arangodb/Documentation/Books/Manual/GettingStarted/Installing/Windows.mdpp

!CHAPTER Windows

The default installation directory is *C:\Program Files\ArangoDB-3.x.x*. During the
installation process you may change this. In the following description we will assume
that ArangoDB has been installed in the location *<ROOTDIR>*.

You have to be careful when choosing an installation directory. You need either
write permission to this directory or you need to modify the config file for the
server process. In the latter case the database directory and the Foxx directory
have to be writable by the user.

!SUBSECTION Single User Installation

Select a different directory during installation. For example
*C:\Users\<Username>\ArangoDB* or *C:\ArangoDB*.

!SUBSECTION Multiple Users Installation

Keep the default directory. After the installation edit the file
*<ROOTDIR>\etc\ArangoDB\arangod.conf*. Adjust the *directory*
and *app-path* so that these paths point into your home directory.

    [database]
    directory = @HOMEDRIVE@\@HOMEPATH@\arangodb\databases

    [javascript]
    app-path = @HOMEDRIVE@\@HOMEPATH@\arangodb\apps

Create the directories for each user that wants to use ArangoDB.

!SUBSECTION Service Installation

Keep the default directory. After the installation open a command line
as administrator (search for *cmd* and right click *run as
administrator*).

    cmd> arangod --install-service
    INFO: adding service 'ArangoDB - the multi-model database' (internal 'ArangoDB')
    INFO: added service with command line '"C:\Program Files (x86)\ArangoDB 3.x.x\bin\arangod.exe" --start-service'

Open the service manager and start ArangoDB. In order to enable logging
edit the file "<ROOTDIR>\etc\arangodb\arangod.conf" and uncomment the file
option.

    [log]
    file = @ROOTDIR@\var\log\arangodb\arangod.log


!SECTION Starting

If you installed ArangoDB as a service it is automatically started.

Otherwise, use the executable *arangod.exe* located in
*&lt;ROOTDIR&gt;\bin*. This will use the configuration file *arangod.conf*
located in *&lt;ROOTDIR&gt;\etc\arangodb*, which you can adjust to your needs
and use the data directory *&lt;ROOTDIR&gt;\var\lib\arangodb*. This is the place
where all your data (databases and collections) will be stored by default.

Please check the output of the *arangod.exe* executable before going on. If the
server started successfully, you should see a line `ArangoDB is ready for
business. Have fun!` at the end of its output.

We now wish to check that the installation is working correctly and to do this
we will be using the administration web interface. Execute *arangod.exe* if you
have not already done so, then open up your web browser and point it to the
page: 

    http://127.0.0.1:8529/

!SECTION Advanced Starting

If you want to provide our own start scripts, you can set the environment
variable *ARANGODB_CONFIG_PATH*. This variable should point to a directory
containing the configuration files.

!SECTION Using the Client

To connect to an already running ArangoDB server instance, there is a shell
*arangosh.exe* located in *&lt;ROOTDIR&gt;\bin*. This starts a shell which can be
used – amongst other things – to administer and query a local or remote
ArangoDB server.

Note that *arangosh.exe* does NOT start a separate server, it only starts the
shell.  To use it you must have a server running somewhere, e.g. by using
the *arangod.exe* executable.

*arangosh.exe* uses configuration from the file *arangosh.conf* located in
*&lt;ROOTDIR&gt;\etc\arangodb\*. Please adjust this to your needs if you want to
use different connection settings etc.

!SECTION Uninstalling

To uninstall the Arango server application you can use the windows control panel
(as you would normally uninstall an application). Note however, that any data
files created by the Arango server will remain as well as the *&lt;ROOTDIR&gt;*
directory.  To complete the uninstallation process, remove the data files and
the *&lt;ROOTDIR&gt;* directory manually.

!SECTION Limitations for Cygwin

Please note some important limitations when running ArangoDB under Cygwin:
Starting ArangoDB can be started from out of a Cygwin terminal, but pressing
*CTRL-C* will forcefully kill the server process without giving it a chance to
handle the kill signal. In this case, a regular server shutdown is not possible,
which may leave a file *LOCK* around in the server's data directory.  This file
needs to be removed manually to make ArangoDB start again.  Additionally, as
ArangoDB does not have a chance to handle the kill signal, the server cannot
forcefully flush any data to disk on shutdown, leading to potential data loss.
When starting ArangoDB from a Cygwin terminal it might also happen that no
errors are printed in the terminal output.  Starting ArangoDB from an MS-DOS
command prompt does not impose these limitations and is thus the preferred
method.

Please note that ArangoDB uses UTF-8 as its internal encoding and that the
system console must support a UTF-8 codepage (65001) and font. It may be
necessary to manually switch the console font to a font that supports UTF-8.