Today I will show you how you can install Koha library Software on your Windows 10 operating system.
Koha is an open-source integrated library system for libraries to keep track and store data. It is used in libraries of schools and universities for library management.
In this tutorial you will see the full installation process of koha library software on your windows computer, so make sure to read the article fully line by line to avoid getting into any problem while installing koha.
Installing Koha Library Software on Windows
Okay, so the Koha Library Software is only available for the Linux operating system, which means that if you go to the official website of Koha then you will see that there are only download options for Linux and not windows.
For Linux – Koha Installation Tutorial for Ubuntu 20.04
Now to fix that problem there is a Modified version of Koha which is modified to be able to run on your windows operating system. This makes it easier for people to run and install Koha on their windows operating system as not a lot of people know how to use Linux.
Download Koha for Windows
To be able to install Koha Library Software you will need to first download it, to download the Windows version of Koha first click on this link here –
That link will open Mediafire, from where you can download the Windows version of Koha, to download just click on “DOWNLOAD”, the file size will be 592Mb so make sure that you have a stable internet connection.
Wait for the download to finish.
Move & Unzip Koha
After the download finishes, open your file manager and go to the downloads directory, here look for the Koha_for_Windows.zip file, select the file and right-click it, click on “CUT”.
Now go to the root directory of your Windows PC and paste the Koha zip file there. You can paste it in any root directory like C:, D:, E:.
In my case, I have moved the downloaded Koha zip file to the E: drive. So now after moving it, you will need to unzip the zip file. To do that select the Koha_for_Windows.zip and right-click it, click on “Extract Here”.
This will extract all the contents of the zip file in your drive, this will take a little bit of time to finish extracting. After the extraction finishes the extracted folder that you will get will be named “usr”.
Running Koha Library Software
After extracting the zip file you will get an extracted folder named “usr”, now first make sure that the usr folder is directly in the root directory and not inside any folder, it should directly be in the root like “E:usr” and not “E:folderusr”.
Now to run Koha in your Windows operating system just go inside the “usr” folder, here scroll down and look for the “StartMysqlServer.bat ” file, double click on the bat file to run it.
After double-clicking the StartMySqlserver.bat file, the terminal of your windows computer will run the file for a second and automatically stop and close the terminal.
After running the first bat file, you will need to run the second bat file which will be named “StartServer.bat”, again double click it and let it run in the terminal, now to be able to use koha you will need to keep the bat file running in the terminal, so minimize the terminal tab.
Finally, run the third bat file which is named “ZebraServer.bat”. Again keep the terminal window running, so minimize the window.
Access Koha Dashboard
After running all the three bat files, you can now access the Koha Library Software dashboard by going to your localhost.
In your browser just enter http://localhost:8080, this will redirect you to the login page of Koha Library, the default username and password for logging into Koha Windows version is “admin”.
You can now start using Koha on your Windows computer. The version of koha that is provided here is Version 3.16.01.
Access Koha WEB OPAC
To access the Web OPAC of Koha Library Software on windows you will need to go to http://localhost on your browser.
Stopping Koha
Once you are done and have finished your work, you can now stop Koha from running by first closing all the terminal windows that were running.
After closing all the running terminal windows, go to your file manager and go inside the usr folder of Koha, here look for “StopMysqlServer.bat”, double click the bat file, and let it run, it will stop the Localhost server from running automatically.
That’s it, Koha will be now completely stopped. To run Koha again on your windows just run the three bat files in the usr folder.
Uninstalling Koha from Windows
To completely uninstall the Koha Windows version you will need to just delete the Koha usr folder from your computer.
That’s it, that is how you can Install Koha Library Software on your windows operating system. If you have any questions or if you are facing any problem while installing koha, then comment below. Thank you.
FAQ –
Is the Koha Library Windows version safe to use?
The windows version of koha is safe, but I think it will be better if you could install the official version of koha on a Linux Machine Because in the Windows version of Koha you will not get a lot of security, and also you will not get any updates.
It’s better to just call a computer guy and install Linux on your computer. After that, you can follow this tutorial here – Install Koha Library Software on Ubuntu 20.04.
