In this tutorial, we will guide you through the steps to install Lychee on Windows 11. Lychee is an open-source, self-hosted alternative to online photo management services like Google Photos, Flickr, and others. With Lychee, you can easily manage your photos and albums from your own server.
Before we begin, make sure that you have installed a server software like XAMPP or WAMP on your Windows 11 machine. If you haven't installed a server software yet, you can refer to the tutorial given in the links below.
The first step is to download Lychee from the official website. You can download the latest release of Lychee from Lychee Github page or by clicking this link.
Once you have downloaded the Lychee zip file, extract it to your server's document root (e.g. C:/xampp/htdocs/lychee or C:/wamp64/www/lychee).
Once you have extracted it, you will see a folder named "Lychee" in your document root.
Now, open your phpMyAdmin (http://localhost/phpmyadmin/), and create a new database named "lychee".
Now, import the database.sql file from the "database" folder of Lychee that you have just downloaded and extracted. You can do this by selecting the "lychee" database in phpMyAdmin and then selecting the "Import" tab. Then, select the "database.sql" file from the "database" folder of Lychee and click the "Go" button.
Now, we need to configure Lychee. To do this, open the "Lychee" folder in your document root and look for a file named "data" in the "uploads" folder. Copy the entire path of the "data" folder (e.g. C:/xampp/htdocs/lychee/uploads/data or C:/wamp64/www/lychee/uploads/data).
Now, open the "Lychee" folder in your document root and look for a file named "config" in the root folder. Rename this file to "config.php".
Now, open the "config.php" file in a text editor of your choice and look for the line:
define('LYCHEE_DATA', '');
Replace the empty string with the path of the "data" folder that you copied earlier (e.g. "C:/xampp/htdocs/lychee/uploads/data" or "C:/wamp64/www/lychee/uploads/data").
Then, look for the line:
$lychee->dbPassword = '';
Replace the empty string with the password of the MySQL database that you set up earlier.
Once you have completed these steps, save the "config.php" file and close your text editor.
Now that you have configured Lychee, you can access it by visiting http://localhost/lychee/ in your web browser.
Congratulations, you have successfully installed Lychee on Windows 11. You can now use Lychee to manage your photos and albums from your own server.
If you want to self-host in an easy, hands free way, need an external IP address, or simply want your data in your own hands, give IPv6.rs a try!
Alternatively, for the best virtual desktop, try Shells!
