How to Install DAViCal on Windows 11

DAViCal is an open-source CalDAV and CardDAV server that allows you to store and share your calendar and contact data. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the installation process of DAViCal on Windows 11.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following items installed on your system:

PHP 7 or higher
PostgreSQL or MySQL database

Step 1: Download DAViCal

First, download the latest version of DAViCal from https://www.davical.org/. You can download the .zip file and extract it to a local directory on your Windows 11 machine.

Step 2: Install PostgreSQL or MySQL

DAvidCal requires either PostgreSQL or MySQL as the database server. If you have not installed any of these, follow the steps below:

Go to the PostgreSQL or MySQL website and download their respective installers.
Run the installer and follow the on-screen instructions to install the database.

Step 3: Configure the Database

Now, you will need to create a new blank database for DAViCal to use. Follow the steps based on which database you decided to use:

PostgreSQL

Open pgAdmin or PostgreSQL command prompt.
Create a new database using the following command:

CREATE DATABASE davical;

MySQL

Open MySQL command prompt.
Create a new database using the following command:

CREATE DATABASE davical CHARACTER SET utf8;

Step 4: Configure DAViCal

Open the DAViCal configuration file, which is located in the conf/ directory of the extracted DAViCal folder. Open config.php and make the following changes:

Database configuration

Update the pdo_dsn, dbuser, and dbpass variables with the details of your PostgreSQL or MySQL database:

$pdo_dsn = "pgsql:host=localhost;port=5432;dbname=davical;options='--client_encoding=UTF8'";
$dbuser = "postgres";
$dbpass = "password";

Timezone configuration

Update the timezone variable to your timezone. For example, if you are in New York, the timezone would be America/New_York.

$timezone = "America/New_York";

Step 5: Install DAViCal

Open a command prompt or terminal and navigate to the extracted DAViCal folder. Run the following command:

php bin/mk-database.php

This will create the necessary tables in the database. Next, run the following command to create an administrative user:

php bin/mkuser.php --admin

Enter the username and password for the administrative user.

Step 6: Configure the Web Server

Now, you need to configure your web server to serve DAViCal. Here, we will use Apache as the web server. Follow these steps:

Install Apache

Download and install the latest version of Apache from the Apache website.
Follow the on-screen instructions to install Apache.

Create a Virtual Host

Open the Apache configuration file (httpd.conf).
Add the following code to create a virtual host:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName davical.local
    DocumentRoot "C:/path/to/davical/"
 
    <Directory "C:/path/to/davical/htdocs">
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Replace C:/path/to/davical/ with the actual path to the extracted DAViCal folder.

Restart Apache

Restart Apache to apply the changes. You can do this via the command prompt or the Apache service manager.

Step 7: Access DAViCal

Open your web browser and go to http://davical.local/. You should see the DAViCal login page. Enter the username and password of the administrative user you created in Step 5 to log in.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured DAViCal on your Windows 11 machine. You can now start using DAViCal to store and share your calendar and contact data.

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