Bookstack Installation on Windows

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Introduction

This record the process of installing Bookstack on Windows through WLS2. This is just for personal test usage. Still not sure if this will cause the problem opening the port to the internet.

20250708 Note: In the end I just give up building the knowledge base using bookstack for the team, but using obsidian for my personal knowledge base.

Bookstack presents a viable solution for creating a team-based knowledge management system. When dealing with sensitive information, relying on free cloud services poses significant security risks and often comes with limitations that hinder future scalability and user management. Consequently, hosting the knowledge base on a local server becomes essential. This approach provides a secure environment to document internal processes and work, ensuring that all information can be carefully reviewed internally before any external dissemination.

The easiest way to install Bookstack on Windows using Docker

  • Why use docker for the installation?
    Bookstack is designed for Linux. Thanks to WSL2 on Windows 11, we can run a Linux environment without the overhead of a full virtual machine. While Docker is often used by developers to create consistent and isolated environments, it is also an excellent way to run a personal database. The data can be easily migrated to a dedicated server in the future if the project matures.

  • Why use Windows but not just use Linux-based OS?

I have previously used a Linux-based OS as my primary workstation. However, I found it challenging to use certain proprietary software, like Microsoft Office, which is often necessary for collaboration. My past solution involved running a Windows virtual machine on Linux, which was cumbersome to manage. Therefore, using WSL2 and Docker on a Windows host provides a more practical and integrated solution for my workflow.

Install bookstack

  1. Install Ubuntu based on WSL2 (Ubuntu official tutorial)
  2. Install docker (Docker official tutorial)
  3. No need to install docker-compose (It seems like this program is already installed through the package in Win11 version)
  4. Using docker-compose to simplify the installation process
  5. Install Bookstack with Linuxserver version through docker-compose
    docker-compose.yml (github gist)
    Type docker-compose up -d in PowerShell to run the script (Note: please don’t use the administrator account to do so for the security reason.)
  6. You should be able to login through any website browser with the url
  7. The default username is admin@admin.com with the password of password
    , access the container athttp://localhost:6875/.

MISC

  • Backup & Restore

  • Latex (Mathjax) support

    Just add the following script in the HTML render for the Latex usage

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    <script src="[https://polyfill.io/v3/polyfill.min.js?features=es6](https://polyfill.io/v3/polyfill.min.js?features=es6)"></script>
    <script id="MathJax-script" async src="[https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/mathjax@3/es5/tex-mml-chtml.js](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/mathjax@3/es5/tex-mml-chtml.js)"></script>

Reference