Windows - Setting up a TFTP and DHCP server

Last updated: Oct 13, 2024

TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) is a simple File Transfer Protocol that allows a client to get or put a file on a remote host. (more details at: https://en.wikipedia.org/).

It is an old protocol, but still used in many network applications.

Personnaly, I use it to update the firmware on my network equipment. (Cisco switches for examples).

Here's how to set up a TFTP server under Windows.

I'll be using Ph. Jounin's Tftpd64 program (see: https://github.com/), because it doesn't need to be installed, so can be run only when necessary, is lightweight and free. In addition to the tftp protocol, it can be used as a DHCP, DNS, SNTP and Syslog server.

Network Diagram

OS: Windows
Tftp server: Tftpd64
Network Protocol: UDP 69
Tftp directory: C:\Users\user\Download\tftpd

Download and run

Download tftpd64 64 bits portable edition on the official page: https://bitbucket.org/:

It's always a good idea to check the sha1 signature, here with PowerShell:

PS > Get-FileHash .\tftpd64_4-64_en_67602.zip -Algorithm SHA1

Algorithm       Hash                                                                   Path
---------       ----                                                                   ----
SHA1            BB8A4DDD3821BE11B4BAFB07CD9475DBC036F8F9                               C:\Users\administrator...

Once downloaded, decompress the zip archive:

Tftpd | Unzip tftpd64_4-64_en_67602.zip file

Double-click to run the tftpd64.exe application:

Configuration

First select your network interface, then click on Settings:

In the GLOBAL tab, enable TFTP and DHCP services:

In the TFTP tab, check the Home Directory, which by default is the uncompressed folder. Click on Browse if you wish to change it:

If you wish to configure a DHCP server, go to the DHCP tab and set these parameters:
- IP pool start: first IP address to be allocated
- Size of pool: number of addresses that can be allocated (here 20 devices from 192.168.1.20 to 192.168.1.39)
- Def. router: gateway address
- Mask: network Mask

Check

tftp

To check that our server is running correctly, we can use the built-in tftp client.

In the Tftp Client tab, set the host IP, choose the file you want and click on Put:

The file previously sent should appear in the directory where tftpd64.exe is located:

dhcp

To check that the DHCP service is working properly, simply go to the DHCP server tab, and you should see the allocated leases: