Installing Stash on Windows

Hey! We're going to install Stash on Windows. There are a few steps, but we think you'll really like Stash once it's up and running.

1. Check supported platforms

Better check the Supported platforms page first; it lists the application servers, databases, operating systems, web browsers and JDKs that we have tested Stash with and recommend.

Atlassian only officially supports Stash running on x86 hardware and 64-bit derivatives of x86 hardware.

Related pages:

2. Check your version of Java

In a command prompt, run this:

java -version

The version of Java should be 1.6.0 or higher.

Download and install the Java Platform JDK (not the JRE) from Oracle's website.

The Java install path must not contain spaces, so don't install into C:\Program Files\Java\. Instead, use a path like C:\Java.

Now try running 'java -version' again to check the installation. The version of Java should be 1.6.0 or higher.

3. Check that Windows can find Java

Windows uses the JAVA_HOME environment variable to find Java. To check that, in a command prompt, run:

echo %JAVA_HOME%

You should see a path to the root directory of the Java installation that does not contain spaces.

If you see a path with spaces, like this C:\Program Files\Java\, then sorry, but go back to 2. and reinstall Java to a location that doesn't have spaces.
If you don't see a path at all, or if you just see %JAVA_HOME%, then set JAVA_HOME as follows:

For Windows 7:

Go to Start, search for "sys env" and choose Edit the system environment variables.

Click Environment Variables, and then New under 'System variables'.

Enter "JAVA_HOME" as the Variable name, and the absolute path to where you installed Java as the Variable value. Don't use a trailing backslash.

Now, in a new command prompt, try running '%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java -version'. You should see the same version of Java as you saw in 2. above.

4. Check your versions of Git and Perl

In a command prompt, run:

git --version
perl --version

The version of Git should be 1.7.6 or higher. The version of Perl should be 5.8.8 or higher.

Download the Full installer for official Git for Windows.

Run the Git installer. Ensure that git.exe is available in the path:

You must select the option which puts git.exe and the other UNIX tools on the path, as shown below. This option also installs Perl.
Do not select the option to only add Git to the path -- this will not work with Stash.

Now, in a new command prompt, try running 'git --version' again. The version of Git should be 1.7.6 or higher.

5. Now it's time to get Stash

Download Stash from the Atlassian download site.

Extract the downloaded file to an install location. The path to the extracted directory is referred to as the <Stash installation directory> in these instructions.

Don't use spaces in the path to the Stash installation directory.

6. Tell Stash where to store your data

The Stash home directory is where your Stash data is stored.

Create your Stash home directory, and then tell Stash where you created it by setting a STASH_HOME environment variable, as follows.

For Windows 7:

Go to Start, search for "sys env" and choose Edit the system environment variables.
Click Environment Variables, and then New under 'System variables'.
Enter "STASH_HOME" as the Variable name, and the absolute path to your Stash home directory as the Variable value. Don't use a trailing backslash.

There are a couple of things to know about setting up the Stash home directory on Windows that will make life easier:

You should not locate your Stash home directory inside the <Stash installation directory> — they should be entirely separate locations. If you do put the home directory in the <Stash installation directory> it will be overwritten, and lost, when Stash gets upgraded. And, by the way, you can't use the same Stash home directory for multiple instances of Stash.
Keep the path length to the Stash home directory as short as possible. See Stash always shows incorrect Merge Conflict in PRs for an explanation.
Don't use spaces in the path to the Stash home directory.

7. Start Stash!

Stash needs to be run as a non-administrator user.

The user that runs Stash must have read and write access to the Stash home directory and the <Stash installation directory>.

In a command prompt, change directory to the <Stash installation directory> and run the following command:

bin\start-stash.bat

In your browser, go to http://localhost:7990 and run through the Setup Wizard. In the Setup Wizard:

Select Internal at the 'Database' step, if you are evaluating Stash. Stash will happily use its internal database, and you can easily migrate to external database later. See Connecting Stash to an external database.
Set up JIRA integration now, or do this later if you wish. See Configuring JIRA integration in the Setup Wizard.

8. Set up your mail server

Configure your email server so users can receive a link from Stash that lets them generate their own passwords. See Setting up your mail server.

9. Add users and repositories

Now is the time to set up your users in Stash, and to tell Stash about any existing repositories you have. Please the following pages for the details:

Additional steps for production environments

For production environments we recommend that you configure the additional aspects below. These are not necessary when installing for evaluation purposes. Please see Using Stash in the enterprise for more information about best practice.

Run Stash as a dedicated user

For production environments Stash should be run from a dedicated user account with restricted privileges. See Running Stash with a dedicated user.

Use an external database

For production environments Stash should use an external database, rather than the embedded database. See Connecting Stash to an external database.

Secure the Stash home directory

For production environments the Stash home directory (created in step 7 above) should be secured against unauthorised access. See Stash home directory.

Secure Stash with HTTPS

For production environments access to Stash should be secured using HTTP over SSL, especially if your data is sensitive and Stash is exposed to the internet. See Securing Stash with HTTPS.

Run Stash as a Windows service

See Running Stash as a Windows service.

Connect to your existing user directory

See External user directories.

Change the context path for Stash

Where you are running Stash behind a proxy, or you have another Atlassian application, or any Java web application, available at the same hostname and context path as Stash, then you should set a unique context path for Stash. See Moving Stash to a different context path.

Stopping Stash (optional)

In a command prompt, change directory to the <Stash installation directory> and run:

bin\stop-stash.bat

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