The portable one-folder install of Server by Zaweba

Everything Server by Zaweba needs sits in one folder. Beside the program are three others: components, holding Apache, MariaDB, the four PHP versions, Adminer and Mailpit; data, holding the configuration, databases, logs and certificates; and www, where new sites go. Together they come to about 557 MB, and the whole folder can be moved.

How moving works

Local servers usually hate being moved, because their configuration files are full of absolute paths. Server by Zaweba deals with this by re-applying the paths in php.ini, my.ini and httpd.conf every time it starts. If the folder is now on another drive or under another name, the configuration is brought up to date before any service runs. You stop the app, move the folder, start it again, and it carries on.

Settings lists the three folders, so you can always see where the program, the data and the sites are, and open them.

What is installed in Windows

Apart from what you allow, nothing. There are three things that can touch Windows, each with a plain-words explanation first. The name.test addresses need lines in the hosts file, which the app writes in its own marked block after one administrator prompt. Starting with Windows writes one value under the current user's Run key. Trusting the local certificate authority adds it to your own Trusted Root store, with a Windows security prompt to confirm.

None of the three is required. Every site also answers on name.localhost without any hosts file entry, you can start the app by hand, and HTTPS works without trust if you accept the browser's warning.

The services themselves are not Windows services. They run as ordinary programs while the app is open or in the tray, each inside its own Windows job so they close when the app does. Apache never uses the Windows service named Apache2.4, which also means it leaves another install such as XAMPP alone.

Why a single folder helps

A portable setup is easy to back up. Copy the folder while the services are stopped and you have the server, the databases and the sites in one go. Restoring is copying it back.

It is also easy to keep tidy. If you want to try a fresh setup, use a second folder. If you are done with local development on a PC, delete the folder, after removing anything you allowed in Windows if you want a perfectly clean machine: turn off start with Windows, and use Tools, Update hosts once your sites are removed so the app's block is tidied.

Where your files are

New sites made by the wizard go in the www folder. You can also point a site at any existing project folder elsewhere on your PC, in which case the files stay where they are. Databases live in the data folder, so a folder backup includes them, though Export SQL on the Databases page is the safer way to keep a copy of one database.

A few sensible habits

Stop the services before you copy or move the folder, so MariaDB isn't writing while you copy. Keep the folder somewhere with room to grow, because databases and logs get bigger over time. And if you move it, start Server by Zaweba once from the new place before relying on it, so the paths are re-applied and you can see every light come on.