Deploy Buckit on Windows
This page documents deploying Buckit onto Microsoft Windows hosts.
Buckit officially supports Windows operating systems in the Active Support of the Microsoft Modern Lifecycle Policy.
At the time of writing, that includes:
Windows Server 23H2 (Recommended)
Windows Server 2022 LTSC
Windows 11 Enterprise/Workstation 23H2
Windows 11 Enterprise/Workstation 22H2
Windows 10 Enterprise 21H2 (LTS)
Windows 10 IoT 21H2 (LTS)
Windows 10 Enterprise 22H2
Buckit may run on older or out-of-support Windows releases, with limited support or troubleshooting from either Buckit or Microsoft.
The procedure includes guidance for deploying Single-Node Multi-Drive (SNMD) and Single-Node Single-Drive (SNSD) topologies in support of early development and evaluation environments.
Buckit does not officially support Multi-Node Multi-Drive (MNMD) “Distributed” configurations on Windows hosts.
Considerations
Review Checklists
Ensure you have reviewed our published Hardware, Software, and Security checklists before attempting this procedure.
Erasure Coding Parity
Buckit automatically determines the default erasure coding configuration for the cluster based on the total number of nodes and drives in the topology.
You can configure the per-object parity setting when you set up the cluster or let Buckit select the default (EC:4 for production-grade clusters).
Parity controls the relationship between object availability and storage on disk. Use the Erasure Code Calculator for guidance in selecting the appropriate erasure code parity level for your cluster.
While you can change erasure parity settings at any time, objects written with a given parity do not automatically update to the new parity settings.
Procedure
1. Download the Buckit Binary
Use the following command in PowerShell to download and verify the latest stable Buckit executable for Windows:
irm https://buckit-io.github.io/buckit/install-windows.ps1 | iex
The installer downloads the executable to the current directory as
.\buckit.exe. Run it from PowerShell or Command Prompt.
2. Launch the Buckit Server
In PowerShell or the Command Prompt, navigate to the location of the
buckit.exe file or add its folder path to the system PATH.
For Windows hosts with multiple drives, you can specify a sequential set of drives to use for configuring Buckit in the Single-Node Multi-Drive (SNMD) topology:
.\buckit.exe server {D...G}:\buckit --console-address :9001
The buckit server process prints its output to the system console, similar to the following:
INFO: Formatting 1st pool, 1 set(s), 1 drives per set.
Buckit Object Storage Server
License: GNU AGPLv3 - https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html
Version: RELEASE.2026-06-18T00-00-00Z (go1.26.2 windows/amd64)
API: http://192.0.2.10:9000 http://127.0.0.1:9000
WebUI: http://192.0.2.10:9001 http://127.0.0.1:9001
Docs: https://buckit-io.github.io/docs
The process is tied to the current PowerShell or Command Prompt window. Closing the window stops the server and ends the process.
Use this command to start a local Buckit instance in the C:\buckit folder.
You can replace C:\buckit with another drive or folder path on the local host.
.\buckit.exe server C:\buckit --console-address :9001
The buckit server process prints its output to the system console, similar to the following:
INFO: Formatting 1st pool, 1 set(s), 1 drives per set.
Buckit Object Storage Server
License: GNU AGPLv3 - https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html
Version: RELEASE.2026-06-18T00-00-00Z (go1.26.2 windows/amd64)
API: http://192.0.2.10:9000 http://127.0.0.1:9000
WebUI: http://192.0.2.10:9001 http://127.0.0.1:9001
Docs: https://buckit-io.github.io/docs
The process is tied to the current PowerShell or Command Prompt window. Closing the window stops the server and ends the process.
3. Connect your Browser to the Buckit Server
Access the Admin Console by going to a browser (such as Microsoft Edge) and going to http://127.0.0.1:9001 or one of the Console addresses specified in the Buckit server command output.
For example, WebUI: http://192.0.2.10:9001 http://127.0.0.1:9001 in the example output indicates two possible addresses to use for connecting to the Console.
While port 9000 is used for connecting to the API, Buckit automatically redirects browser access to the Buckit Console.
Log in to the Console with the MINIO_ROOT_USER and
MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD credentials you configured before starting the server.
You can use the Buckit Console for general administration tasks like Identity and Access Management, Metrics and Log Monitoring, or Server Configuration. Each Buckit server includes its own embedded Buckit Console.
For more information, see the Admin Console documentation.
4. (Optional) Install Buckit Manager for Windows
Buckit Manager (bm) is the deployment and management tool for Buckit. It
includes both a web UI and a command line.
Use the following command in Windows PowerShell to install bm:
irm https://buckit-io.github.io/bm/install.ps1 | iex
The installer downloads the latest stable Windows build, verifies its SHA-256
checksum, installs it into your user account, and adds it to your user
PATH.
By default, the installer places bm in
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\bm.
Run the following command to verify the installation:
bm --version
Use bm.exe alias set to quickly authenticate and connect
to the Buckit deployment.
bm.exe alias set local http://127.0.0.1:9000 buckitadmin buckitadmin
bm.exe admin info local
The bm.exe alias set takes four arguments:
The name of the alias
The hostname or IP address and port of the Buckit server
The Access Key for a Buckit user
The Secret Key for a Buckit user
You can then use bm web to open the Buckit Manager web interface, or use
the CLI to manage Buckit deployments from PowerShell.
