Windows - Setting up a TFTP and DHCP server

Last updated: Jan 30, 2022

TFTP for Trivial File Transfer Protocol is a simple File Transfer Protocol that allows a client to get or put a file on a remote host.

It is old but still used in many network applications.

I personnaly use it to update my network devices firmwares. (Cisco switches for examples).

We will see here how to set up a TFTP server under Windows.

I will use Tftpd64 by Ph. Jounin program, because it doesnt need to be installed, so it can be run only when needed, it's lightweight and free. In addition to the tftp protocol it can serve as a DHCP, DNS, SNTP and Syslog server.

Network Diagram

OS : Windows 10
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 :

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 unzip archive :

Tftpd | Unzip tftpd64_4-64_en_67602.zip file

Double click to run tftpd64.exe :

Configuration

First select your network interface then click Settings :

In the GLOBAL tab, enable TFTP and DHCP services :

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

If you want to set a DHCP server, go to the DHCP tab and set this settings :

IP pool start : fist ip address which will be allocated

Size of pool : number of address wich 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 works correctly we can use the built-in tftp client.

From Tftp Client tab, set Host IP, choose any file you want and click Put :

You should see your file inside your home directory :

dhcp

To check the DHCP service, just go to the DHCP server tab, you should see the leases allocated :