# redis-windows: five executables, no source, and a default config with no persistence > This is an unofficial Windows build of a database server, distributed as compiled executables committed to the repository, with no source, no continuous integration directory and no build instructions. The parts worth reading are the licence file sitting beside binaries the page says are only based on the upstream project, a shipped default configuration that turns persistence off and caps memory at half a gigabyte with an eviction policy, and a module-loading section that points at a binary in a second repository. **zkteco-home/redis-windows** — Native port of Redis for Windows,it can be installed as service,It is by far the fastest and most stable Windows version. - Repository: https://github.com/zkteco-home/redis-windows - Stars: 2,391 · Forks: 219 - Language: Batchfile - License: MIT - Published: 2026-09-28 · Updated: 2026-09-28 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/zkteco-home-redis-windows ## Five executables and no source, beside a permissive licence file The repository contains ten things. One licence file, a readme, a release notes file, a security file, a single command script, a configuration file, and five Windows executables: the server, the command line client, and three diagnostic tools. There is no source directory, no build script, no continuous integration directory and no contributing file. That combination makes this a distribution channel rather than a development project, and it puts the licence question at the front. The licence file is MIT. The page opens by calling itself an unofficial version of the upstream project and later says the release is based on it, while the repository's actual content is compiled binaries of that project plus a handful of wrapper files. The page never names the upstream project's terms. A reader who finds the repository, sees MIT at the root and five executables in the listing has no way from this page to work out what governs the executables. ## The shipped defaults disable both persistence mechanisms and cap memory The page prints four configuration lines under a heading misspelled as default configurations, and they are the entire default surface: ``` save "" maxmemory 512mb appendonly no maxmemory-policy allkeys-lru ``` The first line empties the save schedule, which removes the periodic snapshot entirely, and the third disables the append-only log. So a default install writes nothing durable, and every key is gone on restart. The second line sets a hard ceiling of half a gigabyte, and the fourth sets an eviction policy that applies to every key rather than to keys carrying an expiry. That combination is a cache by design: bounded memory, no disk, and anything can be thrown away under pressure. It is a defensible default for a cache and an alarming one for a store holding sessions, queues or counters, and the page presents it as a starting point with a sentence suggesting you edit the configuration file if you want to change things. What it does not say is that the starting point loses data on restart. ## The upgrade warning is the upstream project's, not the port's The second paragraph of the readme, and the three numbered compatibility notes under it, are upstream's own release notes reproduced verbatim, including the phrasing that urges users to review the release notes carefully. What they describe are the upstream project's breaking changes: the append-only log becoming a directory of files with automatic migration of the old single-file form, a new version-10 format for snapshots that older versions cannot read, and ziplist-encoded keys being converted to listpacks when an older snapshot is loaded. All three are about the data format, and all three would affect you whichever build you run. None of them says anything about what this Windows build changes. So a reader deciding whether to move from an older Windows release to this one has, on this page, a compatibility section that describes a different project's migration and nothing at all about the port's own. ## The heading about compiling from source contains no compiling There is a section titled building from source code on Windows and it has two bullet points. The first states that the binaries are built from the original upstream source and were compiled with a named compiler version, asserting better performance and stability than builds made under Cygwin, MSYS or a Linux subsystem. The second says the server can be installed as a Windows service. Neither bullet is a step. There is no prerequisite list, no toolchain to install, no command to run, no flags, and no mention of where the source comes from or whether it is fetched by the build at all. So the section tells a reader two facts about how the binaries were produced and nothing about how to produce them. That is consistent with a repository that distributes rather than develops, and it is the reason the licence question in the first section cannot be settled from the repository either. ## A module binary from a second repository, loaded by a service with write access The page explains how to add a document module: enable module commands in the configuration file, then load a library by filename, and obtain that library from a different repository operated by the same account, given as a bare download link. No version, no checksum and no signature are attached to it. Now read that alongside the service installation notes. The service is configured to start automatically and to run under a built-in network account rather than a user account, and one of three listed features of the installer is automatically adjusting folder permissions so that the service can modify files in the installation directory. So the documented arrangement is a service account with write access to a directory containing a downloaded native library that the server will load. Each of those three facts is reasonable on its own. Together they are the reason a module from a second repository is worth treating as a decision rather than a step. ## The page never mentions where the server listens or whether it needs a password Search the whole page for the three settings that decide whether a fresh Redis is reachable by anything but its host, and they are not there. There is no mention of restricting which addresses the server binds to, no mention of the protected mode that blocks remote connections on an unconfigured instance, and no password anywhere. The only network-facing instruction on the entire page is in the failover section, where it says you must open the necessary firewall port before installing the failover monitor, without naming the port and without saying which direction the rule should allow. Everything else the page talks about is local: the four default configuration lines, the module, the service commands. For a store whose default configuration is a bounded in-memory cache, a reader who installs it and opens a port on a server has been given no guidance at all. ## The service section promises three instances and shows one Two small things in the service instructions, both checkable against the text. The page says the following would install and start three separate instances of the server, then lists two commands, for one instance. The uninstall half repeats the same claim and the same count. Separately, the uninstall paragraph explains what the command removes, that being the service configuration from the registry, and then adds a sentence that it does not stop the service. That sentence carries two errors in five words, and it is the least edited line on the page. The operational point survives the typos and is worth stating plainly: uninstalling a running service leaves the process running with its registry configuration gone. Elsewhere the page is candid in the way that matters, admitting there are still unknown issues and that there is a bug in certain scenarios without ever naming the scenario. ## Conclusion This repository is useful to exactly one kind of reader: someone on Windows who needs the service today and has already decided where the source will come from. For anybody else the repository itself is the problem, because it is a distribution channel rather than a project, and the interesting content is a few hundred words copied from the upstream project's own notes. Three things to settle before you install it. What licence the binaries are actually under, because the only licence in the repository covers the repository and the page describes the binaries as being based on another project without ever naming that project's terms, and the file a reader will find is the permissive one. Whether the default configuration is what you want, because persistence is off in both forms and the eviction policy will drop any key rather than only the ones you gave a time to live, which is fine for a cache and wrong for anything holding state. And where you will get a build you can verify, since this one offers you five binaries and a heading about compiling from source that contains no steps. ## FAQ ### Can I use Redis on Windows? Yes, and this repository is an unofficial Windows build of it, distributed as five compiled executables with no source. The page says the binaries are built from the upstream source with a named compiler version rather than under a Linux compatibility layer, and that the server can be installed as a Windows service running automatically under a built-in network account. ### how to install redis windows The page says to run the included command script as administrator, or use the server binary's service install argument directly, which must be the first argument on the command line. Supported versions are listed as five Windows Server releases and three Windows client releases, all 64-bit. It also gives a configuration change for loading a document module from a separate repository. ### Is Redis software free? The page does not say. The repository carries an MIT licence file, but its contents are compiled binaries that the page describes as being based on another project, and the terms of that project are never named. Nothing on the page lets you determine what licence governs the executables you would install. ### Does this Redis Windows build lose data by default? The shipped configuration is four lines and they disable both durability mechanisms: the snapshot schedule is emptied and the append-only log is switched off. It also sets a half gigabyte memory ceiling with an eviction policy that applies to every key, so the default install is a cache that writes nothing to disk and forgets on restart. ### Is redis-windows faster than Redis on Linux? The page does not make that comparison. What it claims is that its binaries beat builds made under Cygwin, MSYS or a Linux subsystem, which is a comparison against compatibility layers rather than against a native Linux build. The related search terms for this project are mostly about commercial Windows alternatives, which the page does not mention. ## Sources - [Issues](https://github.com/zkteco-home/redis-windows/issues) - [License: MIT](https://github.com/zkteco-home/redis-windows/blob/master/LICENSE) - [README](https://github.com/zkteco-home/redis-windows/blob/master/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/zkteco-home/redis-windows/releases) - [zkteco-home/redis-windows on GitHub](https://github.com/zkteco-home/redis-windows) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/zkteco-home-redis-windows