Quickstart

Windows . Linux/Unix . MacOS

Windows

1. Ensure that you have downloaded and correctly installed a Java Runtime Environment such as Sun's JRE. Whatever runtime environment it must support Sun's Java 1.1 specification at a minimum.
2. Download and run Freenet_setup0.3.X.exe (where X is the latest version). This will guide you through the installation and install Freenet on your computer. You'll get the following files:
   

   File	Function
   Freenet.jar	Node (server) and command line clients
   Freenet.exe	The system tray utility. When using this you don't need to use the other files at all!
   fserve.exe	To start the node (server)
   frequest.exe	To request documents
   finsert.exe	To insert documents
   FLaunch.ini	Configuration file for the exe files. You specify here the location of your Java binaries and e.g if the node should be started minimized.
   freenet.ini	Configuration file with your preferences for Freenet (It is not recommended to keep the standard port 19114, best you change it to another unused port (>1024))

3. Start the server by running freenet.exe (or server.exe if you don't want to use the system tray utility)
   
4. You can now visit http://localhost:8081/ in your web browser to insert and request stuff from Freenet. Try Steve's Key Index for some sample keys.
5. New versions of Freenet are released regularly, often with important bugfixes. Please consider joining the moderated announcement list for notification of new releases, or check the website regularly.

There is also a usage manual for Windows users available here. This quick guide delves into the installation and use of Freenet on Windows in much greater detail than presented here.

Linux/Unix

1. Ensure that you have downloaded and correctly installed a Java Runtime Environment. On Linux we have found IBM's 1.3 JDK to be easy to install, and to work reliably and efficiently, but you may also care to try Blackdown's JRE 1.2 or Kaffe. Whichever you use it must support Sun's Java 1.1 specification at a minimum.
2. Download freenet-0.3.X.tgz to an appropriate directory
3. Type:

   tar xfz freenet-0.3.4.tgz

   to decompress the file on Linux or if that doesn't work try

   gunzip freenet-0.3.x.tgz;tar
   -xf freenet-0.3.x.tar

4. This will create a directory called "freenet", inside that directory type

   ./freenet_server

   to run the server, or

   nohup ./freenet_server &

   to run the server so that it will keep running after you log out. If you do this type

   killall java

   to stop the server (but be warned, this will kill any other java program you are running).
5. You can now visit http://localhost:8081/ in your web browser to insert and request stuff from Freenet. Try Steve's Key Index for some sample keys.
6. New versions of Freenet are released regularly, often with important bugfixes. Please consider joining the moderated announcement list for notification of new releases, or check the website regularly.

Macintosh

Elifarley Callado Coelho has kindly created a reasonably straightforward installation of Freenet for the Mac.

1. Ensure that you have installed Apple's MRJ version 2.2. It may have been installed by default if you have MacOS 8.1 or above.
2. Visit http://www.geocities.com/elifarley/macfreenet/index.html to download the mac version of Freenet.
3. New versions of Freenet are released regularly, often with important bugfixes. Please consider joining the moderated announcement list for notification of new releases, or check the website regularly.

Installation of a snapshot

If you would like to install the latest version of the code you can download it from here, and take a look at the installation page for requirements and installation instructions.