FitNesse is a web server, a wiki, and an automated testing tool for software. FitNesse can be run as a Windows Service using FireDaemon Pro, which allows you to have the script start automatically at boot prior to login, start multiple instances of the script and more. This HOWTO will show you how to set it up. You can also use FireDaemon Fusion to manage FireDaemon and other Windows services via a web browser.


FitNesse Setup Under FireDaemon Pro

Download the latest Java Server JRE from here. Make sure to download Java JRE Server because it works better with servers.


Java Server JRE doesn't have an installer so extract the contents of the zip file somewhere on your hard drive. For the purposes of this guide, we will use C:\Java Server JRE as the Java Server JRE directory.


Download the latest FitNesse Installer from the FitNesse website.


There is no installer for FitNesse so save the download somewhere on your hard drive. For the purposes of this HOWTO, we will use C:\FitNesse.


Download and install FireDaemon Pro into the directory of your choice, typically C:\Program Files\FireDaemon.


Next start the FireDaemon Pro GUI from the desktop shortcut. Click on the "Create a new service definition" button in the toolbar (or type Ctrl+N) and enter the information into the fields as you see below. Adjust the paths to suit your installation. Note the required parameters.



  • Executable: The path to java.exe. For the purposes of this HOWTO, the path is C:\Java Server JRE\jdk1.7.0_51\bin\java.exe.
  • Working Directory: The directory in which your FitNesse installation resides. For the purposes of this HOWTO, the path is C:\FitNesse.
  • Parameters: -jar fitnesse-standalone.jar -p 80
    (Replace 80 with the port you want to run the server on)


Now click on the Settings tab. If you DON'T want to see the FitNesse running, uncheck the Interact with Desktop check box & select "Hidden" from the "Show Window" dropdown. You must set the job type to "Global" so that child processes are terminated properly when the service is stopped or restarted. You can optionally run the FitNesse as the user you installed it as. You can change the Process Priority to allocate more CPU time to FitNesse or specify which CPU or core FitNesse will run on (in the case of multi-processor, hyperthreaded or multi-core CPUs).



Now click on the Lifecycle tab. Uncheck Graceful Shutdown as it can slow the shutdown of the FitNesse. Make sure "Console Application" is checked.



If for troubleshooting purposes you want to see what FitNesse is displaying in its window, you can redirect its output to text to a file. Choose a path to a log file. Note that this step is optional.



Now click on the OK button to finish setup and start FitNesse!