Install Guide

Install Guide takes you from a blank PC to a working Commander4j login. It is written for someone who has never installed a database before. If you are an IT person, skim it: the only Commander4j-specific parts are Setup4j and the notes about TCP/IP.

The guide leads with the most common setup, Windows with Microsoft SQL Server Express. Where macOS, Linux, MySQL, MariaDB or Oracle differ, each page has a clearly marked section for them.

What you need

Item	Notes
A PC to install on	Windows 10 or 11 is the usual choice. macOS and Linux also work. Allow about 3 GB of disk for Commander4j, Java and the database.
A database	Commander4j stores everything in a database that you install separately. For a first install on Windows use the free Microsoft SQL Server Express. On a Mac or Linux use MySQL. Install Database walks through both.
Administrator rights	The installers ask for them. On a company PC you may need IT to run the install for you.
About an hour	Twenty minutes for the database, ten for Commander4j, and a little time to look around.

You do not need to install Java for the desktop application on Windows or macOS: those installers include their own copy. Java 25 (the JDK) is only needed for the desktop application on Linux, and on a server that will run the scanner web application under Apache Tomcat 11 (see Installation).

One computer or several?

The Commander4j installer asks whether you want a Full or Workstation install. The rule is simple:

One computer doing everything (trying it out, or a small site): choose Full.
A server plus several office or shop-floor PCs: choose Full on the server, Workstation on every other PC. Workstation PCs connect to the database on the server, so the database is installed once, on the server only.

Full adds the interface service (for talking to an ERP) and the Clone4j database-copy tool. Workstation installs just the application and Setup4j.

The steps

Downloads: pick the right installer file for your PC and download it. Five minutes.
Install Database: install SQL Server Express (or MySQL) and create an empty database called Commander4j. Twenty minutes. Skip this on Workstation PCs.
Install Commander4j: run the installer. Five minutes.
Setup4j: tell Commander4j where the database is and let it create the tables. Ten minutes.
First Login: log in with the default user, change the password, and see where to go next.

If something goes wrong

Nine times out of ten the problem is the database connection, and it is one of these:

TCP/IP is not switched on in SQL Server (it is off by default in Express). See Turn on TCP/IP.
The database user cannot log in: either SQL Server is in Windows-only authentication mode, or the password is wrong.
A firewall is blocking port 1433 between a Workstation PC and the server.
Setup4j points at the wrong server name or instance name (for Express it is usually SQLEXPRESS).

Free help is available on the GitHub Issues page. Include the message shown by Setup4j when you click Connect / Check DB.

Also on this site

Installation: the server-side extras that an IT person sets up after the basics are working: Apache Tomcat for hand-held scanners, running the interfaces as Windows services, Middleware4j and print queues.
Upgrading: moving an existing installation to a newer version.
Getting Started: what to set up inside Commander4j once you are logged in.