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How can I download a file unattended using wget (for example, I want to download a large ISO file in the background)?

Unheilig
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subZero
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1 Answers1

43
wget -bqc http://path.com/url.iso

where:

-b : Go to background immediately after startup. If no output file is specified via the -o, output is redirected to wget-log.

-q : Turn off Wget's output (saves some disk space)

-c : Resume broken download i.e. continue getting a partially-downloaded file. This is useful when you want to finish up a download started by a previous instance of Wget, or by another program.

Alternative method:

Use nohup like this:

nohup wget http://domain.com/dvd.iso &
exit

Thanks to: nixCraft

subZero
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    nohup wget http://domain.com/dvd.iso > /dev/null 2>&1 & similar question here http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4797050/how-to-run-process-as-background-and-never-die – David Okwii Dec 09 '14 at 20:38
  • To see if the process is indeed running after exiting from shell and logging again, type `top` or `htop` command. `jobs -l` does not list the process once exited from the shell and logging again. – CKM Mar 01 '17 at 04:59