This page describes how to install Airsonic under Windows as Stand-alone WAR, without using Tomcat. It also contains information about how to setup Airsonic as a Windows Service and let it run under an user/service account.
NOTE: If you would like to run Airsonic with HTTPS, take a look at the proxy section about IIS.
Download the latest Airsonic Release, you need the airsonic.war.
Install OpenJDK or another Java implementation. Make sure to add Java to your PATH variable.
If you like to run Airsonic as a Windows Service, download the Non-Sucking Service Manager (NSSM).
Before we start, doublecheck if Java is working as expected and the PATH environment variable is setup correctly. Open a command prompt or the PowerShell console and type java -version. This should print the installed Java version.
Create a new directory C:\Program Files\Airsonic and move the airsonic.war file to this folder.
Create an airsonic.cmd file in this folder and add the following content.
java.exe -Dairsonic.home="C:\\Program Files\\Airsonic" -Dserver.port=4040 -jar airsonic.war
Now you’re ready! Start the airsonic.cmd file by double clicking on it, wait some seconds and browse to http://localhost:4040. You should see the Airsonic logon page.
As it might be a bit inconvenient to start Airsonic after every restart of your computer/server by yourself, you can setup a Windows Service. This Windows Service will start Airsonic automatically when you boot your computer, you don’t even need to logon.
NOTE: To run a Java application as a Windows Service there would be a Java Service Wrapper, but it’s not really easy to setup. That’s why we go for NSSM.
Create a new directory C:\Program Files\NSSM and copy nssm.exe to this folder.
Open a command prompt or the PowerShell console and change the directory to the NSSM folder cd C:\Program Files\NSSM.
Type nssm install Airsonic to open the NSSM service installer and start setting up the Windows Service for Airsonic.
Set the following settings in the Application tab.
java.exeC:\Program Files\Airsonic-Dairsonic.home="C:\\Program Files\\Airsonic" -Dserver.port=4040Open the Shutdown tab and remove all the flags in the checkboxes excepted the one for Generate Contral-C.
That’s it, you’re ready to start the Windows Service by typing net start Airsonic in your command prompt or PowerShell console.
Wait some seconds and browse to http://localhost:4040. You should see the Airsonic logon page.
The Airsonic Windows Service we just setup, is now running under the SYSTEM account. This is just fine, if all your media are on a local disk. But if you have your media on a network share, e.g. on a NAS you need to be able to connect to this share. To access this share you need to have the propper permissions. To achieve that, you should run your Airsonic under a service account and not by using the SYSTEM account. In this instructions this service account is called sa-airsonic.
NOTE: Of course you can choose another name then
sa-airsonicif you like.
Running the Airsonic Windows Service using another (non-admin) user also improves the safety of your system, as the SYSTEM account has way more rights then really needed to run Airsonic.
If you have an Active Directory domain you can create a new user in the Active Directoy with the name sa-airsonic. Afterwards you have to grant this user permissions on you network share/drive.
If you don’t have an Active Directory and running your computers in a workgroup (non-domain environment), you need to create a new Windows user called sa-airsonic. Make sure to create this user account with the same name and password on your device with the network share as well.
The sa-airsonic user doesn’t necessarily have to get the Administrators group/permissions, the Users group is just fine.
After you created the sa-airsonic user, we need to change folder permission and the Windows Service to use this account.
Grant Modify permissions for sa-airsonic on C:\Program Files\Airsonic.
Open services.msc and lookout for the Airsonic service. Stop this service and open the properties. In the Log On tab change the settings to use This account and specify the username and password of your sa-airsonic account. This should automatically grant Log on as a service permission for sa-airsonic on your computer.
Now you’re ready to start the Airsonic service again and you should be able to add your network drive as media folder in the Airsonic settings under Media folders by using a UNC path like \\servername\share\folder.