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Installation on Windows

To install GeoServer Enterprise in MS Windows, follow these steps.

Java Runtime Environment

GeoServer Enterprise requires a Java 17 runtime environment.

OpenJDK is now the lead project for the Java ecosystem. As an open-source company GeoCat is pleased to see OpenJDK supported by a number of different distributions.

To install the OpenJDK JDK using the Temurin OpenJDK MSI installer:

  1. Navigate to the Eclipse Temurin releases page, confirming the JDK 17 - LTS tab is selected.

    Windows and Linux downloads are both available from this one page

  2. In the Windows row, leave JDK selected and click the MSI download.

  3. Run the installer. On the Custom Setup page, leave Modify PATH variable and Set or override JAVA_HOME variable enabled.

  4. To ensure that Java is now correctly installed, open a console and type java -version. The output should look something like this:

    > java -version

    openjdk version "17.0.20.1" 2026-08-19
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Temurin-17.0.20.1+1 (build 17.0.20.1+1)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Temurin-17.0.20.1+1 (build 17.0.20.1+1, mixed mode, sharing)

OpenJDK JRE (Alternative)

To install the OpenJDK JRE using the Temurin binary distribution:

  1. On the Eclipse Temurin releases page, switch the Windows row toggle to JRE and download the ZIP.

  2. In your system, create a folder called java under your Program files folder.

  3. Extract the content of the downloaded zip file into that folder. Your folder structure under the Program Files folder should now look like this:

  4. Open the Windows System configuration by going to Start Menu > Control Panel > System and then click on the Advanced system settings link. Move to the Advanced tab.

  5. Click on the Environment variables button.

  6. In the System variables section, click on New to create a new variable. Enter the following values to configure the new variable:

  7. Edit the Path variable by selecting it and clicking on Edit.

  8. Click on New to add a new line to the variable and enter %JAVA_HOME%\bin to add the Java JRE folder to your system PATH.

  9. Close the Environment variables and Windows System configuration dialog.

  10. To ensure that Java is now correctly installed, open a console and type java -version. The output should look something like this:

    > java -version

    openjdk version "17.0.20.1" 2026-08-19
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Temurin-17.0.20.1+1 (build 17.0.20.1+1)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Temurin-17.0.20.1+1 (build 17.0.20.1+1, mixed mode, sharing)

Apache Tomcat

Apache Tomcat is the leading open source application server.

GeoServer Enterprise requires Apache Tomcat 11.0.x.

To install Tomcat, follow these steps:

  1. Visit the Apache Tomcat Download page.

  2. Under Binary Distributions download the Windows Service Installer (pgp, sha512).

  3. Run the installer, this will setup:

    • Apache Tomcat
    • Tomcat Properties user interface to control configuration and settings

  4. Choose Components page: select the Native and Service Startup, and Manager options.

  5. Configuration page: provide Tomcat Administrator Login credentials:

    User Name admin
    Password: tomcat (example)
    Roles manager-gui

    The installer registers the Windows service as Tomcat11 by default.

  6. Use browser to confirm server is running:

  7. Once installed, Tomcat has to be correctly configured to provide a better performance when running GeoServer Enterprise. The first thing to configure are its Java Virtual Machine runtime parameters.

  8. From the Windows Start menu select Apache Tomcat > Configure Tomcat to open Tomcat Properties.

    Note

    On a fresh install the short cut above may be unable to start a permissions issue:

    To resolve navigate to the C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 11.0 which will prompt to grant access to this directory.

  9. Change to Log On tab, select:

    Local System account: selected
    Allow service to interact with desktop checked

  10. Change to the Java tab, add the highlighted lines below to Java Options:

    -Dcatalina.home=C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 11.0
-Dcatalina.base=C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 11.0
-Djava.io.tmpdir=C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 11.0\temp
-Djava.util.logging.manager=org.apache.juli.ClassLoaderLogManager
-Djava.util.logging.config.file=C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 11.0\conf\logging.properties
-XX:SoftRefLRUPolicyMSPerMB=36000
-XX:-UsePerfData
-Dorg.geotools.referencing.forceXY=true

    Update the memory options to:

    Initial memory pool: 2048 MB
    Maximum memory pool: 4096 MB

    Note

    The values above are a good starting point for a normal to large number of users. See Memory sizing for guidance on choosing a profile, and Garbage collection tuning for larger deployments.

    Java 9 Options

    Tomcat 11 adds a separate Java 9 Options field, pre-populated with the --add-opens flags Tomcat needs to access JDK internals under the Java module system. Leave these as installed unless GeoCat support advises otherwise.

  11. Return to General tab:

    • Use the Apply button to update the service with these settings.

    • Use the Stop and Start buttons to restart the service

  12. From http://localhost:8080/ click Server Status to confirm available memory, under the JVM heading.

    Note

    The tomcat manager requires the Tomcat Administrator Login credentials used during installation.

  13. Optional: Environment variables can be managed using the optional bin/setup.bat file:

    • JAVA_HOME
    • CATALINA_OPTS: additional Java startup options used when launching Tomcat
    Rem Prepend JVM Options
SET CATALINA_OPTS=-XX:SoftRefLRUPolicyMSPerMB=36000 -XX:-UsePerfData %CATALINA_OPTS%

Rem Append system property values
SET CATALINA_OPTS=%CATALINA_OPTS% -Dorg.geotools.referencing.forceXY=true

Data Directory

GeoServer places all its required configuration files in a data directory.

We recommend starting with a ready-to-use data directory stored in C:\ProgramData\GeoServer:

  1. Create a folder to hold your GeoServer Enterprise configuration:

    • C:\ProgramData\GeoServer\

  2. GeoCat provides a choice of two ready to use data directories:

    • geoserver-data-standard.zip - services setup, includes sample layers.
    • geoserver-data-default.zip - services setup only.

  3. To download:

    • GeoCat Enterprise customers login to nexus.geocat.net and browse to the enterprise folder:

      https://nexus.geocat.net/#browse/browse:enterprise

      Navigate to the latest geoserver release, and download geoserver-data-default.zip or geoserver-data-standard.zip.

      GeoServer Enterprise downloads geoserver data zip archives

    • GeoCat Training customers are provided with geoserver-data-standard.zip data directory as part of course materials.

  4. Unzip, and copy the data folder.

    • C:\ProgramData\GeoServer\data.

    GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR

  5. Create the tilecache folder.

    • C:\ProgramData\GeoServer\tilecache

    GEOWEBCACHE_CACHE_DIR

  6. Update the Tomcat configuration with these directory locations.

    • Open the Tomcat folder, by selecting the Apache Tomcat > Tomcat Program Directory menu entry in the Windows Start menu.

    • Navigate to the conf\catalina\localhost subfolder.

    • In the localhost folder, create a geoserver.xml file, with the following content:

      <Context>
  <Parameter name="GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR"
             value="C:\ProgramData\GeoServer\data" override="false"/>
  <Parameter name="GEOSERVER_REQUIRE_FILE"
             value="C:\ProgramData\GeoServer\data\global.xml" override="false"/>
  <Parameter name="GEOWEBCACHE_CACHE_DIR"
             value="C:\ProgramData\GeoServer\tilecache" override="false"/>
</Context>

Starting with an empty data directory

GeoServer can also be configured to start with an empty folder, GeoServer will generate configuration files to this folder the first time it runs:

  • Create an empty folder C:\ProgramData\GeoServer\data

  • Remove the GEOSERVER_REQUIRE_FILE startup check for global.xml:

    <Context docBase="geoserver.war">
  <Parameter name="GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR"
             value="C:\ProgramData\GeoServer\data" override="false"/>
  <Parameter name="GEOWEBCACHE_CACHE_DIR"
             value="C:\ProgramData\GeoServer\tilecache" override="false"/>
</Context>

This approach is often used in automated workflow where GeoServer is configured via REST API scripts.

GeoCat Map

To install GeoCat Map on your existing Tomcat instance, follow these steps:

  1. Login to nexus.geocat.net and browse to the enterprise folder:

    Navigate to the latest geoserver release and select the geocat-map-standard zip archive.

  2. Unzip this file containing:

    • windows - sample configuration files
    • geoserver.war - geoserver enterprise web application
    • GPL and LICENSE.txt open source license information

  3. Open the Tomcat Program folder by using the Start menu to select Apache Tomcat > Tomcat Program Directory.

  4. Open the webapps folder.

  5. Copy the geoserver.war file to the to tomcat webapps folder.

    Tomcat will deploy geosever.war web application, creating geoserver folder for the running application.

  6. In your web browser, navigate to http://localhost:8080/geoserver to verify that GeoServer Enterprise is correctly working.