Simple setup on Windows: server does not show on local network

[Sensor66]

Dear Radicale people,
An amateur here. I would like to have a ONLY local setup, where Radicale would sync my calendars and addressbook between Thunderbird and my Android phone / DAVx5. I followed the instructions of https://radicale.org/master.html#simple-5-minute-setup.
This works perfectly on my PC (Windows 10), with Thunderbird being able to connect for calendar and address book.
But DAVx5 (phone on the same network of course) fails to see http://{my pc local URL}:5232. Also trying to see that address from another PC in the same network fails: it is not visible.

status after installation, i find stuff here:
c:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python313\Lib\site-packages\radicale\ and ...\radicale-3.5.3.dev0.dist-info
c:\Users\UserName\radicale\collections
I have opened port 5232 in the Windows firewall.
I have also given permission to c:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python313\Scripts\radicale.exe to go locally to all ports. (Could it be that another app needs permissions? Python maybe?)

I have been trying to find a solution for two days. Help very welcome.

[pbiering]

can it be that radicale is listen on "localhost" (127.0.0.1) instead of "any" (0.0.0.0), if so, please adjust according to documentation (hosts = 0.0.0.0:5232), if already done and from outside no connection is possible (e.g. test with telnet <IP>:5232), then the Windows firewall is still blocking access.

[Sensor66]

Thanks a lot for your reply.
I did the telnet test, and it failed also.
Then I switched off the MS Defender firewall of the private network (on that same PC). Then still the telnet test failed. So that gives me the feeling that the problem is not the firewall. (Or does this need a restart of Windows or so...?)

[Sensor66]

And when trying to connect from another PC (on the same local network), http://192.168.178.27:5232 gives: "The connection has timed out"

[Sensor66]

I think I found the problem. After installation, there is no config file (at least, I cannot find one anywhere). So I think that Radicale was not listening to the port. What I did, is that after the startup string:
python -m radicale --storage-filesystem-folder=~/radicale/collections --auth-type none
I added: --server-hosts 0.0.0.0:5232,[::]:5232
Now the server can be found on other devices in the local network, and also DAVx5 responds, and sees all calendars etc.

Thanks @pbiering, you set me on the right path.

[pbiering]

Please extend netstat/windows example added now here

https://github.com/Kozea/Radicale/wiki/Server-Diagnostics---Troubleshooting#listen-status

then close this issue, thank you!

[Sensor66]

I am sorry, my knowledge of these matters is not enough to do what you as for, I think.
What is written in the link that you mention seems all correct to me.
What I found is that, in the simple setup described here: https://radicale.org/master.html#windows , there is an omission:
what happens is that, at least on my Win10 machine, NO config file was made. Therefore the listen ports were not instructed.
This can be resolved by changing the second line, i.e. startup of Radicale, to:
python -m radicale --storage-filesystem-folder=~/radicale/collections --auth-type none --server-hosts 0.0.0.0:5232,[::]:5232

I hope that is helpful.

[pbiering]

I would simply need the output of cmd.exe -> netstat -na | find ":5232 " to complete the example. If you do not specify on commandline --server-host ... I would expect a line with output 127.0.0.1:5232 while with provided option 0.0.0.0:5232

I have no Windows here for testing, that's why I request your contribution for the Wiki page.

[pbiering]

I will clarify doc, btw. https://radicale.org/master.html#addresses

[Sensor66]

I am of very willing to help testing, just instruct me.

Here is what my Windows CMD says, while Radicale is happily running:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.5737]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>netstat -na | find ":5232"
TCP 0.0.0.0:5232 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:5232 [::]:0 LISTENING

[pbiering]

wiki updated, thank you!

[Sensor66]

I ran into another problem with the manual.
After resolving the above issue I could start the server manually. Then I tried to start it as a service. Nothing got this it to work. The service would be installed by NSSM, but when trying to start it would go Paused.
The log file said:
[2025-05-12 21:17:02 +0200] [12532] [INFO] Logging of backtrace is disabled in this loglevel
usage: radicale [OPTIONS]
radicale: error: unrecognized arguments: -m radicale

The culprit was this line in the manual: https://radicale.org/master.html#windows-with-nssm---the-non-sucking-service-manager :
Arguments: -m radicale --config C:\Path\To\Config
I changed this to just: --config C:\Path\To\Config

Now it works.

[pbiering]

doc adjusted by e13a120

[Sensor66]

To finish up this thread, I have a suggestion to change this section of the manual: https://radicale.org/master.html#windows
My first problem (detailed above) ran into the problem of Radicale not listening to the port. The problem was in the startup string:
python -m radicale --storage-filesystem-folder=~/radicale/collections --auth-type none
This should be changed to:
python -m radicale --storage-filesystem-folder=~/radicale/collections --auth-type none --server-hosts 0.0.0.0:5232,[::]:5232

[pbiering]

Section was already extended some days ago.

[Sensor66]

Sorry, I don't see that. On my page, I still see only

python -m radicale --storage-filesystem-folder=~/radicale/collections --auth-type none

My proposal is to add

--server-hosts 0.0.0.0:5232,[::]:5232

after that.

[pbiering]

There is a clear note below: Just note that default configuration for security reason binds the server to localhost (IPv4: 127.0.0.1, IPv6: ::1). See Addresses and Configuration/Server for more.