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WinPanel 1.0.0 — first stable release

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@decerto decerto released this 06 Aug 21:52
· 9 commits to main since this release
v1.0.0
2c56846

The first stable release of WinPanel: a self-hosted control panel for websites, DNS,
email and users on Windows Server 2025 — an alternative to IIS, Plesk and cPanel for
people running Node.js, ASP.NET Core and static sites on Windows.

Your apps run as ordinary Windows Services on loopback ports, with Caddy in front
handling HTTPS and domains. Mail is Stalwart, DNS is Cloudflare, and none of it needs
a web.config.

What's in it

  • Websites — static, Node and .NET, from Git or managed by hand. Node and .NET
    sites get a standby slot, so a deploy that fails to start never takes the running
    app down.
  • HTTPS — free certificates, renewed automatically. Connect Cloudflare and they
    are issued over the DNS-01 challenge, so the certificate authority never connects
    back to your server and domains behind Cloudflare's proxy keep renewing. Without a
    token, issuance falls back to needing port 80 reachable from the internet.
  • DNS — Cloudflare records per site, with a plan you approve before anything
    changes, and a one-click "point this domain here".
  • Email — self-hosted mailboxes with quotas and send-as aliases, MX/SPF/DKIM/DMARC/PTR
    checks that explain what each one proves, and webmail. The real certificate is copied
    into the mail server, so Outlook trusts it too.
  • People — owner, administrator and customer accounts, each with website, disk and
    mail limits, enforced in the API rather than hidden in the interface.
  • Security — two-factor sign-in, recovery codes, live sessions, a failed-attempt
    log and automatic IP blocking.
  • Files — browse, upload, edit and download each site's files, with an enforced
    per-site disk quota.
  • Server health — detects and fixes the Windows settings that quietly break Node
    hosting: IIS holding 443, missing firewall rules, a stopped time service, long paths
    disabled.
  • Updating — the panel replaces itself in place, from your computer, a URL or a
    file already on the server. Sites, mailboxes, certificates and users are all kept.

Already running real sites: kitora.io,
diminished-studios.com,
taskbarlegends.com (Socket.IO) and
jean-kseafishing.com.

Installing

  1. Download WinPanel-Setup-x64.exe below and copy it to your server.
  2. Run it as administrator.
  3. Open the address it shows you and enter the one-time setup code.

Nothing needs to be installed first — the installer carries its own Node runtime, and
the panel downloads Caddy, Stalwart and the rest itself. You reach it at
https://<your-server-ip>:8443, so no domain is required to start.

Windows Server 2025 or 2022. Full instructions, including the parts your hosting
provider has to do (unblocking outbound port 25, setting reverse DNS), are in
DEPLOYMENT.md.

Verifying the download

The installer is unsigned, so check it before you run it:

(Get-FileHash .\WinPanel-Setup-x64.exe -Algorithm SHA256).Hash.ToLower()

## Verifying the download

```powershell
(Get-FileHash .\WinPanel-Setup-x64.exe -Algorithm SHA256).Hash.ToLower()
c6fa8f3484aa2b54b9edfa7b493fbdeb7bc8f90d1c7a1e10bb8cda9ea8b06180  WinPanel-Setup-x64.exe

Worth knowing

  • Your browser will warn about the panel's certificate the first time. That is
    expected — it is self-signed because the panel is reached by IP address. The
    fingerprint is shown so you can confirm you are trusting the right one.
  • No PHP or WordPress yet.
  • There is no rollback on updates. Take a copy of C:\WinPanel\data\panel.db and
    C:\WinPanel\data\vault.key before upgrading.
  • Backups and alerting are not built in. The Health page will show you a failing
    service when you look at it; nothing pages you.
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