For some reason there is an issue with running qBittorrent as a SystemD service on Ubuntu Server 24.04.

Here is how I’ve done it.

Install qbittorrent-nox

sudo apt install qbittorrent-nox

Initial Run and Password Setup

make note of username (this will be used in Systemd Setup):

whoami

Run qbittorrent as user:

qbittorrent-nox

Make note of the username and password in console output as shown below:

*** Legal Notice ***
qBittorrent is a file sharing program. When you run a torrent, its data will be made available to others by means of upload. Any content you share is your sole responsibility.

No further notices will be issued.

Press 'y' key to accept and continue...
y
WebUI will be started shortly after internal preparations. Please wait...

******** Information ********
To control qBittorrent, access the WebUI at: http://localhost:8080

The WebUI administrator username is: admin
The WebUI administrator password was not set. A temporary password is provided for this session: mL7St5JE9
You should set your own password in program preferences.

Open http://localhost:8080/ in browser, and login.

Click on blue gearbox > Web UI. Under Authentication change username and password. Scroll to bottom and click save.

Setup Systemd Service

Create a new service file

sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/qbittorrent-nox.service

add the following contents into service file

[Unit]
Description=qBittorrent Command Line Client
After=network.target
 
[Service]
Type=forking
User=USERNAME_HERE  <---------------------- replace with username fromwhoami
Group=USERNAME_HERE <---------------------- replace with username fromwhoami
UMask=007
ExecStart=/usr/bin/qbittorrent-nox -d --webui-port=8080
Restart=on-failure
 
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Execute the following commands

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable qbittorrent-nox
sudo systemctl start qbittorrent-nox
sudo systemctl status qbittorrent-nox

Go back to http://localhost:8080/. You should be able to login with your new username password.

Why DiD We Do What We Did?

Why did we manually start it first instead of having SystemD run qBittorrent first?

This is because the console output cannot be retrieved in SystemD. Thus, the initial password cannot be found.

Why not just copy ~/.config/qBittorent/qBittorrent.conf’s hashed password into another qBittorrent.conf? Well Running SystemD will rewrite over the hashed password.