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Series · Engineering

Windows Home Server — Part 1: Wiping WSL, OS Hardening, and Service Wrapping

Prepare your bare-metal Windows server. Learn how to completely uninstall WSL/Ubuntu and reclaim disk space, harden Windows power settings for 24/7 uptime, manage forced update reboots, configure auto-login, and wrap applications as native services using NSSM.

25 parts

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  1. Part 1 Windows Home Server — Part 1: Wiping WSL, OS Hardening, and Service Wrapping Prepare your bare-metal Windows server. Learn how to completely uninstall WSL/Ubuntu and reclaim disk space, harden Windows power settings for 24/7 uptime, manage forced update reboots, configure auto-login, and wrap applications as native services using NSSM.
  2. Part 2 Windows Home Server — Part 2: Native Caddy Server and Bare-Metal Cloudflare Tunnels Configure local routing and secure WAN exposure. Install the native Windows port of Caddy Server as a service, write a lightweight Caddyfile for automated HTTPS, and deploy a native Windows Cloudflare Tunnel (cloudflared.exe) to bypass ISP CGNAT without opening router ports.
  3. Part 3 Windows Home Server — Part 3: The WSL-Free Storage & Database Stack Establish data synchronization and lightweight backends. Install and configure OwnCloud Infinite Scale (OCIS)—a modern, single-binary Go-based Nextcloud alternative—alongside FileBrowser and PocketBase running natively on Windows.
  4. Part 4 Windows Home Server — Part 4: Automation and Monitoring (n8n & Uptime Kuma Natively) Deploy essential management tools natively via Node.js. Setup Uptime Kuma and n8n directly on Windows Node.js runtimes, run them as background services, and configure process management with PM2 for Windows.
  5. Part 5 Windows Home Server — Part 5: Bare-Metal Media Server (Jellyfin with Intel QuickSync Acceleration) Turn your server into an entertainment hub. Set up a native Windows installation of Jellyfin, leverage the integrated Intel UHD Graphics G1 GPU for hardware-accelerated transcoding (QuickSync QSV), and secure your streams.
  6. Part 6 Windows Home Server — Part 6: Native Local AI and PowerShell Maintenance Automation Unlock offline AI capabilities and set up long-term automation. Install Ollama for Windows with direct GPU integration, run Open WebUI natively via Python/pip, and write PowerShell automation for disk cleaning, service monitoring, and Telegram health notifications.
  7. Part 7 Windows Home Server — Part 7: Multi-Subdomain Ingress & Web App Hosting Host multiple dynamic subdomains (api.yourdomain.com, dashboard.yourdomain.com) on different local ports using a single Caddy reverse-proxy instance, while keeping the corporate website on Cloudflare Pages for free.
  8. Part 8 Windows Home Server — Part 8: Self-Hosting Telegram Bots, Webhooks, and Event-Driven Services Run native Telegram bots on Windows, routing webhooks through Caddy with automated HTTPS certificates to enable zero-latency, polling-free bot performance.
  9. Part 9 Windows Home Server — Part 9: PaaS Replacements & GitOps (Heroku/Railway Alternatives) Build a 100% free auto-deployment pipeline. Configure GitHub Webhooks to notify a lightweight native endpoint on your server, pulling code, updating packages, and auto-restarting background processes.
  10. Part 10 Windows Home Server — Part 10: Replacing AWS S3 and RDS (Native Databases & Object Storage) Set up high-performance native PostgreSQL and MariaDB databases. Integrate backups with MinIO or Cloudflare R2 (10GB/month free tier) to replace paid RDS and S3 options.
  11. Part 11 Windows Home Server — Part 11: Replacing Auth0 and Google Analytics (Identity Management & Privacy Analytics) Eliminate SaaS subscription limits. Deploy Authelia for single sign-on (SSO) and Umami (on SQLite) for web traffic analytics.
  12. Part 12 Windows Home Server — Part 12: Replacing Datadog & CloudWatch (Bare-Metal Observability) Gather system and container performance metrics using Prometheus, Windows Exporter, Loki, and Grafana for real-time visualization and alerting.
  13. Part 13 Windows Home Server — Part 13: Replacing Paid VPNs & Team Access (Private WireGuard & Tailscale) Enable remote server access and create a private overlay mesh network for all user devices at zero cost using Tailscale's free tier.
  14. Part 14 Windows Home Server — Part 14: Replacing Google Photos & iCloud (Self-Hosted Photo Storage) Configure a photo library sync (Lychee or OCIS Photos) to backup mobile media directly to the server's 1TB HDD, bypassing monthly cloud storage fees.
  15. Part 15 Windows Home Server — Part 15: Replacing Paid Password Managers (1Password, Bitwarden Premium) Build a cross-platform password sync system using KeePassXC and WebDAV (via OwnCloud OCIS) for maximum security and zero ongoing costs.
  16. Part 16 Windows Home Server — Part 16: Replacing Paid Cron & Event Schedulers (Cronitor, AWS EventBridge) Schedule background scripts natively using Windows Task Scheduler, with execution logs, log rotation, and instant failure alerts pushed to Telegram.
  17. Part 17 Windows Home Server — Part 17: Replacing Paid Link Shorteners & Bio-Links (Linktree, Bitly) Deploy a native instance of LinkStack or a lightweight URL shortener behind Caddy to manage link redirection under a custom subdomain.
  18. Part 18 Windows Home Server — Part 18: Replacing Paid Email Forwarding & SMTP (SendGrid, Mailgun) Utilize Cloudflare Email Routing for free inbound forwarding and set up Mailrise as an SMTP-to-app gateway to forward alerts as push notifications.
  19. Part 19 Windows Home Server — Part 19: Replacing Paid Read-it-Later & RSS Services (Pocket, Feedly Premium) Install Miniflux or Wallabag natively on Windows to manage your RSS feeds and save articles for offline reading.
  20. Part 20 Windows Home Server — Part 20: TCO Financial Audit, Performance Audit, and Hybrid Architecture A complete cost audit measuring the power draw of the laptop, comparing it against VPS providers, and reviewing the hybrid checklist.
  21. Part 21 Windows Home Server — Part 21: Replacing Sentry & Error Tracking (Self-Hosted Logging) Bypass Sentry's paid tier limits. Set up native file logging, console redirection, and custom PowerShell scripts to catch runtime exceptions.
  22. Part 22 Windows Home Server — Part 22: Replacing Statuspage.io & Status Pages (Uptime Kuma Status) Create public, white-labeled status pages for your services natively using Uptime Kuma, without paying for third-party hosting.
  23. Part 23 Windows Home Server — Part 23: Replacing Intercom & Live Chat (Self-Hosted Support Chat) Self-host Chatwoot or a lightweight Go chat widget behind Caddy to chat with your website visitors without Intercom subscriptions.
  24. Part 24 Windows Home Server — Part 24: Replacing Typeform & Jotform (Self-Hosted Form Endpoints) Build a custom Node/Python form handler that registers submissions in a local SQLite database and forwards entries directly to Telegram.
  25. Part 25 Windows Home Server — Part 25: The Ultimate Home Server Migration Checklist A step-by-step migration playbook to transition database schemas, API routes, and schedules from cloud VPS platforms to your Windows server.