Install on Windows with the installer
This is the normal way to install on Windows. One file sets everything up, including the two things Filemote needs but Windows does not ship: the .NET 8 runtime and a Python interpreter for the AI features.
Install it
- Download
filemote-Setup-<version>.exefrom the download page. - Run it. Windows will warn that the publisher is unknown — choose More info → Run anyway. That warning is about the absence of a code-signing certificate, not about anything found in the file; see why the warning appears and how to verify the file.
- Accept or change the install folder. The default is
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Filemote. - When setup finishes it offers to launch the configurator.
You do not need an administrator password. Setup installs for the current Windows user only, which also means every user of the same PC installs Filemote separately. It requires 64-bit Windows.
What setup installs for you
After copying its own files, setup checks the machine and downloads only what is missing:
| Component | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| .NET 8 Desktop Runtime | The usual system location, installed quietly from Microsoft |
| Python 3.11 | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Filemote\Runtime\python311 — a private copy |
The Python copy is deliberately private: it is not added to PATH and is not installed
for all users, so it cannot collide with a Python you already have.
If one of those downloads fails, setup asks whether to continue without it rather than rolling the whole installation back. You can install the missing component later.
The Python packages the AI service needs are not installed here. They install on the first AI launch, with a progress window, and are skipped afterwards.
The three optional tick-boxes
All three are off by default:
- Desktop icon — a shortcut on the desktop.
- Start Filemote at logon — adds a startup entry for your user, removed again when you uninstall.
- Exclude the models folder from Windows Defender — raises one administrator prompt at the end of setup. Worth taking if you plan to use AI: Defender otherwise scans multi-gigabyte model files every time one is loaded, which is the single largest source of slow AI startups.
Upgrading over an existing copy
Run the new installer over the old install. It recognises the existing copy and upgrades it in place instead of creating a second one, and it never runs the uninstaller — so your private Python, your downloaded models and your saved agent settings all survive the upgrade.
If your previous copy was the pre-rebrand RemoteFileManager build, a fresh install moves the Python runtime, the downloaded models and the saved login across rather than making you download them again.
Next step
Installing does not connect anything. The agent still has to be linked to your account, which takes one code and under a minute — see link a device to your account.
Updated 2026-07-31