Windows Binary

Note

This section is for the OS-independent binary. Please see the section on the Windows Installer for the wizard-based installer for Windows.

The most common way to install GeoServer is using the OS-independent binary. This version is a GeoServer web application (webapp) bundled inside Jetty, a lightweight servlet container system. It has the advantages of working very similarly across all operating systems plus being very simple to set up.

Installation

  1. Navigate to the GeoServer Download page and pick the appropriate version to download.
  2. Select OS-independent binary on the download page.
  3. Download the archive, and unpack to the directory where you would like the program to be located. A typical place would be C:\Program Files\GeoServer.

Setting environment variables

You will need to set the JAVA_HOME environment variable if it is not already set. This is the path to your JDK/JRE such that %JAVA_HOME%\bin\java.exe exists. You can download a JRE at http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html.

Note

Oracle Java SE 6 or newer is strongly recommended. (As of GeoServer 2.2.x, Oracle JRE 5 is no longer supported.) A Java Development Kit (JDK) is not required to run GeoServer. For more information about Java and GeoServer, please see the section on Java Considerations.

  1. Navigate to Control Panel ‣ System ‣ Advanced ‣ Environment Variables.
  2. Under System variables click New.
  3. For Variable name enter JAVA_HOME. For Variable value enter the path to your JDK/JRE.
  4. Click OK three times.

Note

You may also want to set the GEOSERVER_HOME variable, which is the directory where GeoServer is installed, and the GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR variable, which is the location of the GeoServer data directory (usually %GEOSERVER_HOME\data_dir). The latter is mandatory if you wish to use a data directory other than the one built in to GeoServer. The procedure for setting these variables is identical to the above. Note that the specified data directory should be a valid GeoServer Data Directory.

Running

Note

This can be done either via Windows Explorer or the command line.

  1. Navigate to the bin directory inside the location where GeoServer is installed.
  2. Run startup.bat. A command-line window will appear and persist. This window contains diagnostic and troubleshooting information. This window should not be closed, or else GeoServer will shut down.
  3. To access the Web Administration Interface, navigate to http://localhost:8080/geoserver.

Stopping

Either close the persistent command-line window, or run the shutdown.bat file inside the bin directory.

Uninstallation

  1. Stop GeoServer (if it is running)
  2. Delete the directory where GeoServer is installed.