How to Install ArchivesSpace on Windows 10

ArchivesSpace is a free, open-source archives management system designed for archives, museums and other cultural heritage institutions. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of installing ArchivesSpace on Windows 10.

Prerequisites

Before we begin with the installation, make sure that your system meets the following requirements:

• Windows 10 (64-bit)
• Java 8 or higher
• MySQL 5.7.x or higher
• Apache Tomcat 8.5.x or higher

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Download ArchivesSpace

Visit the official ArchivesSpace website (https://archivesspace.org/) and click on the "Download" button. Select the appropriate version for your Windows 10 system.

Step 2: Install Java

If you do not have Java installed on your system, download and install the latest version of Java from the official website (https://www.java.com/en/download/).

Step 3: Install MySQL

Download and install MySQL server from the official website (https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/). During the installation process, make note of the following:

• The root password for MySQL
• The port number for MySQL (default is 3306)

Step 4: Create a new database

After installing MySQL, open the MySQL console and login using the root password. Create a new database by entering the following command:

CREATE DATABASE archivesspace_db CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

Step 5: Download Apache Tomcat

Visit the official Apache Tomcat website (https://tomcat.apache.org/download-80.cgi) and download the latest version of Apache Tomcat 8.5.x or higher.

Step 6: Configure Apache Tomcat

After downloading Apache Tomcat, extract the files to a directory of your choice. Open the conf/server.xml file and add the following lines inside the <Host> tag:

<Context path="/archivesspace" docBase="[ARCHIVESSPACE_HOME]/archivesspace.war" unpackWAR="false">
  <Resource name="jdbc/ArchivesSpace" auth="Container" type="javax.sql.DataSource"
            username="[DB_USERNAME]" password="[DB_PASSWORD]"
            driverClassName="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver" url="jdbc:mysql://localhost:[DB_PORT]/archivesspace_db?characterEncoding=UTF-8&amp;useSSL=false" />
</Context>

In the above configuration, replace [ARCHIVESSPACE_HOME] with the location where ArchivesSpace was extracted, [DB_USERNAME] with the MySQL root user, [DB_PASSWORD] with the MySQL root password, and [DB_PORT] with the port number for MySQL.

Step 7: Deploy the ArchivesSpace web application

Copy the archivesspace.war file from the archivesspace directory to the webapps directory inside Apache Tomcat's directory.

Step 8: Start Apache Tomcat

Start Apache Tomcat by running the bin/startup.bat script from Apache Tomcat's directory. You should now be able to access ArchivesSpace by visiting http://localhost:8080/archivesspace in your web browser.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you have successfully installed ArchivesSpace on your Windows 10 system. You can now begin to customize and use ArchivesSpace to manage your archives and metadata.

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