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If necessary, download the HFS zip file and extract its contents to a folder on your hard drive.
Please make a note of the location as it will be used in a later step.
We went with "C:\HFS" on our machine:
Ensure that you add files and set up HFS to work exactly as you expect. Please confirm that everything is accessible from your browser.
This is important: If HFS doesn't work now, it won't work as a Windows Service either.
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Download and install AlwaysUp, if necessary.
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Start AlwaysUp.
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Select Application > Add to open the Add Application window:
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On the General tab:
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In the Application field, enter the full path to the HFS executable. Since we placed HFS in "C:\HFS", we'll enter:
C:\HFS\hfs.exe
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In the Start the application dropdown, choose Automatically, but shortly after the computer boots.
Doing so instructs AlwaysUp to launch HFS 1-2 minutes after boot — after all critical networking services are up and running.
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And in the Name field, enter the name that you will call the application in AlwaysUp.
We went with HFS but you can specify something else if you like.
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We're done configuring HFS so click the Save button.
In a couple of seconds, an application called HFS (or whatever you called it) will show up in the AlwaysUp window.
At this point HFS is installed as a Windows Service. However, it's not yet running and the state will be "Stopped":
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To start HFS, choose Application > Start "HFS".
The state will transition to "Running" and HFS will start serving your files:
Note that because of
Session 0 isolation,
the HFS console window won't come up on your desktop.
That's because the web server will be running in the background session where all Windows Services operate.
If you do wish to see the HFS window, select Application > Restart "HFS" in this session,
which will quickly stop HFS and start it again on your desktop.
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Now is a great time to confirm that HFS is working. Open your browser and ensure that your files are accessible.
Everything looked good on our machine:
You can also check that hfs.exe is running in Task Manager:
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That's it! Next time your computer boots, HFS will start up immediately, before anyone signs in.
We encourage you to edit HFS in AlwaysUp and check out the many other settings that may be appropriate for your environment.
For example, you can:
