it in here.

______________________
|Step 3.1 Windows Setup |
--------------------------------------

Head over to the eMule download page (https://github.com/irwir/eMule/releases/) and download either the file eMule0.60d-Installer.exe if you're using a 32-bit computer, or eMule0.60d-Installer64.exe if you're using a 64-bit one. If you don't know what your computer is using, choose the 64-bit download, if it fails, retry with the 32-bit one. If you're reading this in the future, long after it was originally posted, the files may be named something like "eMule0.70c-Installer64.exe" - that's fine, just means it was updated since the time of writing.

Go ahead and install it, leave all the options as default and continue clicking next until it's finished.

For the next few steps I've included images in case you get stuck!

When you first launch eMule you'll be greeted with a setup wizzard, I'll walk you through it.
Click Next on the first slide.
[Image]

Here you can change your nickname, if you'd like to be a little lowkey you can leave your nick as the default, but if you'd like to let yourself be known feel free to change it, just don't make it something personal like your real name or email. Add in an [FLM] to show other uses where you came from. If you'd like you can start eMule when Windows starts, I recommend enabling this since it means you'll always be giving back to the network, but feel free to leave it off.
Click Next.
[Image]

On this part we'll put in our port number from earlier, click on "Test Ports" - if it fails, that's fine, just make sure to check the firewall step later on!
Click next.
[Image]

Leave all the options on this part as default, just click Next.
[Image]

Again, leave this as default and click Next.
[Image]

Click Next... :sleeping:
[Image]

Click Finish. eMule is now set up!! But we've got one last thing to do - add some servers for us to connect to.
[Image]

in eMule, go ahead and click on the "Servers" icon, third from the left at the very top. It's got a donkey beside a server. On the right side of the eMule app you'll find some text that says "Update server.met from URL", go ahead and paste this link in the text field right under it and then click "Update." http://upd.emule-security.org/server.met
This will add a handful of great servers easily!
[Image]

Let's repeat this, but this time click on the "Kad" icon beside the "Servers" icon.
On the right side of the app you'll find text that says "Nodes.dat from URL", paste this link into the text box right under it and hit "Bootstrap". http://upd.emule-security.org/nodes.dat
[Image]

Now for the very last step, adding in an IP filter. Click on the orange cog icon named "Options" and click onto the "Security" tab. Once you're there, find the text saying "Update from URL: (filter.dat- or PeerGuardian-format)"
Paste this link into the text box right under it and then hit "Load"
http://upd.emule-security.org/ipfilter.zip
[Image]

At this point, eMule is completely up and running! Now all you need to do is hit the lightning bolt at the top left and connect to the network!

_______________________________________
|Step 3.2 Setting up eMule on Linux (Optional) |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Spoiler:

In the future when aMule is working again I recommend you switch to it, but for now, let's get eMule working through WINE. To do this, we're going to need to have flatpak installed and setup, if you already have it installed skip this step, if you aren't sure you have it or not run "flatpak list" in a terminal - if you get output then you have it. The reason why I'm recommending using flatpak is that it will create a sandbox for all your Windows apps, increasing security and making them much easier to manage and uninstall.

Using your distros package manager, install flatpak. On Debian/Ubuntu the command will be "sudo apt install flatpak", for Manjaro it'll be "sudo pacman -S flatpak" and for Alpine it should be "doas apk add flatpak". Once installed, run this command to connect it to Flathub;

Code: Select all

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
That's it - fully installed! Note that, if you're using a Hardened Kernel on Arch for example, you'll need to enable unprivileged user namespaces in order to launch Flatpak apps. To do this, issue this command in your terminal;

Code: Select all

sudo chmod u+s /usr/bin/bwrap
**A reboot may be required after installing Flatpak**

Now, install the app "Bottles" via this command;

Code: Select all

flatpak install flathub com.usebottles.bottles
Now that it's installed, let's run it by either launching it from our apps list, or via a command if you'd like to see all the things it's doing, the app currently doesn't have loading bars but they show up in the terminal if you launch it this way;

Code: Select all

flatpak run com.usebottles.bottles
It'll download some things, so be patient.

Once it's done, go ahead and click "Create a new Bottle", choose an "Application" bottle and name it something like "Donkey", it'll install and configure some things, which may take a while. Once created, click on your newly added bottle. You'll start out in the "Details & Utilities" tab, while you're here, click on "Utilities", a drop down will come out, click on "Browse C:" - this will open your Windows directory where all your Windows files will be. Bottles isolates Windows into it's own area, so no app you run through it can see your real files - only what's in this C: drive. This can be a little inconvenient though, as you need to move whatever exe you're trying to run in here.
Here in the C: drive, create a new folder named "donkey", head into it.
Now, download eMule from here; https://github.com/irwir/eMule/releases (Choose the file ending with 64)
Once downloaded, cut/copy paste it into your newly made donkey folder.

Back to Bottles, head into the "Programs" tab and click the + button in the top right, from here, navigate to your "donkey" folder and add the eMule exe. Annoyingly, when you click this + button it doesn't bring you to your C: drive, so you'll have to navigate there. It should be in

Code: Select all

/home/YOURUSERNAME/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/Donkey/drive_c/donkey/
Go ahead and launch the newly added eMule setup exe. Check the Windows setup for images and a guide, TLDR; smash the next button.
Once installed, click that + button to add another program, this time navigate to;

Code: Select all

/home/YOURUSERNAME/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/donkey/drive_c/Program Files/eMule
Once in this folder, add the "emule.exe" file. Now just launch that and eMule should be working!!
Head back to the previous step for Windows users - it's an identical setup for Linux, however, automatic link handling probably wont work. To workaround this, once you've finished setting up eMule, head over to the "Options" menu, which is an orange cog, third from the top right. Go into the "Files" tab and find the option that says "Watch clipboard for ED2K file links". From now on, when you copy an ED2K link eMule will detect it and ask you if you'd like to add it. You can copy dozens of links at a time and it'll add all of them, pretty handy.

If you get stuck, confused or anything else don't be afraid to ask for help here. I can also add images if the process is too confusing.
________________________________________________________________
|Step 4. Adding a killswitch (To prevent traffic leakage to your ISP, Optional) |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spoiler:

*Note; this may or may not work with port forwarding, if anyone tests this please let me know how it went.

While not everyone cares about leaking their traffic, for those that do, here's a way. Note that this only works with Mullvad and will add a slight speed penalty.

Mullvad offers a SOCKS5 proxy for all of its servers - if you don't know what that means, it basically routes your Mullvad traffic a second time, to another server. What has this got to do with leakage? Well, it only works when you're connected to Mullvad, so if you aren't, the proxy wont work, and eMule won't be able to connect to the internet.

Head to the "Proxy" tab and check "Enable Proxy", set the "Proxy type" to SOCKS5.
Now head over to the Mullvad website and click its "Servers" tab (or mullvad.net/en/servers)
From here, untick the boxes "OpenVPN" and "Bridge". Choose the server you'd like your connection to be routed to (choose one close to your VPN server location for optimal performance) and click on it, a drop down menu will unfold, copy the "SOCKS5 PROXY ADDRESS" and paste it into the "Proxy host" text field in eMule, delete this part from the address ":1080". In the "Proxy port" field input 1080. That's it, done! A neat fallback mechanism. It's worth noting that, since your connection is being routed a second time, a speed penalty will happen, I'm not sure how big it will be, but it probably wont be noticeable since eMule isn't the fastest thing around. :p
_____________________________________
|Step 5. If you're behind a firewall (Optional) |
----------------------------------------------------------------
Spoiler:

For Linux users, I'm assuming you know what you're doing. Most distros have a firewall app nowadays, should be simple enough to navigate through that and configure what you need. Common apps are Ufw, Yast and Firewalld. If you don't have a firewall app, consider installing one.

For Windows users, if you're using Windows Firewall head to your control panel, then click on "Windows Firewall", or something to that extent. There should be an "Exceptions" tab, enter a name for the exception, "eMule" for example, then type in your port number. Do this for both TCP and UDP. If I got this wrong please correct me!

If you're using your own firewall, I'll assume you know what you're doing. If you're using an antivirus (hot take alert) uninstall it - antiviruses suck, they're terrible for privacy and often WORSEN security. Windows Defender isn't as bad as people think it is, I recommend you use it instead. And of course, don't install or click on suspicious things, your mind is the greatest antiviruses money can buy. If you've got a file or movie you think could be dangerous, scan it with Virus Total online.
___________
|Step 6. ??? |
-------------------

Everything should be working now, so go like some posts and SHARE them too!! This website wouldn't exist if people didn't share - it's the most important thing to do and the biggest way to give back. If you run into any issues, have any edits to suggest for the guide or anything else, please let me know!

Thank you FLM community <3
___________
| Extra: FAQ |
-------------------
Spoiler:

Click the spoiler button to view the answers.

I don't have a VPN or my VPN provider doesn't provide port forwarding - can I still use eMule?
Spoiler:

Yes! You can use eMule even without port forwarding, however your speeds will be slower. In certain cases, some files won't be availble to you.
I don't use a VPN and would like to port forward from my router, how can I do that?
Spoiler:

Follow Phuzzys original guide if you'd like to do this.
My antivirus is interfering with eMule/port forwarding and I don't want to switch to Windows Defender.
Spoiler:

The best thing to do would be to look up a specific guide for the antivirus you use. If you're using Kaspersky, look up "How to port forward Kaspersky" for example. There's simply too many antiviruses out there to create a good guide for them all.
How can I make eMule connect automatically when I start the app?
Spoiler:

Click on the orange cog in eMule labeled "Options", select the "Connections" tab and look for the text "Autoconnect on startup" - there's a box right beside it, just tick that and hit apply.
The port I use to port forward changed, how can I switch the port eMule uses?
Spoiler:

Click on the orange cog in eMule labeled "Options", select the "Connections" tab and look for the text "Client Port". Here you change change both the TCP and UDP ports, once you're done click on apply.
Can I use eMule on a phone?
Spoiler:

An Android client does exist named "Mule", however it seems to have a lot of restrictions. If you've only got access to a mobile device it's certainly better than nothing.
Mule is available as a direct APK download from github, or on the Google Play Store
Github; https://github.com/a-pavlov/jed2k/releases/tag/3.3
Google Play; https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... .dkf.jmule
I noticed an error or important omission from the guide.
Spoiler:

Please let me know! I'm no expert and would appreciate feedback. ^w^
Last edited by Heyana on Sat Jun 11, 2022 7:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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DreamScape
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Re: Step-by-Step eMule Setup

Post by DreamScape »   1 likes

Great work, Heyana!
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Night457
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Re: Step-by-Step eMule Setup

Post by Night457 »   1 likes

Heyana wrote: Fri Jun 10, 2022 7:24 amI don't have any movies to post or much to give back, so I figured an updated guide might be something I can help with since I found the one here pretty confusing. (though I'm still very thankful it was here, no disrespect to Phuzzy!)
Thank you VERY MUCH, Heyana! I am sure many will find your updated guide very helpful. I have made a link to it in the top post of this thread so that it will be easy to find.

Also -- even if someone does not have any movies to Release, they can still "give back" in eMule simply by continuing to share the files they download, just the same as in torrenting. The more people sharing files, the faster they download. Other members may have difficulty emuling, but they "give back" by discovering and sharing information on and sources for movies, providing direct-download links, translating subtitles etc etc. Your work is absolutely appreciated.

Enjoy what you find here!
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Re: Step-by-Step eMule Setup

Post by ghost »   1 likes

WOW! Thanks, Heyana! :thumbsup

We really needed this update after so many years.
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Re: Step-by-Step eMule Setup

Post by Heyana »   3 likes

Thank you, I'm glad to be able to help in some way! ^w^
I may add more to the guide as I learn more, if anyone would like to contribute to it in any way feel free.
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