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Retro AIM Server Quickstart for Windows 10/11

This guide explains how to download, configure and run Retro AIM Server on Windows 10/11.

  1. Download Retro AIM Server

    Download the latest Windows release from the Releases page and extract the .zip archive, which contains the application and a configuration file settings.env.

  2. Configure Server Address

    Open settings.env (right-click, edit in notepad) and set OSCAR_HOST to a hostname that AIM clients can connect to. The default setting is 127.0.0.1, which is enough to connect clients on the same PC.

    In order to connect AIM clients on your LAN (including VMs with bridged networking), you can find the appropriate IP address by running ipconfig from the Command Prompt.

  3. Start the Application

    Launch retro-aim-server.exe to start Retro AIM Server.

    Because Retro AIM Server has not built up enough reputation with Microsoft, Windows will flag the application as a security risk the first time you run it. You'll be presented with a Microsoft Defender SmartScreen warning prompt that gives you the option to run the blocked application.

    To proceed, click More Options, then Run anyway.

    screenshot of microsoft defender smartscreen prompt screenshot of microsoft defender smartscreen prompt

    Click Allow if you get a Windows Defender Firewall alert.

    screenshot of microsoft defender firewall alert

    Retro AIM Server will open in a terminal, ready to accept AIM client connections.

  4. Test

    To do a quick sanity check, start an AIM client, sign in to the server, and send yourself an instant message. Configure the AIM client to connect to the host set in OSCAR_HOST in settings.env. (If you didn't change the config, the address is 127.0.0.1.)

    See the Client Configuration Guide for more detail on setting up the AIM client.

    By default, you can enter any screen name and password at the AIM sign-in screen to auto-create an account.

    Account auto-creation is meant to be a convenience feature for local development. In a production deployment, you should set DISABLE_AUTH=false in settings.env to enforce account authentication. User accounts can be created via the Management API.

  5. Additional Setup

    For optional configuration steps that enhance your Retro AIM Server experience, refer to the Additional Setup Guide.