How to Install Hiawatha Web Server on Windows 11

Hiawatha Web Server is a powerful and secure web server that can be run on various platforms, including Windows 11. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of installing Hiawatha on your Windows 11 machine.

Prerequisites

To follow this tutorial, you will need to have the following:

• A Windows 11 machine
• Administrative privileges on the machine
• Basic understanding of using the command prompt

Step 1: Download Hiawatha

1. Go to the official Hiawatha Web Server website at https://www.hiawatha-webserver.org/.
2. Click on the "Download" tab on the top navigation bar.
3. Scroll down until you see the "Windows" section and click on the link to download the latest 64-bit version of Hiawatha for Windows.

Step 2: Install Hiawatha

1. Once the download is completed, locate the downloaded file and double-click it to start the installation process.
2. Follow the prompts in the installation wizard, accepting the default settings unless you know what changes to make.
3. When prompted, choose to install Hiawatha as a service so that it can run automatically in the background when Windows starts up.

Step 3: Configure Hiawatha

1. Open the command prompt by pressing the Windows key + R and typing "cmd" in the Run box.

2. Type the following command to navigate to the Hiawatha installation directory:

   cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Hiawatha
   

   Note: Depending on where you chose to install Hiawatha, the path may be different.

3. Type the following command to open the Hiawatha configuration file in a text editor:

   notepad hiawatha.conf
   

   Note: The configuration file contains all the settings for Hiawatha. We will only make a few necessary changes in this tutorial.

4. Find the following line in the configuration file:

   #Hostname = www.example.com
   

   Uncomment the line by removing the "#" at the beginning and change "www.example.com" to your domain name or IP address.

5. Find the following line in the configuration file:

   #Binding {
   

   Uncomment the line by removing the "#" at the beginning and add the following line:

   Binding {
       Port = 80
       Interface = 0.0.0.0
   }
   

   Note: This tells Hiawatha to listen on all network interfaces on port 80.

6. Save and close the configuration file.

Step 4: Start Hiawatha

1. Open the command prompt if it is not already open.

2. Type the following command to start the Hiawatha service:

   sc start hiawatha
   

   Note: This registers and starts the Hiawatha service with the Windows service manager.

3. Type the following command to check the status of the service:

   sc query hiawatha
   

   Note: The status should say "RUNNING" if Hiawatha is running correctly.

4. Type your domain name or IP address in a web browser to verify that Hiawatha is serving web pages on port 80.

Congratulations, you have successfully installed and configured Hiawatha Web Server on Windows 11!

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