March 2023 update: The installers have been changed to one for BearShare 5.1 Beta and one for all other BearShare versions. This new installer is an online installer in that it obtains up-to-date collection of hosts from a gWebCache. It will also install an updated list of gWebCaches for BearShare to access (this list can be easily updated in future.) These installers only grab non-BearShare hosts so connecting to other BearShare hosts will be down to luck. If your BearShare starts by using either BearStart or BSLoader then you are using BearShare 5.1 Beta. All other BearShare users should use the standard BearShare ConnectFix. (If unsure go to the Programs / Program Files (x86) folder, if the folder is called 'BearShare Test' then you are using 5.1 Beta, otherwise you are using the standard BearShare.) Wrong choice will create unnecessary and unused program folders.
BearShare must be closed when you run this connectfix. Administrator permissions required to install.

First thing to do is port forward your modem-router (default port is port 6346 or 6348, but you can choose any random port up to about 60000.) Don't worry if you do not connect to other BearShare clients initially or even on the first run. The important thing is to get connected and the longer you stay connected the better your next run will be for connecting (and also the better the chance for connecting with other BearShare users.) Connecting might be slow at first, be patient.
Edit: I fixed the bug with BearShare discarding 90% of the non-BearShare hosts and 70% of the UDP hosts upon first run.

If you ran BearShare during same session before running the Connectfix and BearShare does not connect well, reboot your computer and use the Connectfix again. In fact, I find a computer reboot helps on other occasions also for connecting.

Edit: Choose between regular BearShare or the BearShare5.1 beta in the installers once you've reached the download website. Three download site options:

1. Download via MediaFire BearShare ConnectFix, BearShare Connection Fixes via MediaFire

2. Mirror site: Find the Connection installers "here" via SaberCat.

3. (a) BearShare ConnectFix (Please note, you need to be a free member of 4Shared to download from their facilities.)

3. (b) BearShare 5.1 Beta ConnectFix (Please note, you need to be a free member of 4Shared to download from their facilities.)

BearShare 5.1 Beta ConnectFix is only for the 5.1 beta that starts with either BearStart or BSLoader. All other BearShare versions should use the standard BearShare Connectfix. These installers are online installers in the respect they update their host connect data at least once every hour, so you can keep your connectfix in case you need it again in future. If you receive a message that the host file failed, ignore it, it is only due to being unable to find BearShare ultrapeers. A common result!

Keep in mind most BearShare versions require port forwarding for both TCP and UDP to operate properly.
(Find your modem/router brand and model, skip the advertisements, then find BearShare on the list of applications to port forward for.)

To check if your BearShare needs port forwarding, find the port BearShare is connecting with then go to this site: Open Port Check Tool and type in the port number your BearShare is using.

Once connected, you should see a static green light top-right of the BearShare window. If this is yellow, it means you are firewalled and need to port forward your router for both TCP and UDP.

The longer you stay connected to the network, the easier you will find it for connecting in subsequent sessions.

. . .
If using BearShare 5.1 Beta: If you do not connect to 30-45 Leaves (can be affected by available bandwidth) & the indicator far right is yellow, then you are firewalled. You must port forward a port in your modem-router to fix this. Otherwise your presence is damaging to the network & not good for your BearShare experience. You will be blocking everyone's search messages including several of your own search results. (Scary discussion about firewalled ultrapeers here.)

If you see the Network indicator show that you are UDP firewalled for periods of time (but not permanently) then don't worry too much about it. From what I've read, UDP has advantages over TCP for ease of connecting and uses far less bandwidth however the disadvantages are (1) UDP has a tendency to lose information packets. No doubt BS UDP tests sometimes fail because a test packet sent to another client was probably lost during transmission or sent to a firewalled host. (2) Another major reason is due to test packets being sent to hosts that are firewalled leafs (ie: very poorly designed UDP test tool within BearShare.) My BS sometimes starts off or during a session spends 5-50 mins UDP firewalled but is usually only temporary. BS should never at any time show TCP firewalled.


Safety first: Note: If you are new to using BearShare, it is recommended you help protect yourself from the major spam and ping sources via an up-to-date Hostiles block list. http://www.gnutellaforums.com/open-d...-limewire.html. This hostiles block list will block out a a high percentage of spam and also help prevent the other activities of the RIAA and MIAA sponsored anti-file-sharing companies. Installer is available for ease of putting the hostiles file in the right place for BearShare users. The Hostiles file is presently being updated at least fortnightly (that equates to every 2 weeks for USA english speaking persons lol.) I have since packaged the BS 5.1 Beta installers with a 2012 Hostiles installer. Updates of course will be provided in the link suggested above. And see bottom part of this post Hostiles and your firewall about firewall protection. Some firewalls allow you to specify blocks to apply only to a specific program (such as BearShare.)


Since March 2012, 4Shared has changed to a member's only allowed to download. Membership at 4Shared is free, unless you want premium services. I have also provided Mediafire and SaberCat mirror download links, choice is yours.

If the above installer title dates are old, it's usually because I forgot to update this post. But the installers will most likely be reasonably up to date. Sometimes I update the installers just a day or two after I did a major update for them, or even several times over a week or more. (I will occasionally update the installer files on the fly (well, not totally.) Though the download links for the folders will remain the same.

My approach for the connection list is to attempt to collate hosts who have Static or Sticky Dynamic addresses. Some ISP's use Sticky Dynamic IP Addressing and do not change the IP address very often, anywhere between a month and a year. It is pointless including host addresses that will change within 1 to 7 days. I try to identify which are the same hosts via their shares and port numbers and location and similarity of addresses. My connection list is a little artificial in that I prioritize those that are mostly online, particularly static hosts and push them further up the top of the list. But yes there are also hosts that only try BS out for a week or so which is unfortunate. The good thing about BS is once you connect to one BS peer, you will usually connect to others very soon after as the peer gives your BS a list of known/detected BS peers online. Sometimes if BS is being stubborn to connect to BS peers, I manually add them one by one from a connection list into the BS connection window.
I am sometimes puzzled when I have connected to a peer several times on different BS's on different Windows and they are not added to the BS connection list despite the list only being half full. And that host may have been online without stop for 5 consecutive days. It makes me wonder about BS's host caching logic. Edit: Discovered the reason for this, if BS 5.1 Beta users are firewalled BS will not add them to its connection file.
.

Not of great importance and you can ignore this issue: Just a small note about the GWebCache file. Some listings will clash with others and the result will be duplicate host listings in your connection file. I have had up to 10 listings of a single host in the Connect file (with same ports) with the only difference being time online. And I am convinced there is at least one GWebCache host site that gives out-of-date information. I have not yet figured out which one.

If you are concerned, then if you delete all the listings of sites in the GWebCache file, within days, BearShare will create its own list. These should be trustworthy.

I have had 4 BS's running so I have been experimenting with the GWebCache hosts since before I created this thread topic and have some confidence in some that are at least acceptable. I decided to remove the GWebCache file from the installer before I released the above installer publicly.

was having trouble connecting on windows 7. downloaded BearShare Connect Fix installer connected instantly. just want to say lord of the rings you rock!! thank you very much.

Thanks for letting me know gwill I appreciated the feedback.

what version of windows are you running and what bit? also which bearshare?
need to know!!
thank you
edit: @ lord of the rings. when i did the "BearShare 5.1 Beta ConnectFix March 2012" it connected on the first run. BUT said "need more sources" when downloading (win7 and XP).. whatt2do??? thanks
ps.
im on XP (dualbooting)
edit again:: bearshare 5.1.0 (from filehippo) with "Regular BearShare ConnectFix March 2012"..after 2 restarts and 5restart of BS it worked!!
but hasnt worked since

The "need more sources" would just be unlucky choices for downloads or else the persons who had the files when you originally downloaded them are presently not online.
Search results probably remain on the network for a minimum 30 minutes after someone has left, so sometimes you choose a file to download and the person is actually no longer online. Else, the person has upload slots set to zero and some people do do this unfortunately. And some clear their shares during their sessions online or at the end of their session.

As for the connection file, it is not perfect. I've been using my own custom approach for it for better or worse. But note that I have been updating them on a regular basis up to now. I have been trying to avoid adding hosts that regularly change their host address.

I am still very much in 'learning' mode about how BS connects. I have a suspicion the program may also use the 'hosts-state' log when connecting. This file gives details about which hosts the program was last connected to. If this is the case, I may add a customized 'hosts-state' log file to the installer also. I will need to test if this is actually the case. I have a suspicion if the log file has hosts not listed in the connection file, BS may panic a little.

If anybody has advice, please feel free.

The "need more sources" doesnt even work when theres 100 sources

After choosing to download, have you tried pausing and then restarting the download?
ie: in the download window, right-click choose Pause, wait several seconds. Then right-click and choose restart.
And used the Search Again option?
I'm not a whiz on using BearShare.

its working. i dont think left it on long enough.. how long do you recommend to keep it running on the first few times?
thanks works great!... only thing that (i see) that still doesnt work is the date doesnt change back

I guess it depends on the particular system. My clock/date time can take a little while to change back but it does change back. Double-check it from time to time to see if it's changed back.

How long to leave BearShare running? The longer the better! This helps build up a good bs connection list and also lists your client as being a client that connects for good periods and is more inviting to connect to. I see clients that stay connected for many days non stop. But they run as Peers. And they are invaluable to the network, especially for other BearShare users. BearShare shares its own list of best BearShare hosts to connect to. Some of these run as Leafs from time to time.

The same is true for any gnutella client. The longer you leave your program running, the better you are seen overall on the network, and the better the program should run after it's been connected for some time. If running as a Peer (ultrapeer), then UDP host sites will list you highly if you stay connected for long periods. Thus you would find it easy to connect and others would seek to connect to you. The longer a gnutella program has been connected to the network, usually the better the search results. (Unless you are unluckily surrounded by spam peers/hosts.)