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How to to Install NextCloud on Windows server

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If you intend to use unlimited and more private space instead of using storage spaces such as Dropbox or OneDrive after purchasing your own Windows virtual server, you will most likely go to Nextcloud.

Nextcloud is an open-source and private cloud space for storing files and information. You have complete control over the storage of information on this platform, and no third party has control over this information. If you plan to use this program on Windows, you can install Nextcloud on the Windows server in two ways. The first way is through Docker Desktop and the second way is through a Linux distribution and Apache web server.

In addition to having the ability to store files and information, Nextcloud is a platform and workspace where you can share your files with other people, organize meetings, and manage tasks.

Nextcloud is basically a client-side application through which the user connects to the server. This program is also used as a database to respond to millions of users.

This program can be used on all platforms, i.e. Linux, Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. By reading this article, you will learn 2 methods of installing Nextcloud on a Windows server.

Table of Contents

 

Prerequisites for installing Nextcloud on a Windows server

To install Nextcloud on Windows with both methods, we must have a number of prerequisites, which are:

How to install Nextcloud on Windows

In general, we need a Linux kernel to install Nextcloud. If you are unable to install Nextcloud on Linux, you can install one of its distributions on Windows.

There are two ways to install Nextcloud on Windows Server, installing Nextcloud All-in-One or using Apache web root and Linux distribution. In the first method, we will need Docker Desktop, and in the second method, some programming knowledge.

If you are not familiar with the Linux environment and programming, it is better to use the first method; If the second method is the most suitable method for programmers.

Installing Nextcloud on Windows via Docker Desktop

In order to install Nextcloud on the Windows server, in this method we install Nextcloud All-in-One, which is a Docker, with the help of Docker Desktop.

In this method, we are going to complete the process of installing Nextcloud on Windows and the domain of the site without the need for the Apache web server. Just follow the steps below carefully.

Step 1: Install Docker Desktop

Download and install Docker Desktop. Check both options at this stage of installation.

 

 

Open the app.

 

 

Second step: Download the WSL2 Linux kernel package update

After clicking the Accept button, you will see the following screen. Click on the link you see on the page.

On the page you see, click on the first link to download the latest WSL2 Linux kernel package update.

WSL stands for Windows Subsystem for Linux and means Windows Linux Subsystem.

 

After downloading the ‘wsl_update msi’ file, install it.

 

Now click Restart on the following page to restart the Docker desktop.

 

 

Third step: Docker Desktop settings in Windows

At this stage, after entering the Docker Desktop environment, go to the settings section and check the first square on the right so that the program will run when you log in to the system.

 

Step 4: Install Nextcloud AIO

After successful installation of Docker Desktop, you can install Nextcloud AIO on a Windows server. Enter the terminal and run Nextcloud with the following command.

Note: Replace /run/desktop/mnt/host/c/ncdata, which is equivalent to C:\ncdata in your Windows host, with the actual path.

 

docker run ^
--sig-proxy=false ^
--name nextcloud-aio-mastercontainer ^
--restart always ^
--publish 80:80 ^
--publish 8080:8080 ^
--publish 8443:8443 ^
--volume nextcloud_aio_mastercontainer:/mnt/docker-aio-config ^
--volume //var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro ^
-e NEXTCLOUD_DATADIR="/run/desktop/mnt/host/c/ncdata" ^
nextcloud/all-in-one:latest

 

Now enter the system browser and go to the link https://localhost:8080. After accepting the certificate, you will go to the following page.

 

 

Click on Open Nextcloud AIO login and login with your Nextcloud password.

 

Now you can see the Nextcloud dashboard.

Step five: Setting Nextcloud on the site

Enter the domain address of your site in the empty field. Then set DNS to display the site’s public IP. Finally, connect ports 433/tcp and 3478/udp and 3478/tcp to Windows.

After setting these things correctly, you will be able to go to the next step. In this step, you can set optional addons and timezone. Then click on Start containers to download and run containers.

 

After the containers are completely downloaded, you will see the following image that shows the containers in the state of starting to install and run.

After installing and running Containers, you will see the following image.

 

Now you can enter Nextcloud with your username and password through the link below.

http://localhost/nextcloud

 

Installing Nextcloud on Windows via WSL and Apache web server

WSL stands for Windows Subsystem for Linux and means Windows Linux Subsystem. By installing WSL on Windows, you can use the command line and other Linux privileges.

In this method, we want to install Nextcloud on the Windows server using WSL2 and Apache web root.

Step 1: Run Powershell

Run Powershell or Windows terminal in administrator mode.

Second step: activation of WSL and virtual machine

We activate the WSL and virtual machine by running the following commands in the terminal:

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all

 

After both features are enabled and the question appears, type y and press enter to reboot the system.

 

Third step: Use WSL2

After restarting the system, enter the terminal in administrator mode and run the following commands in order to upgrade the WSL version to WSL2 and use it:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform

wsl --set-default-version 2

ProgressPreference
= 'SilentlyContinue'; Invoke-WebRequest
https://wslstorestorage.blob.core.windows.net/wslblob/wsl_update_x64.msi
-OutFile .\wsl_update_x64.msi

ProgressPreference = 'Continue'

.\wsl_update_x64.msi

 

After running the last code, you will enter the WSL update installation environment. Follow the steps until the installation is complete.

 

–

 

Step 4: Install the Linux distribution

Now exit the terminal and enter the Microsoft StoreDNS . Search and install one of the Linux distributions in the Search section. In this tutorial, we will install the Debian distribution.

Run Debian after installation is complete. After fully loading, Debian will ask you to create a user account in the Linux environment with a name and password. Enter the username and password of your choice.

 

Step 5: Install Nextcloud

This step consists of several parts that you need to do to install Nextcloud:
Installing the required updates and packages

Run the following commands in the Debian environment:

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade -y

sudo apt install unzip wget -y

sudo apt install apache2 mariadb-server mariadb-client -y

sudo
apt install php7.4 libapache2-mod-php7.4 php7.4-mysql php-common
php7.4-cli php7.4-common php7.4-json php7.4-opcache php7.4-readline
php7.4-intl php7.4-json php7.4-gd php7.4-mbstring php7.4-mysql
php7.4-xml php7.4-zip php7.4-curl -y

sudo service mariadb start

sudo su

mysql_secure_installation

 

Database settings and root account

After executing the last command, press Enter to login as root user. In this section, we will set the access of other users and other topics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this step, enter N so that the process does not switch to socket authentication mode:

 

 

 

Type Y and press Enter to set a root password. Enter the password twice to set it.

 

 

 

 

 

At this point, enter Y and press Enter to block the access of other users. Then enter Y and run to disable root user remote login. Continue to enter Y to delete the test database.

At the end, enter the letter Y and press enter to reload the privilege tables:

 

Login to MySQL

Log in to MySQL using the following command and the password you set:

mysql -u root -p

 

Create Nextcloud database and database user

Now run the following commands in order to create the Nextcloud database and the database user:

CREATE DATABASE nextclouddb;

GRANT ALL ON nextclouddb.* to 'nextcloud_rw'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'N3xtCl0ud!';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

EXIT;

Download Nextcloud on Apache webroot

We download and extract Nextcloud in Apache web root through the following commands:

wget -O /tmp/nextcloud.zip https://download.nextcloud.com/server/releases/latest.zip

sudo unzip -q /tmp/nextcloud.zip -d /var/www

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/nextcloud

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/nextcloud.conf

 

 

 

 

After entering the last command, you will enter the nextcloud.conf file editor, which is the new site settings file.

Setting nextcloud.conf

Enter the following codes inside it:

Alias /nextcloud "/var/www/nextcloud/"
<directory /var/www/html/nextcloud/>
Options +FollowSymlinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted

Dav off

SetEnv HOME /var/www/nextcloud
SetEnv HTTP_HOME /var/www/nextcloud
</directory>

 

Press CTRL+O, then Enter and finally CTRL+X to write the codes to the file.

Site activation

After going to the terminal, enter the following codes to activate the site and reload Apache 2 to apply the changes.

 

sudo a2ensite nextcloud

sudo a2enmod rewrite headers env dir mime dav

sudo service apache2 restart

If you encounter a firewall warning, select the allow access option.

 

Completing the installation of nextcloud on Windows

To complete the installation of Nextcloud on the Windows server, enter the following address in your browser:

http://DNSorIP/nextcloud

You will see the nextcloud installation page at this address.

 

 

Enter the selected username and password. Click on the storage & database link to view the rest of the page. Then fill in the blanks with the following information:

username: nextcloud_rw
password: N3xtCl0ud!
database name: nextclouddb
database host: localhost

 

 

Click Install to install nextcloud. Then enter its environment.

 

In this section, you can install the recommended programs.

 

Welcome to the Nextcloud environment in WSL!

Conclsuin

Nextcloud is an information storage space that has both a paid version and a free version, and its features go beyond just a storage space. Unlike other storage spaces, this platform has no volume limitations.

According to your taste, you can use Docker Desktop or Apache web server to install Nextcloud on Windows server.

We have thoroughly reviewed both methods of installing Nextcloud on a Windows server. By writing your questions in the comments section, you help our experts to provide answers as quickly as possible.

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