Installing FileMaker Server on a single machine (Windows and macOS)

  1. Follow your electronic download instructions to download the installation disk image and license certificate file. Place the license certificate in one of the following locations:

    • the default Downloads folder

      Windows: [drive]:\Users\[user]\Downloads

      macOS: /Users/[user]/Downloads

    • the installer folder (the folder where the installer is located)

    • the License file folder

      Windows: [drive]:\Program Files\FileMaker\FileMaker Server\CStore\LicenseFile, where [drive] is the drive on which FileMaker Server is being installed

      macOS: /Library/FileMaker Server/CStore/LicenseFile on the machine where FileMaker Server is being installed

  2. Windows: If you have Bonjour for Windows installed, make sure it is running before you run the FileMaker Server installer.

  3. Start the installation.

    • Windows: Double-click Setup.exe. If a User Account Control alert appears, click Yes.

    • macOS: Double-click the installation icon. If a security message appears, click Continue.

  4. Windows: Choose a language, click OK.

    • If you do not have IIS and Microsoft Application Request Routing (ARR) extension for IIS installed, you are prompted to allow the FileMaker Server installer to install them.

    • If you do not have Bonjour for Windows installed, you are prompted to allow the FileMaker Server installer to install it.

      See Installation notes.

  5. To continue with installation, click Next (Windows) or Continue (macOS).

  6. Read the important information displayed. If there is a task you did not do, quit the installer and do the task.

  7. Review and accept the end user license agreement.

  8. Choose the installation destination.

    Note  In Windows, you can specify a non-default location. See Installation notes.

  9. Choose FileMaker Server primary machine.

  10. Choose an option for the FileMaker Server user account (the account under which you want to run FileMaker Server):

    • To use the default account, choose Local System (Windows) or fmserver (macOS).

    • To use an existing account on this machine, choose User Name, enter the account's user name and password. You may want to choose this option if you already have an account that has privileges set as you want—for example, to access network-attached storage.

      If the existing user account you specified does not have sufficient privileges for FileMaker Server to run, the installer displays an error message. See Installation notes.

  11. Assign the user name and password to use whenever you sign in to Admin Console as the server administrator. The server administrator is responsible for installing and configuring FileMaker Server as well as managing the FileMaker Pro databases hosted on FileMaker Server.

    Note  User names are not case sensitive. Passwords are case sensitive.

    Enter a PIN value that can be used to reset the password using the command line interface (CLI).

    Important  The PIN value can be set during installation only. The only way to change the PIN value is to reinstall FileMaker Server.

  12. Click Install.

    macOS:

    • Enter your macOS user name and password, then click Install Software.

    • If Bonjour is not running, you are prompted to run it. See Installation notes.

    FileMaker Server begins to install. This process may take several minutes.

  13. After the software has been successfully installed, open Admin Console.

    • Windows: In the last step of the installer, enable Start Admin Console, then click Finish.

    • macOS: Click Continue.

    If necessary, see Admin Console doesn't start after installation on the primary.

    Optionally, you can stop now and open Admin Console later. To open Admin Console later:

    • Enter http://127.0.0.1:16001/admin-console into a web browser.

    • Use a desktop shortcut. To start Admin Console using a desktop shortcut:

      • Windows: Double-click the FileMaker Server Admin Console shortcut on the desktop.

      • Windows versions with the Start menu: Click Start menu > All apps or All Programs > FileMaker Server > FileMaker Server Admin Console.

      • Windows versions with the Start screen: Go to the Start screen and click FileMaker Server Admin Console.

      • macOS: Double-click the FileMaker Server Admin Console shortcut on the desktop.

  14. On the Admin Console Sign In page, enter the Admin Console account user name and password that you specified in the installer, then click Sign In.

  15. On the Admin Console Security Settings page, decide whether to import an SSL certificate.

    Because data security is important, FileMaker Server asks you to import an SSL certificate when you first open Admin Console.

    • If you have a custom SSL certificate to import, follow the instructions to import the SSL certificate.

    • If you don't have a custom SSL certificate to import, close Admin Console and request a custom SSL certificate from a trusted certificate authority (CA), or continue without importing an SSL certificate. (Open Admin Console and click the Configuration > SSL Certificate tab to import a custom SSL certificate later.)

  16. On the Dashboard page, note the IP address of the server.

    Tip  Write down the IP address so that you can start Admin Console from another computer:

    https://[host]/admin-console

    where [host] is the IP address of the server.

  17. If you want to allow technologies such as FileMaker WebDirect, FileMaker Data API, and ODBC and JDBC to access hosted databases, enable settings on the Connectors tab in Admin Console.

    For

    Enable

    FileMaker WebDirect

    Web Publishing

    FileMaker Data API

    FileMaker Data API

    ODBC and JDBC

    ODBC / JDBC

    See FileMaker Server Help.