Direct answer. You were asked to sign in because this share has more than 100 files or more than 5 GiB (or both). Guests can finish public Baidu Pan shares at or under those caps; larger trees need a free site account. The count is the whole nested tree, not one folder row. Folders themselves do not count toward the 100 — every file under them does. This site account is not a Baidu account.
Most “why do I have to log in?” tickets are not about Baidu. Inspect already listed the share and showed file count plus size. The gate fired because the tree exceeds the guest allowance. Signing in here only lifts that product gate. You still never create a 百度账号, never enter a mainland phone number, and never hand us a Baidu password.
The guest gate in plain numbers
The rule is an OR, not an AND. A share needs a free site account if it has more than 100 files or more than 5 GiB. Crossing either line is enough. Staying under both is enough for a guest, behind Google reCAPTCHA when enabled. Inspect and submit share the same threshold.
That gate is enforced in the API as the single source of truth — not only in WordPress. Turning off a form field cannot bypass it. For the broader no-Baidu-login path, see download Baidu Netdisk without an account. We support Baidu Pan public shares only. Group shares that Baidu will not transfer fail for everyone; the problem is on Baidu’s transfer path, not on our size gate.
Whole-tree file count, not “one folder”
People often open a share that looks like a single folder icon and assume the gate sees “1 item”. It does not. Inspect walks the full tree before any job is created. Nested directories are listed; every regular file under them is counted. Folder nodes themselves are not added to the 100-file tally.
Shapes that surprise first-time users: one folder with 120 tiny JPEGs needs an account even at 40 MB; nested paths that expand to 80 files totaling 2 GiB stay guest-OK; a single 4 GiB ISO is guest-OK; a 6 GiB dump with 12 files still needs an account. If the owner later adds files, a new inspect sees the new tree.
Guest OK vs needs account — examples
Use this table as a quick check. “Files” means the whole nested tree after inspect, not Baidu’s top-level row count.
| Share shape | Files | Size | Guest? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1× 4 GiB file | 1 | 4 GiB | Yes — under both caps |
| 120 tiny files in one folder | 120 | e.g. 80 MB | No — over 100 files |
| 6 GiB folder (any file count) | any | 6 GiB | No — over 5 GiB |
| Nested folders, 80 files, 2 GiB | 80 | 2 GiB | Yes — under both caps |
| 101 files totaling 100 MB | 101 | 100 MB | No — over 100 files |
| 5.1 GiB single archive | 1 | 5.1 GiB | No — over 5 GiB |
Exactly 100 files and exactly 5 GiB stay guest-OK. “More than” either limit flips the form to Sign in.
Inspect lists the tree before a job exists
When you paste a share on the homepage, the first call is inspect, not job create. Inspect verifies the URL and 提取码 (extraction code), lists every nested path, and returns file count plus total bytes while the button says Checking…. Only if the share is allowed for your auth state does a job enter the SVIP pool.
If the share is gated, the form states why — over file count, over size, or both. There is no silent redirect. You can fix the input or create a free site account and resubmit. Nested folders are listed and pulled the same way flat shares are; the DB tree already holds every path.
Site account ≠ Baidu account
A Baidu account is what pan.baidu.com wants for your own drive. A site account here is only our product login. It lifts the guest size gate. It does not mount your Baidu cloud, open private folders that were never shared as a public /s/ link, or replace the extraction code.
Guests never log into Baidu either. Transfer uses a rotating SVIP pool; your browser never holds that cookie. After completion you download links.txt for IDM. Those URLs point at object storage, not Baidu hotlinks — see also why Baidu is slow outside China.
What the gate does not change
Signing in does not make group shares work. If Baidu refuses transfer for a 群分享 or enterprise share, the job fails for every user. Retrying another SVIP will not help. Cancelled links and a wrong 提取码 fail at verify or list, usually before the size gate matters.
Signing in also does not change retention. After Completed you get links.txt: download URLs last 48 hours; objects are deleted after 7 days. We do not keep a permanent mirror. Scope stays Baidu Pan only.
How to read the form when you are blocked
Walk the message in order. Confirm inspect returned a concrete file count and size. Compare them to 100 and 5 GiB. Then either create a free site account or ask the owner for a smaller share (split archives, fewer previews, one master zip).
If both numbers look guest-safe and you still see Sign in, check thin margins — 101 nested files, or just over 5 GiB (1024³). Inspect sums Baidu’s per-file sizes, not the rough chat-card number. If inspect returns no numbers, fix the share first: wrong URL, dead link, missing code, or a group share.
Frequently asked questions
Why was I asked to sign in for a “small” folder?
Small in the chat screenshot often means one folder icon. Inspect expands nested paths. More than 100 files anywhere in that tree requires a free site account even if total size is only a few megabytes. Open the form’s count line after Checking… — that number is the one that matters.
Does a free site account give me a Baidu SVIP login?
No. The site account only lifts the guest gate (over 100 files or over 5 GiB). Transfer still uses the server’s rotating SVIP pool. You never receive the Baidu cookie, and you still cannot open private or group shares that Baidu will not transfer.
Can I bypass the gate by calling the API myself?
No. The gate is enforced in the API as the single source of truth, not only in WordPress. Inspect and submit both apply the same rule against the full tree. A guest over the limits gets a clear rejection, not a silent queue.
After the job completes, how long do I have to download?
Download links.txt from the job page. Presigned URLs work for 48 hours. Stored objects are deleted after 7 days. That retention is the same for guests and signed-in users. Import the list into IDM or another manager and finish the fetch inside the window.
What to do next
Paste the share on the homepage, wait for inspect, and read file count and size. At or under 100 files and 5 GiB, stay a guest. Over either line, create a free site account — not a Baidu account — and resubmit. See the 提取码 guide, the without-account overview, and IDM + links.txt when the job completes.