Getting Started

Getting Started

Get MFM running on your server in minutes — one file, no install, no dependencies.

Requirements

• PHP 5.5.0 or higher
• Recommended PHP extensions: fileinfo, iconv, zip, tar, mbstring
• Optional (Privilege Elevation only): Python 3.6+ and python3-pam

Installation

Basic (Single File)

1. Download the latest release from GitHub Releases
2. Copy microfilemanager.php to your web server's document root (or any web-accessible directory)
3. Open it in your browser

That's it. No composer, no npm, no configuration required to get started.

You can rename the file to anything you want — files.php, manage.php, index.php, etc.

With External Config (Recommended)

Using an external config.php keeps your settings safe across upgrades. When a new version of MFM drops, you just replace microfilemanager.php — your config is untouched.

# Copy both files to your server
cp microfilemanager.php /var/www/html/files/
cp config.example.php /var/www/html/files/config.php

Edit config.php to set your users and preferences. See Configuration-System for the full reference.

⚠️ Never commit config.php to a public repository — it contains your credentials.

First Login

Default credentials (if you haven't changed them yet):

Username	Password
admin	admin@123
user	12345

🚨 Change these immediately. See Configuration-System#users-and-authentication for how to set up your own users.

Setting Up Users

Generate a password hash using one of these methods:

Online tool (easiest): https://doonze.github.io/microfilemanager/pwd.html

From inside MFM: Settings → Password Hash Generator

Command line:

php -r "echo password_hash('yourpassword', PASSWORD_DEFAULT);"

Then add the user to your config.php:

$auth_users = array(
    'yourusername' => '$2y$10$...',  // paste hash here
);

Branch and Release Strategy

Branch	Purpose
master	Always matches the latest stable release
dev	Active development — may be unstable

Grab a tagged release from GitHub Releases if you just want to use MFM. Only run dev if you want cutting-edge features and don't mind occasional rough edges.

Next Steps

• Configuration-System — Configure users, paths, themes, and more
• Login-and-Security — Understand the security model
• Privilege-Elevation — Edit root-owned files safely (optional)