Run as a service on Windows

You can install cloudflared as a system service on Windows.

​​ Configure cloudflared as a service

By default, Cloudflare Tunnel expects all of the configuration to exist in the %USERPROFILE%\.cloudflared\config.yml configuration file. The available options are documented on the configuration file reference, but at a minimum you must specify the following arguments to run as a service:

​​ Run cloudflared as a service

1. Download the latest cloudflared version.

2. Create a new directory:

   C:\Cloudflared\bin

3. Copy the .exe file you downloaded in step 1 to the new directory and rename it to cloudflared.exe.

4. Open CMD as an administrator and navigate to C:\Cloudflared\bin.

5. Run this command to install cloudflared:

   cloudflared.exe service install
   

6. Next, run this command to create another directory:

   mkdir C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\.cloudflared

7. Log in and authenticate cloudflared:

   cloudflared.exe login

8. The login command will generate a cert.pem file and save it to your user profile by default. Copy the file to the .cloudflared folder created in step 5 using this command:

   copy C:\Users\%USERNAME%\.cloudflared\cert.pem C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\.cloudflared\cert.pem

9. Next, create a tunnel:

   cloudflared.exe tunnel create <Tunnel Name>
   

   This will generate a credentials file in .json format.

10. Create a configuration file with the following content:

    tunnel: <Tunnel ID>
    credentials-file: C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\.cloudflared\<Tunnel-ID>.json
    # Uncomment the following two lines if you are using self-signed certificates in your origin server
    # originRequest:
    #   noTLSVerify: true
    
    ingress:
      - hostname: app.mydomain.com
        service: https://internal.mydomain.com
      - service: http_status:404
    logfile:  C:\Cloudflared\cloudflared.log

11. Copy the credentials file to the folder created in step 6:

    copy C:\Users\%USERNAME%\.cloudflared\<Tunnel-ID>.json C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\.cloudflared\<Tunnel-ID>.json

12. Validate the ingress rule entries in your configuration file using the command:

    cloudflared.exe tunnel ingress validate

13. In the Registry Editor, navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cloudflared.

14. In the Cloudflared registry entry, modify ImagePath to point to the cloudflared.exe and config.yml files. Make sure that there are no extra spaces or characters while you modify the registry entry, as this could cause problems with starting the service.

    C:\Cloudflared\bin\cloudflared.exe --config=C:\Users\%USERNAME%\.cloudflared\config.yml tunnel run

15. If the service does not start, run the following command from C:\Cloudflared\bin:

    sc start cloudflared

    You will see the output below:

    SERVICE_NAME: cloudflared
            TYPE               : 10  WIN32_OWN_PROCESS
            STATE              : 2  START_PENDING
                                    (NOT_STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)
            WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
            SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
            CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
            WAIT_HINT          : 0x7d0
            PID                : 3548
            FLAGS              :

​​ Next steps

You can now route traffic through your tunnel. If you add IP routes or otherwise change the configuration, restart the service to load the new configuration:

sc stop cloudflared
sc start cloudflared