108

A few years ago I used a super simple free web server for Windows.

The only thing you had to do was copy an exe to a dir, double-click that exe, and - voilá - that dir was now accessible over HTTP.

The only problem is that I can't find that little gem...

Franck Dernoncourt
  • 24,246
  • 64
  • 231
  • 400
Martin R-L
  • 1,393

10 Answers10

78

I recently used mongoose for this purpose. It supports Windows. From the homepage:

Mongoose executable does not depend on any external library or configuration. If it is copied to any directory and executed, it starts to serve that directory on port 8080. If some additional config is required - for example, different listening port or IP-based access control, then a mongoose.conf file with respective options (see example) can be created in the same directory where executable lives. This makes Mongoose perfect for all sorts of demos, quick tests, file sharing, and Web programming.

Wes
  • 1,055
60

If you have python installed, you can use it to serve the current directory over HTTP:

python -m SimpleHTTPServer

By default, it binds to port 8000.

To choose another port:

python -m SimpleHTTPServer 9000

You can even have CGI support if you use CGIHTTPServer instead. Just make sure that the CGI scripts are in a cgi-bin subdirectory.

SimpleHTTPServer and CGIHTTPServer are python modules that come bundled with standard python installs.

I'm pretty sure that most scripting languages have similar tricks, python just happens to be my favorite swiss army knife.

Of course, python is much bigger than a single small standalone executable, but it just happens to be installed on every computer I ever touch.

vtest
  • 5,358
24

Nginx for Windows is like that. Extract, run the executable, and place your documents in the html folder.

18

I use HFS sometimes in a pinch. Maybe you'll find it useful. HFS

jcnaquin
  • 431
4

I had the same need and developed Quickshare, it works on Linux and Windows and does what you want (you run it select a directory, and voila). If you wish, it also supports HTTP-AUTH, IP white/black lists, and uploads.

Here is a screenshot and example of usage.

houbysoft
  • 4,444
2

I am not sure on the one that you used, but Cassini is free and pretty simple.

Available here - http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dmitryr/archive/2008/10/03/cassini-for-framework-3-5.aspx

Glorfindel
  • 4,158
William Hilsum
  • 117,648
1

Sounds like you're referring to XAMPP, it does just that.

davidlj95
  • 103
peter
  • 562
1

http://ultidev.com/products/Cassini/ - MS Cassini fork that can run as a service, C/P from site:

Here are features present in UltiDev Cassini, but not in the original MS Cassini:

* Comes ready for distribution with Visual Studio ASP.NET applications.
* Runs as a windows service;
* Hosts and runs multiple ASP.NET applications;
* Provides management UI and simple API for configuring web applications;
* Comes in two flavors: 2.0 version for ASP.NET 3.5, 3.0 and 2.0 applications, and 1.1 for applications compiled for ASP.NET 1.1.
Antonio Bakula
  • 432
0

I once used Wapache, which was even easier, as it required no setup.

Wapache is a software that lets you to create desktop applications using web development technology. It combines a modified version of the Apache 2 HTTP server with an embedded Internet Explorer web browser. Requests to the "web server" are handled internally. Data does not travel through the networking layer, ensuring quick response and reliable operation. Wapache also lets you control various browser settings, such as window dimensions and Javascript availability, giving you a consistent runtime environment.

jowido
  • 616
0

I found Abyss the easiest thing I know of, I'd still personally prefer to package up lighttpd or similar.

http://www.aprelium.com/

tobylane
  • 1,337