FAQ

Technical Questions

How much bandwidth does Wuala consume?

You can configure the maximum amount of bandwidth Wuala will use in the options under "Connection" (Win/Linux: Extras > Tools > Connection; Mac: Wuala > Preferences > Connection). For best performance, we recommend to set the upload and download bandwidth to about 10% below the bandwidth of your internet connection. This allows for high throughput without causing high latency.

Why is my uptime so low?

When you start, your average uptime is estimated to be 10% and then adjusted daily. When permanently online, you should see a daily increase of about 3%. However, as your uptime climbs up, it gets harder to further increase it. Please note that uptime online counts if your internet connection allows for trading storage.

What is filesystem integration?

Filesystem integration allows application to directly access files stored in Wuala. If this is enabled and working, music and video files can be watched before they have been completely downloaded. If it is disabled, Wuala will download and copy the files to a temporary directory first when you double-click on them and then open them from there. You can manually enable or disable this feature in the options (Win/Linux: Tools > Options > General; Mac: Wuala > Preferences > General).

How does the filesystem integration work?

With filesystem integration enabled, Wuala creates a network drive to which your operating system can connect. On Mac OS X, this is done using the NFS protocol, on Windows we are using the SMB protocol. Unfortunately, this does not always work and on windows, it might take a while until it is ready. You can check if it works in the options under general.

How do I know if the filesystem integration works?

You can check this is your preferences. Go to Tools > Options > General (Win/Linux) or Wuala > Preferences > General (Mac). Here it will say whether or not the filesystem integration is running.

What is portmap and why does Wuala need admin rights to set it up (Mac only)?

In order to enable filesystem integration on Mac OS X, portmap (a service of Mac OS X) needs to be running. Wuala can automatically start portmap und configure it to start automatically on startup. However, admin privileges are required to do so. So when enabling filesystem integration, you will be asked for your admin password. If you prefer to do this manually, just copy the file com.caleido.portmap.plist that can be found in the Wuala application bundle to /Library/LaunchDaemons/ and restart your system.

Can other computers access my files with NFS/SMB?

No, Wuala's filesystem integration is configured to only serve files to your computer. It does not accept external connections. Allowing them would pose a security risk.

How can I setup filesystem integration on Linux?

Wuala has a built-in NFS server and tries to mount a NFS share in the folder named 'direct'. For this to succeed, portmap and nfs-common must be installed (e.g. 'sudo apt-get install portmap nfs-common' to install them). Furthermore, you need to create an entry in /etc/fstab that looks like this:

localhost:/wuala /home/yourname/wuala/direct nfs defaults,users,noauto,rsize=8192,wsize=8192,timeo=60,acregmin=10,noac,intr,nolock,soft

If there is already another NFS server running on your computer, you can avoid conflicts by starting Wuala with the option -noportmapregistration that lets Wuala skip registering its server with the portmapper. In that case, you need to add additional mount parameters in the /etc/fstab entry:

nfsvers=3,mountvers=3,port=26184,mountport=26183

Unfortunately, bypassing the portmapper does not seem to work with Ubuntu.

How can I limit the amount of memory Wuala uses?

Under Linux, you can set a memory limit by adapting the startup script. The following command limits Wuala's memory usage to e.g. 128 MB: java -Xmx128M -jar ...

Under Windows, you can set the memory limit by editing the Wuala.vmoptions file, which can be found in the installation directory.

The more memory Wuala gets, the less likely it is that it crashes when downloading large files or scaling large images.

Why does my proxy block Wuala?

Proxy server allows networks to connect to each other. Proxy servers are commonly found on corporate networks. If you are unable to get Wuala working in your corporate network, it could be that your company uses a proxy server.

How do I know if I'm online or not?

If look at the bottom left of the Wuala window you will see a green, red or yellow circle. Green means online, red means offline. Yellow means that there is an internet connection, but Wuala was unable to connect with the network.

Are there any Linux packages?

Currently there is one Linux package that is being maintained by one of our user: A package for Arch Linux by Chris.Giles. Additionally, there is a Debian script by tsukasa. This script can also be used under Ubuntu.

I found a bug in Wuala! Where do I report it?

Please submit the bug in our bugtracker (no registration required). A short description how to submit the bug can be found here.

Which temporary directory does Wuala use? Can I change this?

Wuala uses the temporary directory of your operating system. Currently you cannot change this. This temporary directory is used when Wuala is not yet installed on your computer. As soon as Wuala has been installed, Wuala uses the data directory (e.g. C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\Luzius\Anwendungsdaten\Wuala) for most data.

How do I uninstall Wuala?

Windows XP:

Just delete the Wuala folder and remove the program menu entry. The Wuala folder can be found at %APPDATA%\Wuala (that could for example be C:\Documents and Settings\Luzius\Application Data\Wuala).

Windows Vista:

Just delete the Wuala folder and remove the program menu entry. The Wuala folder can be found at %APPDATA%\..\Local\Wuala (that could for example be C:\Users\Luzius\AppData\Local\Wuala). Furthermore, you might also want to remove %APPDATA%\Wuala which stores login information.

On OS X:

Just delete \Users\YOURNAME\Library\Application Support\Wuala and remove Wuala from your applications.

On Linux:

Just delete the folder where you have installed Wuala. By default, that's ~/wuala. Warning: Do not delete the folder while wuala is running as this might result in all your wuala files being deleted if you have enabled direct access and rm tries to delete the folders in the mapped folder (e.g. ~/wuala/direct).

Wuala and 64bit Gentoo Linux

To run Wuala on a 64bit Gentoo Linux, you have to install a 32bit Java Virtual Machine (JVM):

• install 32bit Java
  emerge -av emul-linux-x86-java
• show available JVMs
  java-config -L
• choose the 32bit version
  java-config -S emul-linux-x86-java-1.6
• start Wuala
  ./wuala
• You can switch back to the 64bit JVM with 'java-config -S ..'.

What is the compatibility mode?

With compatibility mode set, all up- and download traffic is led to our servers and you will not use the Wuala-Network. This enables you to use Wuala when you cannot connect via UDP or having problems while using Wuala due to a bad internet connection. Please note that trading space is not possible when the compatibility mode is set. You can activate the compatibility mode in your preferences: Tools > Options > Connection (Win/Linux) or Wuala > Preferences > Connection (Mac).

The Dokan File System Integration doesn't start

• Make sure you don't already have a drive with the Wuala drive letter mounted. Try changing the drive letter Wuala is using in the "General" section of the Wuala options.
• There have been cases where Dokan could not be properly installed. To reinstall dokan, you can remove Dokan via the Windows control panel. You now need to restart your computer and start Wuala again. When you restart Wuala, you should be prompted to install Wuala again.
• In case want to install Dokan manually, you can get the installer program here: http://cdn.wuala.com/files/DokanSetup-20100126.exe

What is Dokan?

Dokan is a Windows file system driver. Dokan allows programs like Wuala to integrate their data into Windows as a regular hard disk drive. You can learn more about Dokan at http://dokan-dev.net/en/. The Wuala file system integration uses a patched version of Dokan 0.4.2.