Sonarr is one of the best services for TV show download automation. Just like SickRage, it allows you to create watch lists and automatically download them when they are available. Unfortunately, automatic Sonarr unrar after download is not possible and this hurts your experience. You can read our comparison of Sonarr vs Sickrage showing the differences between the two and choose the one that fits best for your use case. Today we will be talking about how to make Sonarr extract RAR archives. In the past, to make Sonarr unrar automatically you needed to run a script in your torrent. But this is much easier now. So let's see how to extract RAR files on Sonarr automatically after a completed download. [Read: How to install Sonarrlink on Android to control Sonarr remotely?]

Prerequisites to extract RAR files on Sonarr automatically

First, make sure that Sonarr is installed and configured correctly. If you have not installed Sonarr yet, check our guide on how to install Sonarr on Windows, Ubuntu, or install Sonarr in Docker. [Read: How to install Sonarr on Docker using Kitematic GUI?]

Next, ensure that the download client is installed correctly and has a dedicated downloads folder. I recommend using qBittorrent. However, you can use any torrent client supported by Sonarr.

Sonarr unrar after download is not possible - How do you achieve that?

RAR file extraction on Sonarr is not possible by default. We need another unrar tool to do this automatically. ExtractNow monitors the Completed Downloads folder and unrars the detected files. Because it sports a graphical user interface, it is simple to install and configure.

Download the ExtractNow installer by navigating to the download page, and click on the Download Now button.

Next, double click on the file you have just downloaded and installed it as a usual Windows program. Continue to the next step.

Make Sonarr extract RAR files after each completed download

After successfully installing ExtractNow, open it and click on the Settings button.

In the Settings window, click on the Monitor tab then click on the " + " button to add a monitored folder. You need to navigate to the folder where your download client saves the completed downloads.

After setting up the monitored folder, check the Automatically extract option then click the Save/Ok button. If everything is configured correctly, this is how the monitor looks like:

Each time Sonarr sends an archived torrent for download, ExtractNow unrars the files. Sonarr will move the media file according to the configuration.

Autostart the Sonarr extract RAR tool with Windows

If you want to start ExtractNow automatically with Windows, we need to copy the shortcut created in the install process to the Startup folder within Windows. To do that, press the Windows + R key combination to open the Run prompt then type shell:startup , then press OK to open the startup folder.

Now copy the shortcut to the File Explorer window you just opened like in the screenshot below:

ExtractNow will start each time you reboot your Windows.

Wrapping up

Until now, Sonarr unrar after download was one of the trickiest things to do. However, Sickrage users can migrate to Sonarr without losing functionality they use currently and improve their automated media download system. If you want to further automate your server, check our 9 Best Home Server Apps to Automate Media Management article where you will find other automation tools ready to install.