How to install Mailcow on Windows 11

Mailcow is a self-hosted email server that is designed to be easy to set up and maintain. It is built on Docker, which makes it platform agnostic, and can be run on a wide range of operating systems, including Windows 11. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the steps to install Mailcow on your Windows 11 machine.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure your system meets the following requirements:

• A 64-bit version of Windows 11
• Docker Desktop for Windows 11 installed and running
• Git for Windows installed
• A domain name for your email server
• A valid SSL/TLS certificate for your domain name

Step 1: Clone Mailcow from GitHub

Open your terminal or command prompt and navigate to a suitable directory to clone the Mailcow repository. Then, clone the Mailcow repository from GitHub by running the following command:

git clone https://github.com/mailcow/mailcow-dockerized.git

Wait for the clone to complete, and navigate to the cloned directory by running the following command:

cd mailcow-dockerized

Step 2: Customize Mailcow

Copy the .env file from the example file by running the following command:

cp env-example .env

Open the .env file and set the following variables based on your domain name and SSL/TLS certificate:

• MAILCOW_HOSTNAME: your email server's domain name
• MAILCOW_TZ: your timezone, in the format of continent/city (e.g., America/New_York)
• ACME_MAILCOW_MAIL: an email address to use for Let's Encrypt notifications (if using automatic SSL/TLS certificate provisioning)
• SSL_TYPE: set to LETS_ENCRYPT or CUSTOM based on your SSL/TLS certificate

If you selected CUSTOM as your SSL_TYPE:

• SSL_CERTIFICATE: the path to your SSL/TLS certificate file
• SSL_KEY: the path to your SSL/TLS certificate key file

Save the .env file when you are done.

Step 3: Run Mailcow

Run the following command to start Mailcow:

docker-compose up -d

This command will start up all Mailcow containers and run them in the background.

Step 4: Access the Mailcow Web Interface

After the Mailcow containers have started up, you can access the Mailcow web interface by visiting https://<your-server-ip-address>/. You should see the Mailcow login page.

Log in with the default username and password:

• Username: admin
• Password: moohoo

Once you are logged in, you can configure Mailcow to suit your needs.

Step 5: Configure DNS

To use Mailcow, you will need to configure your DNS settings to point to your email server's domain name. Add the following DNS records to your domain's DNS settings:

• mail.<your-domain-name>: An A record pointing to your server's IP address.
• autodiscover.<your-domain-name>: An A record pointing to your server's IP address.
• autoconfig.<your-domain-name>: An A record pointing to your server's IP address.

Conclusion

Congratulations, you have successfully installed Mailcow on your Windows 11 machine! You can now start sending and receiving emails using your self-hosted email server. If you encounter any issues during the installation process, please consult the Mailcow documentation for more information.

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