yggdrasil-network.github.io/installation-windows.md

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# Installing manually on Windows

Yggdrasil is supported on Windows. You can either [download the latest binary from CircleCI](builds.md).

## TAP Driver

Yggdrasil depends on the OpenVPN TAP driver to work on Windows. There are two flavours of this driver:

- [NDIS 5](https://swupdate.openvpn.org/community/releases/tap-windows-9.9.2_3.exe) (`tap-windows-9.9.2_3`) - recommended
- [NDIS 6](https://swupdate.openvpn.org/community/releases/tap-windows-9.21.2.exe) (`tap-windows-9.21.2`) - functional

Yggdrasil works with either driver, although the performance is remarkably better with the older NDIS 5 driver, therefore it is recommended to use that instead of the NDIS 6 driver.

Please note that if you already have OpenVPN for Windows, you likely have one of the two drivers installed already and should not install it again.

## Installation

Start by [downloading the latest Yggdrasil binary](builds.md) and use Windows Explorer to copy it into a sensible location and rename it to `yggdrasil.exe`.

The below examples assume that you placed `yggdrasil.exe` into `C:\Program Files\Yggdrasil`.

## Generate configuration

Before starting Yggdrasil, you should generate configuration. Open a Command Prompt as Administrator:
```
"C:\Program Files\Yggdrasil\yggdrasil.exe" -genconf > "C:\Program Files\Yggdrasil\yggdrasil.conf"
```

## Run Yggdrasil

### Run once

Open a Command Prompt as Administrator and start Yggdrasil using your generated configuration:
```
"C:\Program Files\Yggdrasil\yggdrasil.exe" -useconffile "C:\Program Files\Yggdrasil\yggdrasil.conf"
```
Alternatively, start Yggdrasil in auto-configuration mode:
```
"C:\Program Files\Yggdrasil\yggdrasil.exe" -autoconf
```

### Run as a background service

Running as a background system service means that Yggdrasil will automatically start up in the background when Windows boots.

Assuming that Yggdrasil is installed into `C:\Program Files\Yggdrasil` and your configuration *already exists* in `C:\Program Files\Yggdrasil\yggdrasil.conf`, as above, then you can install Yggdrasil as a Windows service. Open a Command Prompt as Administrator:
```
sc create yggdrasil binpath= "\"C:\Program Files\Yggdrasil\yggdrasil.exe\" -useconffile \"C:\Program Files\Yggdrasil\yggdrasil.conf\""
sc config yggdrasil displayname= "Yggdrasil Service"
sc config yggdrasil start= "auto"
sc start yggdrasil
```
Alternatively, if you want the service to autoconfigure instead of using an `yggdrasil.conf`, replace the `sc create` line from above with:
```
sc create yggdrasil binpath= "\"C:\Program Files\Yggdrasil\yggdrasil.exe\" -autoconf"
```

The Yggdrasil service can then be stopped and started using `services.msc`, or in more recent versions of Windows, the Task Manager.