
(In the Soulseek Qt client, you will only be given this option if you already have privileges).

The easiest way is to donate through the client so that you receive privileges. There are two ways to go about doing this. To find out which port number your Soulseek client is listening on, go to Options->General options in the original Soulseek client, or Options->Login in SoulseekQt. Check this list of guides to see if one is available for your router brand. You can also try to manually configure your router to forward Soulseek's listening port. Although not very common, it's also possible that your Internet service provider has your connection set up in such a way that you can't accept incoming TCP connections. Both the original client and SoulseekQt use a protocol named UPnP to configure your router to recognize the listening port, but some routers (most notably Apple routers) don't support UPnP.

If you're behind a router, your router might be blocking traffic to your listening port. As Soulseek attempts each peer connection in both directions, you should be able to connect to almost any other user if your listening port is accessible.

Under certain fairly common circumstances, the listening port may not be accessible to the outside world. The Soulseek client sets up a listening port to accept incoming TCP connections. To browse a user's files, you need to be able to form a network (TCP) connection to that user, and not every two users on Soulseek can connect to each other.
