Installing MinimServer 2 on Windows
Table of contents
Installing Java on Windows
Installing or updating MinimServer 2 on Windows
Uninstalling MinimServer 2 on Windows
Installing Java on Windows
MinimServer is written in Java and needs the Java runtime to be installed. You can use any version of the Java runtime from Java 8 onwards.
The Java runtime for Windows is available in 64-bit and 32-bit versions. MinimServer supports both of these. If you are using 64-bit Windows, you should use 64-bit Java unless you already have 32-bit Java installed for compatibility with a 32-bit web browser. If you are using 32-bit Windows, you need to use 32-bit Java.
If you don't have Java installed or if your Java version is older than Java 8, download and install the current version of the Oracle Java Runtime Environment (JRE) from this page. To ensure you get the correct version of Java (64-bit or 32-bit, as described above), choose either the Windows Offline (64-bit) download to install 64-bit Java or the Windows Offline download to install 32-bit Java.
Installing or updating MinimServer 2 on Windows
[NEW] If you are running MinimServer 2.1 or 2.1.2, the simplest way to update to MinimServer is to use the new "update install." For details, see the Update install section.
Alternatively, you can install MinimServer by following the instructions below.
- If a previous version of MinimServer is running, select Exit from the minim icon. It's best not to uninstall the previous version of MinimServer.
- MinimServer needs the Java runtime to be installed. For installation instructions, see the Installing Java on Windows section.
- On the MinimServer 2 Downloads page, find the Windows row in the table of MinimServer downloads and click the download link for Intel.
- Accept the license and download the installer file. If you get a warning saying this file will damage your system, override this by mousing over the "was blocked" message in the Downloads pop-up and selecting the '3 dots' icon (More actions). From this menu, select Keep.
- The downloaded file is . Double-click this file to launch the Windows installer for MinimServer. If you get a warning saying this will damage your system, click 'More info' followed by 'Run anyway'.
- If a User Account Control dialog appears, choose "Allow" or "Yes".
- Follow the instructions in the installer prompts.
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Select the option to launch MinimServer when the installation is finished.
You can also launch MinimServer by double-clicking the MinimServer launch icon
on the desktop.
Note: When you double-click the desktop launch icon to launch MinimServer, another program (such as WinRAR) might open or you might get a prompt asking you what to do with the mserver.jar file. This means that the .jar file extension (used to launch MinimServer) isn't correctly associated with the Java runtime. To fix this, you can use the Jarfix program.
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If this is a new installation of MinimServer, a yellow tray icon
with a minim symbol (musical note) will appear, and a dialog will prompt you to select
the initial content directory. This is the top-level
folder that contains your music files. Navigate to this folder,
then press the Select button. If you need to add additional content directories,
you can do this later.
Note: The minim icon might appear in the overflow area of the system tray (accessed by clicking the upward-pointing arrow icon in the system tray). On Windows 10, the system tray is described as the taskbar notification area, the icons in the overflow area are described as hidden icons and the upward-pointing arrow icon is described as the Show hidden icons arrow.
- MinimServer will scan all your music files and complete its startup. This will take a bit longer than usual if it's the first time you've done this. If startup is successful, the tray icon will turn green. If startup fails for any reason, the tray icon will turn red and you'll see a pop-up message describing the problem.
- It's a good idea to check the MinimServer log to see if there are any warning or error messages about problems found by MinimServer while scanning your music files. To do this, right-click on the tray icon and select "Show log". A warning in the log means that MinimServer has found something wrong with a file, but has been able to read the file and make it available for browsing and playing. An error in the log means that MinimServer wasn't able to read the file. If you see a message you don't understand, you can get help by creating a new thread in the MinimServer support forum as described on the Support page.
- If MinimServer has started successfully, you can now use a UPnP control point to browse your music library and select and play music. You can also use the tray icon's pop-up menu to configure and manage MinimServer. See the Controlling MinimServer using the minim icon section for details of the available menu selections.
- If you have updated from MinimServer 0.8 to MinimServer 2, some of your configuration properties in MinimWatch might be missing or greyed out. To restore any missing properties and enable all features previously available in MinimServer 0.8, select the License tab of the MinimServer configuration page and activate a trial license or full license as described in this section. You might also need to reinstall the MinimStreamer package (see the Installing MinimStreamer section).
- If this is a new MinimServer installation, it will be running as MinimServer 2 Starter Edition with limited functionality and some configuration settings disabled (see the Starter Edition page). To use all features and configuration settings of MinimServer 2, you need to activate a trial license or full license as described in this section.
- If MinimServer appears to be running but you can't see it from other computers or control points on the network, you might need to update your Windows firewall settings. In the list of inbound rules, there should be entries to allow TCP and UDP access for Java(TM) Platform SE binary.
Uninstalling MinimServer 2 on Windows
If you have activated a MinimServer 2 full license on your Windows PC, you should deactivate this license before uninstalling MinimServer 2. This frees up the license activation for use on any other devices you have. You don't need to do this if you intend to reinstall MinimServer 2 on the same Windows PC. You won't be able to do this deactivation after MinimServer 2 has been uninstalled.
To deactivate the license, open the MinimServer 2 configuration page by selecting Configure from the minim icon. Select the License tab followed by Deactivate full license and follow the prompts. You need an active internet connection to deactivate the license.
Before uninstalling MinimServer, make sure MinimServer isn't running. If MinimServer is running, select Exit from the minim icon before starting the uninstallation.
To uninstall MinimServer, open the Control Panel and select Programs and Features. Scroll to the entry for MinimServer and double-click it to run the uninstaller.
The uninstaller doesn't delete your MinimServer configuration settings. This is useful if you want to reinstall MinimServer or move up to a newer version.