Installing memos as a service on Windows

While memos first-class support is for Docker, you may also install memos as a Windows service. It will run under SYSTEM account and start automatically at system boot.

❗ All service management methods requires admin privileges. Use gsudo, or open a new PowerShell terminal as admin:

Start-Process powershell -Verb RunAs

Choose one of the following methods

1. Using NSSM

NSSM is a lightweight service wrapper.

You may put nssm.exe in the same directory as memos.exe, or add its directory to your system PATH. Prefer the latest 64-bit version of nssm.exe.

# Install memos as a service
nssm install memos "C:\path\to\memos.exe" --mode prod --port 5230

# Delay auto start
nssm set memos DisplayName "memos service"

# Configure extra service parameters
nssm set memos Description "A lightweight, self-hosted memo hub. https://usememos.com/"

# Delay auto start
nssm set memos Start SERVICE_DELAYED_AUTO_START

# Edit service using NSSM GUI
nssm edit memos

# Start the service
nssm start memos

# Remove the service, if ever needed
nssm remove memos confirm

2. Using WinSW

Find the latest release tag and download the asset WinSW-net46x.exe. Then, put it in the same directory as memos.exe and rename it to memos-service.exe.

Now, in the same directory, create the service configuration file memos-service.xml:

<service>
    <id>memos</id>
    <name>memos service</name>
    <description>A lightweight, self-hosted memo hub. https://usememos.com/</description>
    <onfailure action="restart" delay="10 sec"/>
    <executable>%BASE%\memos.exe</executable>
    <arguments>--mode prod --port 5230</arguments>
    <delayedAutoStart>true</delayedAutoStart>
    <log mode="none" />
</service>

Then, install the service:

# Install the service
.\memos-service.exe install

# Start the service
.\memos-service.exe start

# Remove the service, if ever needed
.\memos-service.exe uninstall

Manage the service

You may use the net command to manage the service:

net start memos
net stop memos

Also, by using one of the provided methods, the service will appear in the Windows Services Manager services.msc.

Notes

On Windows, memos store its data in the following directory:

$env:ProgramData\memos
# Typically, this will resolve to C:\ProgramData\memos

You may specify a custom directory by appending --data <path> to the service command line.

If the service fails to start, you should inspect the Windows Event Viewer eventvwr.msc.
Memos will be accessible at http://localhost:5230 by default.

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