1. download HFS and put it in a folder, for example C:\hfs

2. install nssm

3. at command line launch nssm install hfs

   

4. set the "path" field to point at hfs.exe, for example C:\hfs\hfs.exe

It's done, now HFS will automatically run at every start of your system, even before you log in.

You can start/stop the "hfs" service from the dedicated Windows tool, that you can launch by pressing Windows key and typing services.

The process is quite straight-forward and it works on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS:

1. Create a new non-privileged user for hfs and create a directory to use as hfs' cwd:

sudo adduser --system hfs
sudo mkdir /var/lib/hfs

2. Move HFS deliverable files in system directories:

sudo mv hfs /usr/local/bin/
sudo mv plugins/ /var/lib/hfs/plugins

3. Change the owner of /var/lib/hfs:

sudo chown hfs:nogroup /var/lib/hfs 

4. Set capability to hfs executable to open low-numbered ports:

sudo setcap CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE=+eip /usr/local/bin/hfs

5. Create systemd service unit as follows:

[Unit]
Description=HFS
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=hfs
Restart=always
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/hfs --cwd /var/lib/hfs

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

6. run sudo systemctl daemon-reload && sudo systemctl enable hfs && sudo systemctl start hfs && sudo systemctl status hfs

1. create a file /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rejetto.hfs.plist with this content

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.rejetto.hfs</string>
	<key>WorkingDirectory</key>
	<string>/Users/USERNAME/.hfs</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Users/USERNAME/hfs/hfs</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
	<key>Disabled</key>
	<false/>
</dict>
</plist>

here, you should replace USERNAME with yours, and we are assuming that hfs is installed in /Users/USERNAME/hfs

2. sudo launchctl enable system/com.rejetto.hfs.plist
3. sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rejetto.hfs.plist

1. install node.js
2. create a file /etc/systemd/system/hfs.service with this content

[Unit]
Description=HFS
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
Restart=always
ExecStart=/usr/bin/npx -y hfs@latest

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

3. run sudo systemctl daemon-reload && sudo systemctl enable hfs && sudo systemctl start hfs && sudo systemctl status hfs

NB: update will be attempted at each restart

1. install node.js
2. run npm -g i hfs
3. run npx qckwinsvc2 install name="HFS" description="HFS" path="%APPDATA%\npm\node_modules\hfs\src\index.js" args="--cwd %HOMEPATH%\.hfs" now

To update

• run npx qckwinsvc2 uninstall name="HFS"
• run npm -g update hfs
• run npx qckwinsvc2 install name="HFS" description="HFS" path="%APPDATA%\npm\node_modules\hfs\src\index.js" args="--cwd %HOMEPATH%\.hfs" now