Windows 10 Installation

I. Installing Homebridge on Windows 10

These instructions were originally written or installing HomeBridge on Windows 10, 64 bit. They should also work for earlier versions of Windows.

** There are a number of steps that say to use Windows Command Prompt. Do NOT try to use Windows PowerShell instead. The install will fail if Windows PowerShell is used instead of Command Prompt. **

You should perform the following steps using the account that you will use to run HomeBridge. This is because, by default, certain HomeBridge modules are installed in the logged-in user's account at: C:\Users\ your user name \AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules and will not be accessible from other Windows accounts. I've found it helpful to set up a specific Windows "user" just for the running of HomeBridge (e.g., set up a new user under the login name "HomeBridge" or something like that, and then do the installation when logged in as that user).

A. Install Nodejs

These Windows install instructions have been tested with the v12.x.x series of node so its recommended that you use a version in that series or later. Earlier version of NodeJS may work but haven’t been tested.

The latest version of NodeJS appears to work (13.5.0 as of the last update to this page). You can download it here: https://nodejs.org/

B. Install Homebridge

Now install homebridge from a new Windows Command Prompt using the command:

 npm install -g homebridge

C. Test Homebridge

Open a new Windows Command Prompt (yes, it must be a newly opened one - don't re-use the prompt from preceding steps) and enter the command:

 homebridge

You should see some text displayed and a QR code. If so, HomeBridge installed correctly.

D. Install Plugin

Once homebridge is installed, you are ready to install your plugins. The following instructions are to install the "HomeSeer" plugin, but you can also follow a similar pattern for other plugins.

First, if you used a prior HomeSeer plugin, you must remove it before installing this plugin. To delete the prior version of this plugin use:

 npm -g uninstall homebridge-homeseer-plugin-2018

Then, to install the "new" HomeSeer plugin, enter the following command from the Windows Command Prompt:

 npm -g install homebridge-homeseer4

During installation, you may see a number of warning messages displayed in yellow text. You can ignore those.

E. File Locations

You will now need to create a config.json file for homebridge. By default, this should be placed in the folder: c:\users\ [Your Root User Directory] \.homebridge

F. Devices Not Appearing or Updating After A Change to Homebridge or config.json

After an update to homebridge or if "too many" changes re made to config.json, you can sometimes get into a situation where the iOS Home Application either no longer recognizes a previously paired homebridge, or else it can't "see" homebridge for pairing.

As a "last resort" way to solve this, do the following:

1. first delete the homebridge bridge from your iOS home application. This, unfortunately, has the effect of deleting all of the devices on that bridge from the iOS Home application.

2. Delete the contents of the homebridge "persist" and "accessories" folders. The "persist" and "accessories" folders are located in the same folder as your config.json file. In windows, these folders are typically located at the path: C:\Users[your user name].homebridge

3. Restart homebridge, then re-pair with the iOS Home application.