Virola self-hosted server installation on Windows

Virola Server can be installed:

As a Windows service
Through regular installation

While installing Virola Server as a service, you can configure it directly in the installer. If you choose regular installation, you can configure Virola Server in Virola Server GUI or through the command line.

How to install Virola Server as a Service

Download Virola server for Windows installation package and start installation
Select "Install as a Windows service" option
On the next step, configure how to start your Virola Windows service:
- IP address - IP you've chosen for the Virola server to listen on
- Port - port you've chosen for the Virola server to listen on
- Storage directory - absolute path to the directory for Virola server database
- Log directory - absolute path to the directory for Virola server logs
- Startup type - specifies how Virola Windows Service should start: automatic, manual or with a delay
Check "Create a Windows Firewall rule for the selected address and port" to ensure that both text chat and audio/video communication are allowed for Virola Server on your computer. Note! This option should not be used if you are running your server on localhost (127.0.0.1)
Check "Start Windows service after installation" if you would like to start Virola service right away.

Virola Windows service will run in the background and can be stopped in Windows Services.

Regular Installation

In case you select regular installation, you can configure Virola Server the following way:

With help of Windows GUI
From the command line

Virola self-hosted server configuration with help of GUI

Download Virola server for Windows installation package and start installation
Select "Regular installation"
During installation keep "Virola server GUI" option checked on the "Select components" step
Launch Virola server GUI
Create a directory for Virola database
Specify your host, port and the path to the database directory in the respective fields
- Listen host - the IP you've chosen for the Virola server
- Port - the port you've chosen for the Virola server
- Storage Directory - the absolute path to the directory you created on the step 5 for Virola server database
Click "Start" button

Screenshot of Virola server for Windows GUI

If you want to start Virola server automatically at system startup, do the following:

Click a "gear" icon to open Settings window
Check "Start Virola server at system startup" option
Close Settings window

Screenshot of Virola server for Windows options

Video tutorial

Find more details about setting up and running Virola server with GUI in our video tutorial:

Please note that some toolbars and icons in this tutorial may differ a bit from the current Virola interface as we constantly improve its functionality and UI.

Virola self-hosted server configuration from the command line

Download Virola server for Windows installation package and start installation
Select "Regular installation"
During installation uncheck "Virola server GUI" option on the "Select components" step
Create a directory for Virola database
Launch Command Prompt. To find it click Start button and type "cmd" in the search box
In Command Prompt with help of "cd" command navigate to the directory where Virola server was installed
Decide which host and port will be used for the server
Run the server with the following command:
```
virola_server_app.exe --listen HOST:PORT --storage-dir virola-database-directory
```
where
- HOST is the IP you've chosen for the Virola server
- PORT is the port you've chosen for the Virola server
- virola-database-directory is the absolute path to the directory you created on the step 4
Example:
```
virola_server_app.exe --listen 127.0.0.1:7777 --storage-dir C:\Virola\Server
```
Leave Command Prompt open

How to log into Virola client after Virola self-hosted server installation

Login details to Virola Client will be the following:

Server Host: the one you specified for your Virola Server
Server Port: the one you specified for your Virola Server
Username: admin
Password: admin

You can change admin user name and password later in the Virola Client settings.

Tips and recommendations

We strongly recommend to encrypt your Windows machine on which Virola server is running. Modern Windows operating systems have embedded encryption functionality - both device encryption and BitLocker encryption tool. We've prepared a detailed instruction about encryption on Windows for you.

Using IP address from the examples above, you'll be able to run Virola server locally on your machine, but it won't be available from your local network or from Internet. To make the server publicly accessible, you will need to use other IPs and make additional adjustments in your machine and network configuration. Learn more about making Virola server publicly accessible.