Last updated Jul 1, 2026

Configure Download Client (SABnzbd)#

SABnzbd is already running. This step connects it to your Usenet provider and sets up the categories that Sonarr and Radarr use to identify their downloads.

Open SABnzbd at http://<docker-vm-ip>:8080.

Add your Usenet provider#

Go to Config → Servers → Add Server:

Field	Value
Server	`news.newshosting.com`
Port	`563`
SSL	Yes
Username	Your Newshosting username
Password	Your Newshosting password
Connections	Check your plan limit (10–20 is typical)

Click Test Server. A green result means SABnzbd can reach and authenticate with the server.

Set up categories#

Categories tell SABnzbd which subfolder to use for completed downloads, and let Sonarr and Radarr find their files.

Go to Config → Categories:

Name	Folder
`movies`	`movies`
`tv`	`tv`

Leave the other fields at their defaults.

The full download path will be /downloads/movies and /downloads/tv inside the container — which maps to /mnt/media/downloads/movies and /mnt/media/downloads/tv on the host.

Copy the API key#

Go to Config → General and copy the SABnzbd API Key. You will need it when adding SABnzbd as a download client in Sonarr and Radarr.

Security and cleanup settings#

These are set once and prevent fake releases and junk files from landing in your library.

Go to Config → Switches.

Unwanted extensions#

SABnzbd inspects archives before finishing a job. If it finds a file with one of these extensions, it aborts the download. This catches fake releases (disguised as executables) and anything potentially malicious.

Set Unwanted extensions to:

exe, com, bat, cmd, msi, scr, sfx, js, jse, vbs, vbe, ps1, ps2, jar, htm, html, url, lnk

Set Action on unwanted extensions to Abort job.

Cleanup list#

Files matching this list are deleted silently after a successful download. They serve no purpose in a Sonarr/Radarr library.

Set Cleanup list to:

nfo, sfv, srr, nzb, txt, md5

Samples and nested archives#

Enable Ignore samples: removes small preview video files included in some releases.
Disable Recursive unpacking: prevents SABnzbd from extracting archives inside archives, which can produce unexpected extra files.

Result#

SABnzbd is connected to Newshosting and ready to receive jobs. Categories, security filters, and cleanup rules are configured.

Continue to Configure Indexers (Prowlarr).