Download from Baidu Pan without the client: Mac, Linux, work PCs
Why pan.baidu.com sends you to its desktop app, what the official apps require, and how to download a share in any browser instead.
When you click Download on a Baidu Pan share, the website often asks you to install the Baidu Netdisk app instead of starting the download. You can get the files without it: PanPull downloads the share for you and gives you an ordinary download in your browser, on any computer.
Why the website asks for the app
Downloading from a share page needs a Baidu login. Even after you log in, the website sends larger files, folders and downloads of several files at once to the desktop app. People outside China often report that the link only shows a Chinese prompt to install Baidu Netdisk.
The app is the official way to download, but it brings its own hurdles:
- It is in Chinese only.
- It needs a Baidu account, and signing up needs a phone number Baidu accepts. See signing up outside China.
- Free accounts download slowly in the app too. See why Baidu Pan is so slow.
The official apps for Mac and Linux
Baidu publishes Baidu Netdisk for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS, and a Linux version as .deb and .rpm packages. Download them only from pan.baidu.com/download. On every system the app needs a Baidu account and is in Chinese.
When you cannot install software
Work and university computers often block new software, and you may not want a background app on your own machine for one download. A browser download avoids both: nothing to install, no Baidu login, and the file arrives like any other download.
Download a share in your browser
- Paste the share link into the link checker, with the extraction code if needed.
- Check the number of files, the total size and the price.
- Sign in with your PanPull email and password, check the price, and pay with PayPal or a card. Orders up to 150 MB are free.
- Download from your order page when it is ready. One file arrives as it is; several files arrive as one ZIP archive that keeps the folders.
Open the ZIP on a Mac or Linux
On a Mac, double-click the ZIP to extract it. On Linux, use your file manager or run unzip followed by the file name in a terminal. Extracting needs about as much free space again as the ZIP itself.
Use PanPull only for files you have the right to download.
Paste your share link
Check the total size first. You will see the full price before checkout; checking a link does not charge you.