Install Subversion On Windows Server 2003

I had a search around for information on installing Subversion on a Windows server and found a few articles but all seemed to be out of date or just didn't work!  So here's another step-by-step guide to installing subversion on a Windows Server (I wrote this as I installed so it should be complete!)

Note: Here I'm documenting installing Subversion 1.6.3 on to a Windows 2003 Server.

Installation and Configuration:

Download the latest binary installer:
http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectDocumentList?folderID=8100&expandFolder=8100&folderID=91
(I went for "Setup-Subversion-1.6.3.msi")

1. Run the installer downloaded above.  By default this will install svn to %programfiles%\Subversion and modify the global path appending the bin directory.
   
2. You need to create an additional system variable:
   SVN_EDITOR
   %windir%\notepad.exe
   
3. Create a local repository by running the command line, this will create the physical directory and a top level repository in subversion:
   

   svnadmin create c:\repos

    
4. Configure Subversion to run as a windows service.  If you don't want to setup Apache then subversion comes with a lightweight server called SvnServe that runs over TCP/IP, according to the docs its good for smaller installations.
   
   Run from the command line:
   

   sc create svnserve binpath= "\"C:\Program Files\Subversion\bin\svnserve.exe\" --service --root c:\repos" displayname= "Subversion" depend= tcpip start= auto obj= "NT AUTHORITY\LocalService"
   
   sc description svnserve "Subversion Server (svnserve)"
   

   
   
   
   This will create a windows service that runs under the LOCAL SYSTEM, ensure that this user has the appropriate permission to read/write Subversion and the repositories.
5. Edit c:\repos\conf\svnserve.conf
   

   anon-access = read
   auth-access = write
   password-db = passwd

   
   
6. Enable the test users by un-commenting the lines in file c:\repos\conf\passwd
   

   [users]
   harry = harryssecret
   sally = sallyssecret

   
   
7. Start the service (check the eventlog if you have any problems):
   

   net start subversion

   
   

 Create a Test Folder

Now we're up and running lets create a test to make sure everything is working.

1. Create a sub folder in the top level repository by running the command line :
   

   svn mkdir svn://localhost/test

   
   
2. Notepad should launch with a test file, edit the first line and close: 
   
3. You'll be prompted for a login so enter the user details from the passwd file (sally/sallyssecret)
4. You should get confirmation of a successful checkin!

Accessing Subversion Remotely

If you want to access Subversion remotely by default Subversion uses TCP port 3690 so just open this up on your firewall.

Troubleshooting

• When starting the Subversion service you receive: "The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion."
  Ensure that the permissions are set on %programfiles%\Subversion and that the repository directory (c:\repos) exists.