Limewire not connecting

swallen56 · #1 (**permalink**) January 21st, 2009

I just found out how to download the gntella.net file, but it is password protected on the site. Can you help with this? The zShare site link to download the file is either out of date or something. No actual page will load from that link.

birdy · #2 (**permalink**) January 21st, 2009

The file doesn't show as password protected for me

Anyway, try this new link (it's definitely not password protected): gnutella.net

The zshare link works fine for me. But - here's another of those as well: zSHARE - gnutella.net

A few other people have said that they didn't even have a gnutella.net file to start with! That's ok - just put one into the LimeWire folder (make sure that LW's properly closed first)

swallen56 · #3 (**permalink**) January 21st, 2009

I have found the file: GNUTELLA.EXE and pasted it in the correct location. Limewire was completely closed when I did it. No change in connection.

Now it seems that port forwarding is the next step.
1. I open my program (Limewire) and go to the firewall page and de-select UP&P and select manual port.
2. I select a random number for a port and enter that number.

3. I open my router and click on “Port Forwarding.”
4. I click to ADD and enter my program name – choose TCP/UDP – Enter the same port numbers as above – type in the IP of my computer.
5. Click on APPLY

When I do this my router says that a conflict is present with no clues as to what or where that is. I have never don't this before so I don't know that i am doing everything right. Any help??

birdy · #4 (**permalink**) January 21st, 2009

Where did you get a gnutella.exe??
None of the files that I uploaded are .exe files... they're just text files (you can open them with Notepad & read what's inside them)!!

Did you set up a static IP address before port forwarding?

Just backtracking a bit - after you originally deleted LW's preferences folder (you said "turned off" but I guess that you mean you deleted the folder), did you have to go through LW's setup wizard all over again?

swallen56 · #5 (**permalink**) January 22nd, 2009

First: let me say that I thoughyt I was just misunderstanding you when you referenced a "preference file." I can't find an actual file caslled "Preference." Maybe we should start there. Also, this morning I got my IP address for my computer (I'm thinking that is what I'm supposed to do) and I bought the Port Forwarding software and port-forwarded. Everything worked right.. I think. According to the software everything worked well. I then loaded LW and under firewall-chose "manual port forwarding- and entered these ports 1003 and in the listen port as well. then closed LW completely and loaded it again.. still no connection, not even a try to connect is noticable. I'm not very smart on this stuff so thanks for your patience. Tell me what and where to go and I will do it.

If I need to uninstall and start over.. that's easy.

swallen56 · #6 (**permalink**) January 22nd, 2009

The GNUTELLA that I downloaded and now is in the folder "limewire" is an exe file. When I click on it it loads Limewire. That's right isn't it?

swallen56 · #7 (**permalink**) January 22nd, 2009

I'm afraid that i have done too much so I uninstalled everything and re-installed from scratch. I undid the port-forwarding also. I now am back to UPnP both in my router and in LW. I went to the location: c:\program files\limewire to try to see a Gnutella file and there isn't one. I went in LW to tools\advanced to find a preference file and there isn't one. I'm going to wait for your reply to tell me exactly what to do first. Give me a path to the preference file you're talking about. Give me a path to the folder that the Gnuteela file is supposed to be in. Thanks

I've got the port-forwarding down now if you want me to do that, but I'm waiting for your advice to begin.

birdy · #8 (**permalink**) January 22nd, 2009

You're looking in the wrong place for the preferences folder. The link I gave you earlier called 'If LW will not connect" has all the info that you need to find the preferences folder.

It tells you that the preferences folder is named LimeWire. C:\Documents and Settings\your username\Application Data\LimeWire.
Also look for a prefs folder in the old location if you've used much older versions of LW in the past.

Here is the info which is within the help thread:

Quote:

DELETE LIMEWIRE'S PREFERENCES FOLDER
If neither replacing the gnutella.net file or updating Java helps, you may need to delete LW's preferences folder. Sometimes the preferences become corrupted & in that case, deleting the old folder can help. A new folder is created the next time you start LW.
Quote:
Deleting LW's preferences folder will change all of the settings within LW's options (speed, max number of downloads, down/upload bandwidth etc etc). If you're not too sure of your settings, go to LW's tools > options & make a note of how everything's set, so that you can reset things later.

You might have 2 preferences folders - one named .limewire & one named LimeWire. Sometimes there are 2 folders, because different versions of LW have the folder in different locations.

1. Close LW. Make sure that LW is properly closed by opening task manager (ctrl+alt+del) & checking whether there's a LW process running. If there is, end that process.

2. Go to Control Panel, double click on Folder Options & then click on the View tab. Make sure there's a dot in the button next to 'Show hidden files and folders' then click Apply & click OK.

3. Now go to Start > click on My Computer > double click on C drive > double click on the folder with your username. Once you're in the 'your username' folder, look for a folder named .limewire & if you have a folder named .limewire, delete that whole folder. If you don't have a folder named .limewire then that's ok. Close all folders.
oldprefsfolder.jpg

4. Go back to Start > click on My Computer > double click on C drive > double click on Documents and Settings > double click on the folder with your username > double click on Application Data. Once you're in the Application Data, look for a folder named LimeWire (there's no dot in front of this one & the letters aren't all lower case). Delete that whole folder named LimeWire. Close all folders.
prefsfolder.jpg
5. Restart your computer.

6. Start up LW & see whether it will connect. If LW connects, you're all done & you can go back through LW's tools > options & set everything there back to the way you like it.

If you're using Vista, you'll need to look for your preferences folder in a different place. Try C:\Users\your username\AppData\Roaming\LimeWire
And more info about how to show hidden files & folders, and how to find the preferences folder here LimeWire Pref Folder in Vista

Mac OS X users see LOTR's post in this thread for how to delete preferences: http://www.gnutellaforums.com/295239-post5.html

You'll know if you've deleted the preferences folder properly...when you start LW, it will take you through the setup wizard. Also, all of the settings within LW's options will have reverted back to default. If you restart LW & don't have to go through the setup wizard, that means that you haven't deleted the preferences folder properly. In that case, make sure that LW's properly closed & start again!

And here is the info about replacing the gnutella.net file (all of this is also within the help thread):

Quote:

DELETE/REPLACE gnutella.net FILE

Close LW. Make sure that it’s properly closed by opening Task Manager (ctrl+alt+del) & click on the Processes tab. If there’s a LW process running, end the process.

*Try deleting your gnutella.net file first. See the info below for instructions to find the file (don't worry about downloading a new file for now). Make sure that LW's closed (otherwise it's a waste of time), delete the gnutella.net file, restart LW... if it connects then you're done. If it won't connect then come back to this sticky for instructions about replacing the gnutella.net file.*

The link below will take you to a file hosting site where you can download a file named gnutella.net.
zSHARE - gnutella.net
If that link doesn't work, try this other one.
gnutella.net

Download that file & save it to your computer. Remember where you've saved the file to.

If you're using XP, look below.

Go to Control Panel > Folder Options > click on the View tab > put a dot in the circle next to ‘show hidden files and folders’ > apply > ok.

Go to Start > click on My Computer > double click on Documents and Settings > double click on the folder with your username > double click on Application Data. Now look for a folder named LimeWire. This folder named LimeWire is your preferences folder. You need to open the LimeWire folder by double clicking on it.
prefsfolder.jpg
Once you’ve opened the LimeWire folder, look for a file named gnutella.net (or it may be named gnutella).
gnutella.netfile.jpg
Delete that file. Leave the LimeWire folder open.
If there’s no file named gnutella.net or gnutella, don’t panic...you can put one into the folder.

Go & find the gnutella.net file that you downloaded earlier. Copy that gnutella.net file & paste it into the open LimeWire folder.

Close all folders, restart your computer & then start LW.

If you're using Vista, you'll need to look for your preferences folder in a different place. Try C:\Users\your username\AppData\Roaming\LimeWire
And more info about how to show hidden files & folders, and how to find the preferences folder here LimeWire Pref Folder in Vista

Mac users check out LOTR's post here for instructions: http://www.gnutellaforums.com/326820-post7.html

Your gnutella.net file belongs inside the preferences folder (which is named LimeWire).

Just go through the instructions above. I made them as easy to follow as possible.