HFS: HTTP File Server

Index

• Introduction
• How does it work
• Features
• Installation
• Configuration
• Internationalization
• Hidden features
• Contribute
• More

Introduction

Turn your computer into a file-sharing server in seconds.

• Unlimited space and bandwidth — no cloud upload, files come directly from your disk
• Instant ZIP downloads, even for huge folders
• Virtual file system to organize what you share
• Real-time activity monitoring
• Bandwidth throttling to control transfer speed
• Plugin system to extend functionality

Runs on: Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, Android

How does it work

• run HFS on your computer; an administration webpage automatically shows up
• select which files and folders you want to be accessible
• access those files from a phone or another computer just using a browser
• possibly create accounts and limit access to files

Features

• https
• easy certificate generation
• virtual file system
• mobile friendly
• search
• accounts
• resumable downloads & uploads
• download folders as zip archive
• delete, move and rename files
• plug-ins (anti-brute-force, thumbnails, ldap, themes, and more)
• simple website serving
• real-time monitoring of connections
• show some files
• speed throttler
• geographic firewall
• admin web interface
• multi-language front-end
• virtual hosting
• reverse-proxy support
• comments in file descript.ion
• integrated media player
• customizable with html, css, and javascript
• dynamic-dns updater

Installation

For Docker, see https://github.com/rejetto/hfs/wiki/Docker .

For service installation, see https://github.com/rejetto/hfs/wiki/Service-installation.

For Homebrew, just brew install rejetto/hfs/hfs

The minimum Windows version required is 10 or Server 2019.

1. Download the zip file for your operating system from https://github.com/rejetto/hfs/releases
2. ⚠️ Antivirus problems on Windows? READ THIS
3. ⚠️ If you have Linux ARM or other unlisted/unsupported platforms, please see the Other systems section.
4. Unzip and launch the hfs file.
5. ⚠️ Mac: if you get "cannot be opened because it is from an unidentified developer", you can hold control key while clicking, then click open.
6. The browser should automatically open at localhost, so you can configure the rest in the Admin-panel.

Troubleshooting - If a browser cannot be opened on the computer where you are installing HFS, you should enter this command in the HFS console: create-admin <PASSWORD> - If you cannot access the console (like when you are running as a service), you can edit the config file to add your admin account - If you don't want to use an editor, you can create the file with this command:

 `echo "create-admin: PASSWORD" > config.yaml`

By default, HFS does not require a login when you access the Admin-panel from localhost. If you don't like this behavior, disable it in the Admin-panel or enter this console command config localhost_admin false.

To uninstall, remove the files you unzipped and the configuration/data directory (see config.md for the location).

Other systems

If you can't or don't want to run our binary versions, you can try this:

1. Install Node.js version 18 to 24
2. Run at the command line npx hfs@latest

The @latest part is optional, and ensures that you are always up to date.

If this procedure fails, it may be that you are missing one of these requirements.

Configuration and other files will be stored in %HOME%/.vfs

Configuration

For configuration please see config.md; it explains also where all configurations are stored.

Internationalization

It is possible to show the Front-end in other languages. Translation for some languages is already provided. If you find an error, consider reporting it or editing the source file.

In the Languages section of the Admin-panel you can install additional language files.

If your language is missing, please consider translating yourself.

Hidden features

• Append #LOGIN to the URL to open the login dialog
• Append ?lang=CODE to the URL to force a specific language
• Right-click on toggle-all checkbox to invert the state of all checkboxes
• Append ?login=USER:PASSWORD to automatically log in to the browser
• Append ?search=PATTERN to trigger a search on startup
• Append ?onlyFiles or ?onlyFolders to limit the type of results
• Append ?get=basic to display a basic web interface, intended for older/simpler browsers
• This is automatic if a basic browser is detected.
• Append ?autoplay=shuffle to trigger show & play; ?autoplay will not shuffle, but also will not start until the list is complete
• Right-click on "check for updates" to enter a URL of a version to install
• Shift+click on a file to show and play
• Ctrl+backspace to navigate to the parent folder
• Start typing a filename to focus it in the list
• --consoleFile PATH to also output all stdout/stderr to a file
• Set env.var. DISABLE_UPDATE=1 (for containers)
• Launch with --debug or env.var. HFS_DEBUG=1 to generate additional console logs
• Launch with --no-central to skip fetching updated info from GitHub (uses built-in data only)

Contribute

There are several ways to contribute

• Report bugs

It's very important to report bugs, and if you are not so sure about it, don't worry, we'll discuss it. If you find important security problems, please contact us privately so that we can publish a fix before the problem is disclosed, for the safety of other users.

• Use beta versions, and give feedback.

While betas have more problems, you'll get more features and give a huge help to the project.

• Translate to your language.

• Suggest ideas

While the project should not become too complex, yours may be an idea for a plugin.

• Write guides or make videos for other users. We got a wiki!

• Submit your code

If you'd like to make a change yourself in the code, please first open an "issue" or "discussion" about it, so we'll try to cooperate and understand what's the best path for it.

• Make a plugin

A plugin can change the look (a theme), and/or introduce a new functionality.

Code Signing Policy

Free code signing 🙏 provided by SignPath.io, certificate by SignPath Foundation.

Author/Reviewer/Approver: Massimo Melina.

Privacy: Update checks are opt-out; other outbound connections are user-triggered.

More

• Additional information (Wiki)

• APIs

• Build yourself

• License

• Flag images under MIT license from https://www.freakflagsprite.com