Install the XC Server on Windows¶

IPTVBoss Pro

XC Server requires Pro.

Still requires Windows testing

This Task Scheduler procedure is not a fully tested Windows service installation. Task Scheduler can start IPTVBoss automatically, but it does not provide the same graceful shutdown guarantees as a true service wrapper. Reboot, shutdown, upgrade, and database-recovery testing is still required.

This setup uses two Windows components:

Task Scheduler starts iptvboss-c.exe in the background when Windows starts.
Caddy runs as a Windows service and provides the public HTTPS address.

IPTVBoss listens only on 127.0.0.1:8001. Caddy is the only service exposed to the network.

1. Prepare the hostname and network¶

Choose a hostname such as boss.example.com. Before continuing:

Create a DNS A record that points the hostname to your public IPv4 address. Add an AAAA record only when the computer has working public IPv6.
Forward TCP ports 80 and 443 from the router to the Windows computer.
Confirm that another web server is not already using ports 80 or 443.
Configure Windows so the computer does not sleep while it is serving clients.

2. Install IPTVBoss¶

Install the Windows x64 release from the official IPTVBoss download page. Open IPTVBoss once after installation, approve Windows security prompts only when the installer came from the official site, and then close the desktop application.

Open PowerShell and locate the console launcher:

(Get-Command iptvboss-c.exe).Source

Copy the complete path returned by PowerShell. If the command is not found, locate iptvboss-c.exe in the IPTVBoss installation directory and copy its full path. The scheduled task must use the console launcher, not the normal desktop shortcut.

Create a dedicated data directory:

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\IPTVBoss-XC"

The task must run under this same Windows account so it can access the data directory and the installed application.

3. Create the startup task¶

Open Task Scheduler from the Start menu. Select Task Scheduler Library, then choose Create Task. Do not use Create Basic Task, because it does not show all required settings.

General tab¶

Set Name to IPTVBoss XC Server.
Set the user account to the same normal Windows account used above. Do not use SYSTEM.
Select Run whether user is logged on or not.
Leave Run with highest privileges cleared; IPTVBoss does not need administrator access.
Do not select Do not store password. The server requires normal network access.

Windows asks for this account's password when the task is saved. Enter the account password, not its Windows Hello PIN.

Triggers tab¶

Select New.
Set Begin the task to At startup.
Enable Delay task for and select 30 seconds.
Make sure Enabled is selected, then choose OK.

The short delay gives Windows networking time to initialize. Caddy may briefly return a gateway error until IPTVBoss becomes healthy.

Actions tab¶

Select New, then choose Start a program.

For Program/script, enter the full path to iptvboss-c.exe found earlier. Do not put quotation marks around the value in this field.

For Add arguments, enter one line, replacing YOUR_USERNAME with the Windows account's folder name:

-xcserver -directory "C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Local\IPTVBoss-XC" -xc-proxy -xc-bind-address loopback

To override the persisted listener port, append -xc-port 9000. Use the same port in the local health check and Caddy upstream.

For Start in, enter the directory containing iptvboss-c.exe, without quotation marks. Choose OK.

Conditions tab¶

For a computer that should serve continuously:

Clear Start the task only if the computer is on AC power.
Clear Stop if the computer switches to battery power.
Do not require the computer to be idle.

Keep the power restrictions instead when preserving laptop battery life is more important than server availability.

Settings tab¶

Configure these values:

Enable Allow task to be run on demand.
Enable If the task fails, restart every 1 minute, with 3 restart attempts.
Clear Stop the task if it runs longer than. The XC Server is intended to run continuously.
Set If the task is already running to Do not start a new instance.
Clear If the running task does not end when requested, force it to stop when that option is available.

Choose OK, enter the Windows account password, and save the task.

4. Test IPTVBoss¶

Select IPTVBoss XC Server in Task Scheduler and choose Run. After a short delay, check:

curl.exe --fail http://127.0.0.1:8001/healthz

The task should remain in the Running state. If it exits, inspect Last Run Result, enable Task Scheduler history, and review the logs in:

C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Local\IPTVBoss-XC

Do not start the normal IPTVBoss desktop application against this same data directory while the scheduled XC Server is running.

5. Install Caddy for Windows¶

Download the Windows amd64 archive from Caddy's official download page and extract caddy.exe into:

C:\Caddy

Open Notepad as Administrator and create C:\Caddy\Caddyfile. When saving, choose All files so Windows does not add a .txt extension.

Enter this configuration, replacing the example hostname:

boss.example.com {
    reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:8001
}

Open Command Prompt as Administrator and validate it:

C:\Caddy\caddy.exe validate --config C:\Caddy\Caddyfile --adapter caddyfile

Create and start the automatic Caddy service:

sc.exe create caddy start= auto binPath= "C:\Caddy\caddy.exe run --config C:\Caddy\Caddyfile --adapter caddyfile"
sc.exe start caddy
sc.exe query caddy

The spaces after start= and binPath= are required by sc.exe.

Allow inbound TCP ports 80 and 443 in Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security. Create inbound port rules for those two TCP ports only. Do not open IPTVBoss port 8001 in the firewall or forward it from the router.

sc.exe is appropriate for Caddy because Caddy officially supports this Windows service arrangement. Do not register iptvboss-c.exe with sc.exe; the IPTVBoss console launcher does not implement the Windows service protocol.

6. Open the Server Console¶

Allow a short time for Caddy to obtain the first certificate, then test the public address:

curl.exe --fail https://boss.example.com/healthz

Open the Server Console:

https://boss.example.com/boss.php

On a new installation, the first visit creates the administrator account. Continue with first-time setup.

Common operations¶

Use Task Scheduler to check the IPTVBoss task state or start it on demand. Use an Administrator Command Prompt for Caddy:

sc.exe query caddy
sc.exe stop caddy
sc.exe start caddy

After editing the Caddyfile, validate and reload it without stopping Caddy:

C:\Caddy\caddy.exe validate --config C:\Caddy\Caddyfile --adapter caddyfile
C:\Caddy\caddy.exe reload --config C:\Caddy\Caddyfile --adapter caddyfile

Back up and upgrade carefully¶

Task Scheduler's End command is not guaranteed to give the JVM enough time to run its normal database shutdown hook. Treat ending the background task as potentially abrupt.

Before an upgrade:

Wait until all Server Console synchronization and backup activity has finished.
Open Database Backup History in the paired desktop application’s GUI Server Dashboard and download a current backup.
End the scheduled task only after the downloadable backup is complete.
Confirm in Task Manager that iptvboss-c.exe has exited.
Copy the entire IPTVBoss-XC data directory to another computer or storage device.
Install the update, confirm the console launcher path is still correct, and run the task again.

Do not overwrite or restore live database files while the scheduled task is running. The shutdown and upgrade limitations are why this procedure remains marked as untested.

Troubleshooting¶

Problem	What to check
The scheduled task exits immediately	Verify the full executable path, Start in directory, username in `-directory`, task credentials, and Last Run Result.
Windows will not save or run the background task	Confirm the selected account has a password and enter that password instead of a Windows Hello PIN.
The task stops after three days	Edit the task and clear Stop the task if it runs longer than.
The task runs twice	Set the multiple-instance option to Do not start a new instance and confirm no second startup task exists.
The local health check fails	Confirm the task is running and inspect the IPTVBoss data-directory logs.
Caddy service returns error 1067	Validate the Caddyfile. To see the error directly, stop the service and run the same `caddy.exe run` command in an Administrator Command Prompt. Press `Ctrl`+`C` afterward, then start the service again.
Caddy cannot obtain a certificate	Confirm DNS, router forwarding, Windows Firewall, and that no other program owns TCP ports `80` or `443`.
The public URL reports a gateway error	Confirm `curl.exe http://127.0.0.1:8001/healthz` succeeds before troubleshooting Caddy.

For a more strongly supervised deployment today, use the Docker installation. If a reverse proxy cannot be used, see Direct HTTPS.