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Installation via Windows installer

Ferron 3 provides an official Windows installer for easy setup on Windows and Windows Server. The installer supports both x64 and ARM64 architectures.

Prerequisites

Before installing Ferron, make sure you have:

  • Windows 10+ or Windows Server 2016+.
  • Administrator privileges to install the Windows service and modify the system PATH.
  • A web browser to download the installer.

Downloading the installer

Visit the Ferron downloads page and download the installer that matches your architecture:

  • x64: ferron-<version>-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc-setup.exe
  • ARM64: ferron-<version>-aarch64-pc-windows-msvc-setup.exe

Installation steps

1. Run the installer

Double-click the downloaded .exe installer to launch the setup wizard. If Windows SmartScreen shows a warning, click “More info” and then “Run anyway”.

2. Follow the setup wizard

The installer will guide you through the following steps:

  1. License agreement — Review the license and accept the terms to continue.
  2. Installation directory — By default, Ferron is installed to C:\Program Files\Ferron. You may change this location if needed.
  3. Setup options — You can choose to:
    • Add Ferron to the system PATH — This lets you run ferron from any command prompt or PowerShell session.
    • Install Ferron as a Windows service — This makes Ferron start automatically with Windows and run in the background.
  4. Ready to install — Review your choices and click “Install” to begin.

3. Finish the installation

Once the installer completes, click “Finish” to close the wizard.

4. Start the web server

After installing Ferron, start a Windows service by following these steps:

  1. Open the Services app (services.msc).
  2. Find and double-click on the Ferron web server service.
  3. Click Start in the Actions pane to begin.

5. Access the web server

By default, Ferron serves content from its wwwroot directory. Open a web browser and navigate to http://localhost to verify the server is running.

If you see a “Ferron is installed successfully!” message on the page, the web server is installed and running correctly.

File structure

Ferron 3 installed via the Windows installer has the following file structure:

  • C:\Program Files\Ferron\ferron.exe — the main Ferron web server executable.
  • C:\Program Files\Ferron\ferron-kdl2ferron.exe — a tool for converting Ferron 2 KDL configurations to Ferron 3 configurations.
  • C:\Program Files\Ferron\ferron-passwd.exe — a tool for generating hashed passwords for the server’s configuration.
  • C:\Program Files\Ferron\ferron-precompress.exe — a tool for precompressing static files.
  • C:\Program Files\Ferron\ferron-serve.exe — a command for serving static files with Ferron with zero configuration.
  • C:\Program Files\Ferron\wwwroot\ — the webroot directory containing the default index.html file.
  • C:\ProgramData\Ferron\ferron.conf — the default configuration file (created on first installation).

Managing Ferron as a Windows service

Starting the service

To start the Ferron service, run the following in an elevated PowerShell session (run as administrator):

Start-Service Ferron

Stopping the service

To stop the Ferron service:

Stop-Service Ferron

Restarting the service

To restart the Ferron service:

Restart-Service Ferron

Reloading the configuration

To reload the configuration without restarting the service:

Restart-Service Ferron

Viewing service status

To check the status of the Ferron service:

Get-Service Ferron

Uninstalling the service

To uninstall the Windows service before removing Ferron:

Stop-Service Ferron
ferron winservice uninstall

Other CLI commands

Ferron also provides several commands for working with configuration files. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell and run:

ferron validate -c C:\ProgramData\Ferron\ferron.conf
ferron adapt -c C:\ProgramData\Ferron\ferron.conf

Notes and troubleshooting

  • Configuration file location — the default configuration is at C:\ProgramData\Ferron\ferron.conf. After editing, restart the service with Restart-Service Ferron.
  • Administrator privileges — installing as a Windows service and adding to the system PATH require administrator rights. Run PowerShell as administrator when managing the service.
  • Firewall settings — if you cannot access the server from another machine, ensure Windows Defender Firewall allows incoming connections on port 80 (or whichever port you configured).
  • Port conflicts — if port 80 is already in use (e.g., by IIS), change the listen port in C:\ProgramData\Ferron\ferron.conf and restart the service.
  • PATH updates — if you chose to add Ferron to the system PATH during installation, you may need to close and reopen your terminal for the changes to take effect.
  • ARM64 support — the ARM64 installer is compatible with x64 emulated mode on Windows ARM devices, but for best performance use the native ARM64 installer on ARM64 hardware.