instant.io broke my magnetic links

[sdwru]

My magnetic links on Windows 10 with Chrome worked just fine for years now. Today, I opened a link which opened a torrent on instant.io. That automatically set magnetic links to instant.io and now I can't switch it back to uTorrent. I spent over 2 hours on this now reading all kinds of different fixes on the internet to get this working again and none of them work. This is what is typically referred to nowadays as an asshole design.

Please don't be evil and undo this. I'm not going to switch all my torrent downloading to instant.io...mkay. It's just not going to happen. It's partly Chrome's fault and partly uTorrent's fault for their magetic links re-association not working to take back the association of magnetic links. However, what started all this was instant.io automatically reassigning magnetic links association without even asking!

[broimsuperman]

My magnetic links on Windows 10 with Chrome worked just find for years now. Today, I opened a link which opened a torrent on instant.io. That automatically set magnetic links to instant.io and now I can't switch it back to utorrent. I spent over 2 hours on this now reading all kinds of different fixes on the internet to get this working again and none of them work. This is what is typically referred to nowadays as an asshole design.

Please don't be evil and undo this. I'm not going to switch all my torrent downloading to instant.io...mkay. It's just not going to happen. It's partly Chrome's fault and partly uTorrent's fault for their magetic links re-association not working to take back the association of magnetic links. However, what started all this was instant.io automatically reassigning magnetic links association without even asking!

Clear your browser data LOL

[sdwru]

Didn't work. Neither did the 2 dozen or so other fixes found on the internet. I can log into a completely different profile on chrome and still have the same problem. So it's it's not related to browser data.

I'm not the only one. https://superuser.com/questions/1535819/cant-open-magnet-url-with-google-chrome-anymore

[sdwru]

If I ever figure out how to get magnetic links working again, I will be able to figure out how the instant.io client broke it by looking through the source code. I think I found the function that probably did it. I just need to figure out how to reverse it.. I have continued trying everything I can and still no luck. At this point I think I have probably tried every existing fix found on the internet going back years to the time of Windows 7 and Vista and a few of my own ideas. This is something the client did to chrome because it got saved with chrome sync and started happening on another computer that never visited instant.io.

I think this is the function that took away magnetic links and I have yet to figure out how to reassign that back to uTorrent. https://github.com/webtorrent/instant.io/blob/d0a4620655686ae3b5a3de87a97b3187cc6d9a56/client/index.js#L80-L92

A lot of fixes out there are outdated because of changes to chrome configurations.

[ThaUnknown]

https://github.com/webtorrent/webtorrent/issues/1982

[ThaUnknown]

also, depending on your OS you might need to change default app under "Choose default apps by protocol" in your system settings

[sdwru]

also, depending on your OS you might need to change default app under "Choose default apps by protocol" in your system settings

That is not the problem. Windows 10 default app for .torrent files is set correctly to uTorrent and .torrent files are opened by uTorrent as expected.

Magnetic links are a completely different thing. This is something instant.io changed in Chrome that I cannot unchange for some reason. I removed the chrome protocol handler instant.io added to chrome so it no longer tries to open magnetic links in instant.io. But I cannot get it to use uTorrent again so now it just does nothing.

There are at least a dozen different solutions found on the internet. I have tried all of them multiple times and rebooted multiple times. None of them work.

[ThaUnknown]

also, depending on your OS you might need to change default app under "Choose default apps by protocol" in your system settings

That is not the problem. Windows 10 default app for .torrent files is set correctly to uTorrent and .torrent files are opened by uTorrent as expected.

Magnetic links are a completely different thing. This is something instant.io changed in Chrome that I cannot unchange for some reason. I removed the chrome protocol handler instant.io added to chrome so it no longer tries to open magnetic links in instant.io. But I cannot get it to use uTorrent again so now it just does nothing.

There are at least a dozen different solutions found on the internet. I have tried all of them multiple times and rebooted multiple times. None of them work.

if it doesn't open in chrome, and doesn't open in uTorrent then its not a instant.io issue, but a uTorrent issue, again, you can manually change magnet protocol handler program under "Choose default apps by protocol" in your system settings

[sdwru]

also, depending on your OS you might need to change default app under "Choose default apps by protocol" in your system settings

That is not the problem. Windows 10 default app for .torrent files is set correctly to uTorrent and .torrent files are opened by uTorrent as expected. Magnetic links are a completely different thing. This is something instant.io changed in Chrome that I cannot unchange for some reason. I removed the chrome protocol handler instant.io added to chrome so it no longer tries to open magnetic links in instant.io. But I cannot get it to use uTorrent again so now it just does nothing. There are at least a dozen different solutions found on the internet. I have tried all of them multiple times and rebooted multiple times. None of them work.

if it doesn't open in chrome, and doesn't open in uTorrent then its not a instant.io issue, but a uTorrent issue, again, you can manually change magnet protocol handler program under "Choose default apps by protocol" in your system settings

instant.io changed the chrome handler without asking so it all started with that. Choose default apps by protocol setting in the latest stable version of Windows 10 does not have an option for MAGNET on Windows 10 PRO PC and on another PC with Windows 10 Home it only allows selecting Chrome. Both PC's have the latest stable version of Windows 10. Instant.io broke both of them even though I only visited instant.io on one of the PC's. Chrome synced the settings to the other PC which then broke that one.

This is definitely related to something instant.io did. It could also be something flaky with latest stable Chrome and instant.io exposed the problem by changing the protocol handler without asking.

[sdwru]

I seem to have gotten it working again by installing Deluge, which then popped up the Chrome window asking to make it the default torrent client and for magnetic links. I did that and then uninstalled it. The next time I ran uTorrent it asked to make it the default client. Then the next time I clicked on a magnetic link in Chrome then Chrome finally popped up the window asking to make uTorrent the default torrent client and now magnetic links work.

The key was to get Chrome to ask that. and I could not do that until I installed Deluge then Chrome started working. What started all this was instant.io doing the same thing without asking. It also breaks something because the next time I open uTorrent it should ask to take back ownership of magnetic links but it does not. Perhaps it has something to do with instant.io taking ownership, without asking, of just magnetic links and not magnetic links + .torrent files. I already tried retaking ownership inside uTorrent preferences and that didn't fix it so that is not the solution. There is more to it than that and the blame does not rest wholly on uTorrent or Chrome.

[sdwru]

I seem to have gotten it working on one PC but not another. The difference is the one it is working on does NOT have a MAGNET URI protocol in the "Choose default apps by protocol" settings area of Windows 10. It is a Windows 10 Pro PC and the other one is Home version. They both have exactly the same revision number.

Anyways, this all worked before instant.io re-assigned magnetic links without asking. So that is what started it all. Windows10 most likely had Chrome assigned to Magnetic links and Chrome was making the choice what app to use. Now Chrome does not ask me what app to use anymore on one PC. It doesn't do anything at all anymore when magnetic links are clicked. So I don't think the root cause is the Windows 10 protocol setting.

[sdwru]

The new way to access handlers in Chrome is chrome://settings/handlers. All the other answers on the internet for older versions of Chrome are all wrong now. I confirmed that "Allow sites to ask to become default handlers for protocols" is enabled. Before when I went in there instant.io was selected for magnetic links. That is what broke one PC and now after removing it nothing happens at all when magnetic links are clicked. On the PC it is still working on, there is no selection in that Chrome setting for magnetic links. So instant.io adding itself to Chrome handler for magnetic links is what broke it originally.

I searched the windows 10 registry to make sure there is no trace of anything related to instant.io in there or anything related to magnetic links that are not assigned to uTorrent. So it must be something that got changed on Chrome itself, where it no longers asks to open magnetic links after you click them.

[1265578519]

感谢楼上提供的方法，通过 chrome://settings/handlers 允许网站要求成为协议的默认处理程序（推荐） 移除 instant.io 后问题解决

[sdwru]

Even though that is in Chinese I know what it is showing because I already did that and a LOT more. It does not fix the problem for me.

[HAL9000-1208]

I'm having the same problem on Tixati, even tried to make Deluge the default handler and then uninstall it but it doesn't change anything... This bloody website completely screwed my magnets

[ThaUnknown]

I don't think a single person here mentioned an instant.io issue, these are issues with the browser you're using [wrong protocol handling?] or with the torrent clients that you use [no re-request for protocol handler permissions]

https://github.com/webtorrent/instant.io/issues/244#issuecomment-829198201

this showed perfectly what you need to do to disable said protocol handler, any further issues than this, are either caused by the browser, OS or whatever client you use.

if what the video showed above doesn't work go to and change if the app you want to use isn't there, then this is a client issue, and you should probably report this to the client you want to use

you can also manually edit the protocol handler in regedit under Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\magnet

[sdwru]

I don't think a single person here mentioned an instant.io issue, these are issues with the browser you're using [wrong protocol handling?] or with the torrent clients that you use [no re-request for protocol handler permissions]

#244 (comment)

this showed perfectly what you need to do to disable said protocol handler, any further issues than this, are either caused by the browser, OS or whatever client you use.

if what the video showed above doesn't work go to and change if the app you want to use isn't there, then this is a client issue, and you should probably report this to the client you want to use

you can also manually edit the protocol handler in regedit under Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\magnet

As I already mentioned repeatedly, none of those things worked.

[ThaUnknown]

I don't think a single person here mentioned an instant.io issue, these are issues with the browser you're using [wrong protocol handling?] or with the torrent clients that you use [no re-request for protocol handler permissions] #244 (comment) this showed perfectly what you need to do to disable said protocol handler, any further issues than this, are either caused by the browser, OS or whatever client you use. if what the video showed above doesn't work go to and change if the app you want to use isn't there, then this is a client issue, and you should probably report this to the client you want to use you can also manually edit the protocol handler in regedit under Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\magnet

As I already mentioned repeatedly, none of those things worked.

if by

As I already mentioned repeatedly, none of those things worked.

you mean that clicking on magnet links does nothing, then again this is probably an issue with your torrent client.

[HAL9000-1208]

I don't think a single person here mentioned an instant.io issue, these are issues with the browser you're using [wrong protocol handling?] or with the torrent clients that you use [no re-request for protocol handler permissions]

#244 (comment)

this showed perfectly what you need to do to disable said protocol handler, any further issues than this, are either caused by the browser, OS or whatever client you use.

if what the video showed above doesn't work go to and change if the app you want to use isn't there, then this is a client issue, and you should probably report this to the client you want to use

you can also manually edit the protocol handler in regedit under Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\magnet

It isn't a instant.io issue, but it was CAUSED by instant.io... I've never had this kind of problem before stumbling on this website, and after trying to install several other programs I'm still unable to fix the problem, evidently instant.io has changed something that wasn't supposed to...

[ThaUnknown]

evidently instant.io has changed something that wasn't supposed to...

no... it used a standardized API, there's nothing wrong with that, just because you've never used a website that did that before [duh.] doesn't mean it's an instantIO issue, again, if nothing happens when clicking magnet links even after any of the fixes I suggested then contact the respective torrent client devs because it's an issue on their end now [they don't have an option for re-requesting magnet permissions]. re-installing your torrent client should also do the trick tho.

[1265578519]

显然，instant.io改变了原本不应该的东西...

不...它使用了标准化的API，这没什么不对，只是因为您从未使用过一个在[duh。]之前没有这样做的网站，但这并不意味着它是一个InstantIO问题，再次，如果在单击磁铁时没有任何反应链接，即使在我建议了任何修复措施之后，也要联系各自的torrent客户端开发人员，因为这在他们端而言是个问题[他们没有重新申请磁铁权限的选项]。重新安装您的洪流客户端也应该做到这一点。

目前我没有见到有任何一款BT客户端会使用这个api，让他把 计算机\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\magnet 这个文件夹删除试一下

[HAL9000-1208]

evidently instant.io has changed something that wasn't supposed to...

no... it used a standardized API, there's nothing wrong with that, just because you've never used a website that did that before [duh.] doesn't mean it's an instantIO issue, again, if nothing happens when clicking magnet links even after any of the fixes I suggested then contact the respective torrent client devs because it's an issue on their end now [they don't have an option for re-requesting magnet permissions]. re-installing your torrent client should also do the trick tho.

I appreciate your reply, I've tried re-installing the clients and they have re-requested the magnet permissions but it still doesn't work (I've tried with Tixati, Bittorrent, Deluge and Vuze)... That said I've also posted on the Tixati's forum, I guess I'll have to see what they'll say there. Regardless doesn't change the fact that this website changed my magnet handler without asking for permission, that in my mind is a pretty scummy thing to do.

[1265578519]

我使用bitcomet，不知道它是否正常？勾选后会对这个注册表新建值 magnet:?xt=urn:btih:5a065251754c7d5ce436c81808a09ad9da537381

[HAL9000-1208]

显然，instant.io改变了原本不应该的东西...

不...它使用了标准化的API，这没什么不对，只是因为您从未使用过一个在[duh。]之前没有这样做的网站，但这并不意味着它是一个InstantIO问题，再次，如果在单击磁铁时没有任何反应链接，即使在我建议了任何修复措施之后，也要联系各自的torrent客户端开发人员，因为这在他们端而言是个问题[他们没有重新申请磁铁权限的选项]。重新安装您的洪流客户端也应该做到这一点。

目前我没有见到有任何一款BT客户端会使用这个api，让他把 计算机\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\magnet 这个文件夹删除试一下

I do not understand Chinese (or Japanese I don't know exactly which this is) but from the photo you posted I seem to get that you're suggesting to delete the magnet registry... I had checked those but because I didn't wanted to break things I've left them alone, thanks for the advice I'll try to do that and see if it works.

[HAL9000-1208]

@1265578519 I've tried to delete the registry, install your client (BitComet), gave it permission to handle my magnet links and rebooted the system, for what I can tell my registry is now as yours and yet it still does not work, checking the default apps by protocol still shows Chrome as the magnet handler and it doesn't give me the option to change it with BitComet...

[sdwru]

@1265578519 I've tried to delete the registry, install your client (BitComet), gave it permission to handle my magnet links and rebooted the system, for what I can tell my registry is now as yours and yet it still does not work, checking the default apps by protocol still shows Chrome as the magnet handler and it doesn't give me the option to change it with BitComet...

That is consistent with what I found as well. The solutions on the internet (and being posted here) do not work or are no longer valid. I am quite sure it does not have anything to do with the settings in Windows registry. It has everything to do with instant.io, or any other site using the software, changing the magnetic link setting in Chrome without asking.

Trying to undo those changes, as I have said multiple times now, does not resolve the problem. For some reason people keep re-posting that same solution that 100% definitely does not work.

[1265578519]

我在联系bitcomet的开发者让他们更新客户端api了。

[thymue]

Today I was trying to fix the same thing on my PC

• I believe I deleted some mention of magnet from Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Google Chrome\Capabilities\URLAssociations or Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Google Chrome\Capabilities\URLAssociations

• and I may have also removed some keys that had a name related to both Chrome and magnet(I think it was something like ChromeHTML_magnet) from random paths using the CTRL+F feature

then restarted my PC and it fixed the issue for me.

[HAL9000-1208]

Today I was trying to fix the same thing on my PC

• I believe I deleted some mention of magnet from Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Google Chrome\Capabilities\URLAssociations or Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Google Chrome\Capabilities\URLAssociations
• and I may have also removed some keys that had a name related to both Chrome and magnet(I think it was something like ChromeHTML_magnet) from random paths using the CTRL+F feature

then restarted my PC and it fixed the issue for me.

@Thymue Finally some advice that actually works, THANK YOU SO MUCH! ...I had basically lost all hopes to ever use magnets again on my PC, you totally made my day! ^0^

@sdwru It might work for you as well, following Thymue advice I've tried to delete the magnet association located in: "Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Google Chrome\Capabilities\URLAssociations" (just copy and paste it in the address bar of Regedit), because I didn't want to screw too much with the registry unlike Thymue I've deleted only that and did a system reboot, next time I tried to use a magnet it finally asked me permission to launch my client (TIXATI)... I'm guessing that it will work for yours also :-D

[sdwru]

Today I was trying to fix the same thing on my PC

• I believe I deleted some mention of magnet from Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Google Chrome\Capabilities\URLAssociations or Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Google Chrome\Capabilities\URLAssociations
• and I may have also removed some keys that had a name related to both Chrome and magnet(I think it was something like ChromeHTML_magnet) from random paths using the CTRL+F feature

then restarted my PC and it fixed the issue for me.

@Thymue Finally some advice that actually works, THANK YOU SO MUCH! ...I had basically lost all hopes to ever use magnets again on my PC, you totally made my day! ^0^

@sdwru It might work for you as well, following Thymue advice I've tried to delete the magnet association located in: "Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Google Chrome\Capabilities\URLAssociations" (just copy and paste it in the address bar of Regedit), because I didn't want to screw too much with the registry unlike Thymue I've deleted only that and did a system reboot, next time I tried to use a magnet it finally asked me permission to launch my client (TIXATI)... I'm guessing that it will work for yours also :-D

Unfortunately, this didn't fix the issue for me.

[easrng]

without asking

Chrome will never make a site default for a protocol without asking. It only adds a small icon to the address bar. If you click it, it asks if you want to use the site as a protocol handler. This is the only way Chrome will make a site a protocol handler.

Firefox is similar, it adds a banner to the top of the window.

[dk93mess]

I just ran in to this exact issue a couple days ago and, just like @sdwru says, everything on the web is outdated. Everyone saying this isn't happening is wrong. I clicked what I thought was a regular magnet on Reddit , it opened instant.io (first time I've ever seen this site) and it did nothing. Shortly after, I clicked a magnet from a site I regularly visit and it took me to instant.io - not what I wanted. Removing the handler from Chrome removed the redirect but now it does absolutely nothing. The tab icon "jiggles" so I know it's trying something but it won't pass the URI on to uTorrent or qbittorrent. Trying this in Firefox and it works as expected. Instant.io definitely broke something. Tried all the other fixes from around the web and in this thread and nothing has helped. It seems I'm in the exact same boat as @sdwru.

So, I have a second (possibly third) PC that I sync everything to Chrome-wise. I'm thinking of doing some diffs on the %appdata%\Chrome files. I guess I'll start with the %appdata%\Google\Chrome[Profile Folder] and start from there. If anyone has any suggestions that could narrow my focus, I'd appreciate it.

CAVEAT This second PC is on my work VPN with a NetNanny. I don't think I'd even be able to access a site that has magnets, but I don't believe this is a Chrome-wide issue. I have a strong feeling that instant.io changed something, somewhere, only on this PC. If anything, my "managed by organization" PC should be somewhat cleaner than my daily beater.

[HAL9000-1208]

@dk93mess did you tried to delete the magnet association located in: "Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Google Chrome\Capabilities\URLAssociations" (just copy and paste it in the address bar of Regedit), and do a reboot?... It fixed the problem for me, it didn't work for sdwru but you might have more luck, regardless I think you are right in saying that it's not a Chrome wide issue, seeing how I managed to fix it I think that Instant.io might for some reason corrupt the registry of the specific PC from which you accessed the website.

[HAL9000-1208]

without asking

Chrome will never make a site default for a protocol without asking. It only adds a small icon to the address bar. If you click it, it asks if you want to use the site as a protocol handler. This is the only way Chrome will make a site a protocol handler.

Firefox is similar, it adds a banner to the top of the window.

I'm aware of how Chrome usually behaves but there was nothing usual about the situation, I assure you that I did not click on anything that would set Instant.io as my magnet handler... After stumbling on the website, seeing that at a glance it looked sus, I merely closed the tab. I do not know why or how Chrome changed the handler without asking, I just know that it did...

[dk93mess]

@dk93mess did you tried to delete the magnet association located in: "Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Google Chrome\Capabilities\URLAssociations" (just copy and paste it in the address bar of Regedit), and do a reboot?... It fixed the problem for me, it didn't work for sdwru but you might have more luck, regardless I think you are right in saying that it's not a Chrome wide issue, seeing how I managed to fix it I think that Instant.io might for some reason corrupt the registry of the specific PC from which you accessed the website.

I did indeed. After that, clicking a magnet would only open a blank chrome tab in a new window, so I reverted just to eliminate variables. I also pointed all the class\magent strings straight to utorrent.exe with no success. Those are still intact.

I don't think it's a reg issue because firefox still opens magnets properly and obeys the associations between uT and qBittorrent, however I have the file associations set the the respective apps. A reg issue would affect all magnets in most cases. I strongly believe that something in the Chrome %appdata% got messed with and I think that instant.io has something in their code that doesn't follow protocol, so that when you remove it from handlers, it doesn't remove everything it initially pushed. BTW, I probably hit "accept" on the popup, believing that I was getting a magnet for something I was looking for. I'm not sure. It may have been a prompt-less redirect, Did it say "make instant.io your default"? I don't think so. Did it say something like "do you want to download files from instant.io"? Maybe. I just don't remember.

The real shame is that instant.io looks like a decent trackerless app that has potential to move huge amounts of data P2P, but now that this has happened, I can't trust it and won't use it.

[sdwru]

People keep recommending the same solutions over and over again as if we haven't tried them all. I know I have at least 3x. Whatever the problem is, none of the solutions out there work and most are obsolete anyways.

[dk93mess]

This is where it all started for me... I read something about Elon Musk taking down this video under DMCA, so I went to find it. I didn't know what instant.io was and it looked like a hash, so I clicked it. This click broke my magnets. You can visit the link below, but the instant.io link at the top is what did it for me.

https://www.reddit.com/r/RealTesla/comments/mdjfiy/torrent_link_elon_musk_is_a_con_artist_teslas/

[sdwru]

I basically just gave up which is rare for me. I found an alternate way to add magnetic links that only takes a couple more clicks so I am just living with it.

[computator]

The proper way to remove handlers that are set in chrome itself is to go to chrome://settings/handlers instead of messing with the registry or something which is likely to mess something up or only partially remove things.

[dk93mess]

The proper way to remove handlers that are set in chrome itself is to go to chrome://settings/handlers instead of messing with the registry or something which is likely to mess something up or only partially remove things.

Dude, this has been mentioned so many times and it's the obvious solution. It doesn't work. That's the first thing I (probably all of us) did and it didn't fix the problem. Removing it from handlers partially caused the problem. You would click on a standard magnet and it would open instant.io. Removing it from handlers in Chrome made it do nothing.

[computator]

I searched the thread first actually. It was only mentioned a few times (one of which was you, and only indirectly). The handler settings are not easy to find if you don't know where to look (or to look in the first place). There are people complaining it works everywhere but in chrome, in which case clearing it in handlers should revert to whatever is set in the system (which may or may not have it's own issues) instead of it being handled in chrome.

[dk93mess]

I'm currently making a sandbox with my broken and working User Data folders. I'm going to start with the files directly under User Data, like Last Version and Local State, like all the out of date "fixes" suggest modifying. I've noticed that my beater PC's User Data is 3.6 GB while my work PC's is ~5.5 GB. I'm curious why the difference.

[dk93mess]

I searched the thread first actually. It was only mentioned a few times (one of which was you, and only indirectly). The handler settings are not easy to find if you don't know where to look (or to look in the first place). There are people complaining it works everywhere but in chrome, in which case clearing it in handlers should revert to whatever is set in the system (which may or may not have it's own issues) instead of it being handled in chrome.

If you Google something like "instant.io broken magnet" you'll see that this has been going on for a while. Us here that have problems have gone through all these many times, from Chrome handlers to regedits to %appdata% fixes. This is why users above are saying "People keep recommending the same solutions over and over". We've gone through the basics. Shit's broken.

[sdwru]

The proper way to remove handlers that are set in chrome itself is to go to chrome://settings/handlers instead of messing with the registry or something which is likely to mess something up or only partially remove things.

Do you seriously think we did not try that?

[computator]

There's a lot of people in this thread and the settings are hard to find once one has already been selected. I'm sure some were not aware of how to get to them to remove.

[sdwru]

There's a lot of people in this thread and the settings are hard to find once one has already been selected. I'm sure some were not aware of how to get to them to remove.

I know you are just trying to help but frankly all you are doing is polluting the thread. This is github. We are all sprinters here and you are trying to explain to people how to tie their shoes.

[feross]

Hi everyone, sorry that instant.io is causing trouble for you. Unfortunately, this isn't an issue that we can fix on our end.

We're using the navigator.registerProtocolHandler web API to give users the option to set instant.io as their magnet: handler. The browser is not supposed to register a new handler without user consent, so this is certainly a browser bug.

The only way to fix this issue is to file a bug with your browser vendor. Here are quick links to file bugs for the most common browser engines:

• File a Firefox bug
• File a Chrome bug
• File a Safari bug

There's no way for us to fix this issue from within our website. Even if we remove the call to navigator.registerProtocolHandler, any other website could call the same API and you'd experience the same problem. This should really get fixed in the browser itself.

[QiTianzu]

Hello, I'm using Edge Chromium browser which has the same kernel as Chrome, but unfortunately it can't go to edge://settings//handlers, I searched in Google with "edge chromium protocol handler settings" as the keyword, then found an article titled "Edge Chromium protocol handler always open these types of links in the associated app", it provides a way to insert a record into the preferences file found in C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge SxS\User Data\Default to make Edge Chromium protocol handler always open these types of links in the associated application options, so I think if want to cancel the association, maybe just need to delete some records. After deleted some entries containing "instant.io" in the Preferences file, I found the association has canceled.

[sun1595]

There's a lot of people in this thread and the settings are hard to find once one has already been selected. I'm sure some were not aware of how to get to them to remove.

I know you are just trying to to help but frankly all you are doing is polluting the thread. This is github. We are all sprinters here and you are trying to explain to people how to tie their shoes.

This should fix the issue

1) Open regedit and navigate to - Computer\HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-415741439-3894619597-271833724-1001\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\MAGNET\UserChoice

There you will find a String Value named 'ProgId' which will be set to ChromeHTML_Magnet or something like that. Delete that String Value and Recreate a String Value with The same name ProgId. That's it. Just leave it. You don't need to type in any value/data.

2) Next Navigate to - Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Google Chrome\Capabilities\URLAssociations and delete the String Value "magnet".

Reboot windows and the issue should be fixed. Next time you open chrome and click on a magnetic link it should ask you whether you want to open the magnetic link in your default torrent client.

[sdwru]

There's a lot of people in this thread and the settings are hard to find once one has already been selected. I'm sure some were not aware of how to get to them to remove.

I know you are just trying to to help but frankly all you are doing is polluting the thread. This is github. We are all sprinters here and you are trying to explain to people how to tie their shoes.

This should fix the issue

1. Open regedit and navigate to - Computer\HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-415741439-3894619597-271833724-1001\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\MAGNET\UserChoice

There you will find a String Value named 'ProgId' which will be set to ChromeHTML_Magnet or something like that. Delete that String Value and Recreate a String Value with The same name ProgId. That's it. Just leave it. You don't need to type in any value/data.

1. Next Navigate to - Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Google Chrome\Capabilities\URLAssociations and delete the String Value "magnet".

Reboot windows and the issue should be fixed. Next time you open chrome and click on a magnetic link it should ask you whether you want to open the magnetic link in your default torrent client.

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, this didn't work either. I tried it twice and double-checked everything.

[sun1595]

There's a lot of people in this thread and the settings are hard to find once one has already been selected. I'm sure some were not aware of how to get to them to remove.

I know you are just trying to to help but frankly all you are doing is polluting the thread. This is github. We are all sprinters here and you are trying to explain to people how to tie their shoes.

This should fix the issue

1. Open regedit and navigate to - Computer\HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-415741439-3894619597-271833724-1001\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\MAGNET\UserChoice

There you will find a String Value named 'ProgId' which will be set to ChromeHTML_Magnet or something like that. Delete that String Value and Recreate a String Value with The same name ProgId. That's it. Just leave it. You don't need to type in any value/data.

1. Next Navigate to - Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Google Chrome\Capabilities\URLAssociations and delete the String Value "magnet".

Reboot windows and the issue should be fixed. Next time you open chrome and click on a magnetic link it should ask you whether you want to open the magnetic link in your default torrent client.

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, this didn't work either. I tried it twice and double-checked everything.

Then I guess instant.io has broken something in your windows os that cannot be fixed by these troubleshooting methods. The only option left is to format your hdd and reinstall windows.

The above mentioned method worked for me. I am using MS Edge Chromium and this issue started when I searched for online torrent downloading websites where instant.io came up. I accidently gave some permissions or set it to default that I don't remember now. My MS Edge had been like that for more than 3 months. Last night I came across this thread and tried the registry editor methods. Then I started searching for magnet in the registry editor (Ctrl+F), started exploring the registry, saw the "Progid" and decided to give it a try. It worked. Now I will always remember to never ever give any permissions or set anything to default even by mistake. This website really screwed with my MS Edge and tested my patience for so long that I actually gave up fixing it :D