Installing ArangoDB on Windows

You can use ArangoDB on Windows (64-bit) in different ways:

Visit the official Download page of the ArangoDB web site.

You may verify the download by comparing the SHA256 hash listed on the website to the hash of the file. For example, you can run openssl sha256 <filename> or certutil -hashfile <filename> sha256 in a terminal.

Running production environments on Windows is not supported.

Docker

The recommended way of using ArangoDB on Windows is to use the ArangoDB Docker images with, for instance, Docker Desktop.

You can choose one of the following:

See the documentation on Docker Hub, as well as the Deployments section about different deployment modes and methods including Docker containers.

Installing using the Installer

The default installation directory is %PROGRAMFILES%\ArangoDB-3.x.x (multi-user) or %LOCALAPPDATA%\ArangoDB-3.x.x\ (single-user). You may change it during the installation process. In the following description, it is assumed 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 configuration file for the server process. In the latter case the database directory and the Foxx directory have to be writable by the user.

Single- and Multi-User Installation

There are two main modes for the installer of ArangoDB. The installer lets you select:

  • Multi-user installation (default; admin privileges required). Installs ArangoDB as service.
  • Single-user installation. Allows to install ArangoDB as normal user. Requires manual starting of the database server.

Installation Options

You can tick or untick the following checkboxes:

  • Choose custom install paths
  • Do an automatic upgrade
  • Keep an backup of your data
  • Add executables to path
  • Create a desktop icon

Custom Install Paths

This checkbox controls if you are able to override the default paths for the installation in subsequent steps.

The default installation paths are:

Multi-User Default:

  • Installation: %PROGRAMFILES%\ArangoDB-3.x.x
  • DataBase: %PROGRAMDATA%\ArangoDB
  • Foxx Service: %PROGRAMDATA%\ArangoDB-apps

Single-User Default:

  • Installation: %LOCALAPPDATA%\ArangoDB-3.x.x\
  • DataBase: %LOCALAPPDATA%\ArangoDB\
  • Foxx Service: %LOCALAPPDATA%\ArangoDB-apps\

The environment variables are typically:

  • %PROGRAMFILES%: C:\Program Files
  • %PROGRAMDATA%: C:\ProgramData
  • %LOCALAPPDATA%: C:\Users\<YourName>\AppData\Local

We are not using the roaming part of the user’s profile, because doing so avoids the data being synced to the windows domain controller.

Automatic Upgrade

If this checkbox is selected, the installer attempts to perform an automatic update. For more information, please see Upgrading on Windows.

Keep Backup

Select this to create a backup of your database directory during automatic upgrade. The backup is created next to your current database directory suffixed by a time stamp.

Add to Path

Select this to add the binary directory to your system’s path (multi-user installation) or user’s path (single-user installation).

Desktop Icon

Select if you want the installer to create Desktop Icons that let you:

  • access the web interface
  • start the command-line client (arangosh)
  • start the database server (single-user installation only)

Starting

If you installed ArangoDB for multiple users (as a service), it is automatically started. Otherwise you need to use the shortcut that was created on your desktop (depending on the installer settings) or by running the executable arangod.exe located in <ROOTDIR>\usr\bin. It uses the configuration file arangod.conf located in <ROOTDIR>\etc\arangodb3, which you can adjust to your needs.

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

You can access the administration web interface by pointing your web browser to the following address:

http://127.0.0.1:8529/

Advanced Starting

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

Using the Client

To connect to an already running ArangoDB server instance, there is a shell arangosh.exe located in <ROOTDIR>\usr\bin. This starts a shell that 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 the configuration from the file arangosh.conf located in <ROOTDIR>\etc\arangodb3\. Please adjust this to your needs if you want to use different connection settings etc.

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 ArangoDB server as well as the <ROOTDIR> directory remain. To complete the uninstallation process, remove the data files and the <ROOTDIR> directory manually.

Unattended installation using the installer

The NSIS-based installer requires user interaction by default, but it also offers a Silent Mode which allows you to run it non-interactively from the command line:

ArangoDB3-3.x.x_win64.exe /S ...

You can run the uninstaller in Silent Mode:

Uninstall.exe /S ...

All choices available in the GUI can be passed as arguments. The options can be specified like /OPTIONNAME=value.

Supported options

For Installation:

  • /PASSWORD - Set the password for the root user. If this option is not set but a persistent environment variable PASSWORD is, then its value is used as password.
  • /INSTDIR - Installation directory. A directory that you have access to.
  • /DATABASEDIR - Database directory. A directory that you have access to and the databases should be created in.
  • /APPDIR - Foxx Services directory. A directory that you have access to.
  • /INSTALL_SCOPE_ALL:
    • 1 - Install for all users, as well as install a Windows service called arangodb and launch it.
    • 0 - Install for the current user only. Does not start the server automatically, but creates a shortcut on the desktop to start it.
  • /DESKTOPICON
    • 0 - Do not create any shortcuts
    • 1 - Create shortcuts on the desktop for arangosh and the web interface
  • /UPGRADE
    • 1 - Automatically upgrade existing ArangoDB databases
    • 0 - No upgrade of databases
  • /BACKUP_ON_UPGRADE
    • 1 - Keep a backup of the databases if /UPGRADE=1 is set
    • 0 - No backup
  • /PATH
    • 0 - Do not add ArangoDB to the PATH environment variable
    • 1:
      • With /INSTALL_SCOPE_ALL=1: add it to the path for all users
      • With /INSTALL_SCOPE_ALL=0: add it to the path of the currently logged in users

For Uninstallation:

  • /PURGE_DB
    • 0 - Database files remain on the system
    • 1 - Database files ArangoDB created during its lifetime are removed, too.

Installing using the ZIP archive

Not all users prefer the guided Installer to install ArangoDB. In order to have a portable application, or easily start different ArangoDB versions on the same machine, and/or for the maximum flexibility, you might want to install using the ZIP archive (XCOPY deployment).

Unzip the archive

Open an explorer, choose a place where you would like ArangoDB to be, and extract the archive there. It creates its own top-level directory with the version number in the name.

Edit the configuration

This step is optional.

If the default configuration of ArangoDB does not suite your needs, you can edit etc\arangodb3\arangod.conf to change or add configuration options.

Start the Server

After installation, you may start ArangoDB in several ways. The exact start-up command depends on the type of ArangoDB deployment you are interested in (Single Instance, Active Failover or Cluster).

Please refer to the Deployment chapter for details.

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