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HFS: HTTP File Server (version 3)

logo and motto

Introduction

Access via web your files directly from your disk.

  • You be the server, share files fresh from your disk, with unlimited space and bandwidth.
  • Fast! Try zipping 100GB, download starts immediately!
  • Intelligent. HFS tries to detect problems and suggest solutions.
  • Share even a single file with our virtual file system, even with a different name, all without touching the real file. Present things the way you want!
  • Watch all activities in real-time.
  • Control bandwidth, decide how much to give.
  • No intermediaries, give a huge file to your friend without waiting for it to be uploaded on a server first.

This is a full rewrite of the Delphi version.

How does it work

  • run HFS on your computer, administration page automatically shows up
  • select what 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
  • unicode
  • virtual file system
  • mobile friendly
  • search
  • accounts
  • resumable downloads & uploads
  • download folders as zip archive
  • delete, move and rename files
  • simple website serving
  • plug-ins
  • real-time monitoring of connections
  • show some files
  • speed throttler
  • geographic firewall
  • admin web interface
  • multi-language front-end
  • virtual hosting
  • anti-brute-force (plug-in)
  • reverse-proxy support
  • comments in file descript.ion
  • integrated media player
  • customizable with html, css and javascript
  • dynamic-dns updater

Installation

NB: minimum Windows version required is 8.1 , Windows Server 2012 R2 (because of Node.js 18)

  1. go to https://github.com/rejetto/hfs/releases
  2. click on Assets
  3. download the right version for your system, unzip and launch hfs file.
    • Mac: if you get "cannot be opened because it is from an unidentified developer", you can hold control key while clicking, then click open.
    • If you cannot find your system in the list, see next section Other systems.
  4. the browser should automatically open on localhost address, so you can configure the rest in the Admin-panel.

    • 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

If you access Admin-panel via localhost, by default HFS won't require you to login. If you don't like this behavior, disable it in the Admin-panel or enter this console command config localhost_admin false.

Other systems

If your system is not Windows/Linux/Mac or you just don't want to run the binaries, you can try this alternative version:

  1. install node.js version 18
  2. execute at 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

Service

If you want to run HFS at boot (as a service), we suggest the following methods

On Linux

  1. install node.js
  2. create a file /etc/systemd/system/hfs.service with this content
[Unit]
Description=HFS
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
Restart=always
ExecStart=/usr/bin/npx -y hfs@latest

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
  1. run sudo systemctl daemon-reload && sudo systemctl enable hfs && sudo systemctl start hfs && sudo systemctl status hfs

NB: update will be attempted at each restart

On Windows

  1. install node.js
  2. run npm -g i hfs
  3. run npx qckwinsvc2 install name="HFS" description="HFS" path="%APPDATA%\npm\node_modules\hfs\src\index.js" args="--cwd %HOMEPATH%\.hfs" now

To update

  • run npx qckwinsvc2 uninstall name="HFS"
  • run npm -g update hfs
  • run npx qckwinsvc2 install name="HFS" description="HFS" path="%APPDATA%\npm\node_modules\hfs\src\index.js" args="--cwd %HOMEPATH%\.hfs" now

Console commands

If you have full access to HFS' console, you can enter commands. Start with help to have a full list.

Configuration

For configuration please see file config.md.

Where is it stored

Configuration is stored in the file config.yaml, exception made for custom HTML which is stored in custom.html.

These files are kept in the Current Working Directory (cwd), which is by default the same folder of hfs.exe if you are using this kind of distribution on Windows, or USER_FOLDER/.hfs on other systems. You can decide a different folder passing --cwd SOME_FOLDER parameter at command line. Any relative path provided is relative to the cwd.

Check details about config file format.

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.

Why you should upgrade from HFS 2.x

HFS 2.x is vulnerable to important attacks, and there is no known solution at the moment.

As you can see from the list of features, we already have some goods that you cannot find in HFS 2. Other than that, you can also consider:

  • it's more robust: it was designed to be an always-running server, while HFS 1-2 was designed for occasional usage (transfer and quit)
  • passwords are never really stored, just a non-reversible hash is
  • faster search (up to 12x)
  • more flexible permissions

Security

While this project focuses on ease of use, we care about security.

  • HTTPS support
  • Passwords are not saved, and not disclosed even without https thanks to SRP
  • Automated tests ran on every release, including libraries audit
  • No default admin password

Some actions you can take for improved security:

  • use https, better if using a proper certificate, even free with Letsencrypt.
  • have a domain (ddns is ok too), configure it in "Internet" page, and enable "Accept requests only using domain"
  • install "antidos" plugin
  • ensure "antibrute" plugin is running
  • disable "unprotected admin on localhost"

Hidden features

  • Appending #LOGIN to address will bring up the login dialog
  • Appending ?lang=CODE to address will force a specific language
  • right/ctrl/command click on toggle-all checkbox will invert each checkbox state
  • Appending ?login=USER:PASSWORD will automatically log in the browser
  • Appending ?overwrite on uploads, will override the dont_overwrite_uploading configuration, provided you also have delete permission
  • Appending ?search=PATTERN will trigger search at start
  • Right-click on "check for updates" will let you input a URL of a version to install
  • shift+click on a file will show & play

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.

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