New WWIV 5 Installation on Windows

Prerequisites

Windows Versions

The windows version of WWIV is developed and tested on Windows 10, however should also run on Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012R2 (NT 6.3) or later.

32bit x86 Windows

Although WWIV BBS will start and run on 64-bit (x64), none of the 16-bit DOS programs and utilities you use with WWIV will work on 64-bit windows. For the best experience, you may want to use a 32bit x86 version of Windows.

Windows Updates

You should have ALL high priority updates on your Windows machine. This may mean running Windows Update several times.

Installation

Take the build of WWIV you downloaded and extract all the files into c:\wwiv (or c:\bbs). To make it easy on the author(s) we'll just say c:\wwiv from now on.

You must copy sbbsexec.dll to \%WINDIR%\system32.

Initial Configuration

From a command prompt run wwivconfig.exe
You will see this:

WWIV v5.5.0 (Build ####) Configuration Program.
Copyright (c) 1998-2020, WWIV Software Services
CONFIG.DAT NOT FOUND.
Perform initial installation?

Type Y & wwivconfig will install all the files need & create all the directories. You will also be prompted for the SysOp handle, real name, and password.

You will then see the main wwivconfig screen.

┌────────────────────────────────── Main Menu ┐
│ G. General System Configuration             │
│ P. System Paths                             │
│ T. External Transfer Protocol Configuration │
│ E. External Editor Configuration            │
│ S. Security Level Configuration             │
│ V. Auto-Validation Level Configuration      │
│ A. Archiver Configuration                   │
│ I. Instance Configuration                   │
│ L. Language Configuration                   │
│ N. Network Configuration                    │
│ R. Registration Information                 │
│ U. User Editor                              │
│ X. Update Sub/Directory Maximums            │
│ W. wwivd Configuration                      │
│ Q. Quit                                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

You navigate these wwivconfig forms with the arrow keys and ENTER key. Hit ESC to Exit the forms and save your changes.

NOTE: All the changes you make are saved when you exit.

Type ESC to exit back to the main menu
On the Main Menu hit ESC or Q to exit wwivconfig

From the command prompt at c:\wwiv

  • Run wwivd.exe & The WWIV Server daemon will start.
  • If you need to make changes, please use wwivconfig to do so in the (W) menu item for wwivd.

Log on to the BBS

From a command prompt run: bbs to launch the bbs's Waiting for Caller screen. Note that the name is for historical reasons, and the BBS isn't actually waiting for a call anymore, wwivd handles the inbound telnet sessions.

NOTE: This starts a local copy of the WWIV BBS without opening up connections for outside users.

This is the Waiting For Caller (WFC) Screen.

┌──────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Date: 12/25/2016    Time: 12:52:52   │OS: Windows                            │
└──────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────┘
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│               Activity and Statistics of My WWIV BBS Node 1                  │
├──────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Calls Today....... 48                │ WWIV Version.... 5.5.0                │
│ Feedback Waiting.. 1       New: 1    │ Net Version..... 51                   │
│ Uploads Today..... 0                 │ Total Users..... 99                   │
│ Messages Today.... 98                │ Total Calls..... 20167                │
│ Local Msgs Today.. 12                │ Call/Day Ratio.. 52                   │
│ Email Today....... 9                 │ Chat Status..... Not Available        │
│ Feedback Today.... 4                 │                                       │
│ Mins Used Today... 720 Mins (50.0%)  │                                       │
├──────────────────────────────┬───────┴───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Commands:                    │ Last User:                                    │
│                              │ Newsysop #1                                   │
│  SPACE) Local Log on         ├───────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Q) Quit BBS                 │ Instance Monitor - Node 1                     │
│  ?) Display Help             │ User.... Nobody                               │
│                              │ Status.. Waiting for Call                     │
└──────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                                              │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
  • Hit the SPACE bar and answer Yes to logon to your WWIV BBS.
  • At the logon prompt enter F to log in as the sysop account created in wwivconfig.

Congratulations! You are now the SysOp of a WWIV BBS!

Continue on to more advanced wwivd settings to get on the Internet. But we suggest you read through the rest of the documentation before you get too excited about that just yet. But don't worry, it's not hard at all!