Builds

What Windows will say

Uplink is not code-signed, so the first time you run it Windows SmartScreen shows a blue Windows protected your PC box. Choose More info, then Run anyway. This is what Windows does with any program from a publisher it has not seen before; it is not a statement about the file.

An antivirus engine may occasionally flag it too, for the same reason and for things Uplink genuinely does: it runs without a window, installs a Windows service, adds firewall rules through PowerShell, and replaces its own executable when it updates itself. It is never packed or obfuscated — that is the behaviour these engines react to hardest, and shipping a self-unpacking binary to look tidier is exactly how an earlier beta got flagged. If your scanner quarantines it, the checksum below tells you whether you have the file we published, and a false positive can be reported to Microsoft's submission page.

Verify what you downloaded

Every release publishes a SHA-256 beside each build. Compare it with the file you have; if they do not match, do not run it.

# Windows — PowerShell or Command Prompt
certutil -hashfile uplink.exe SHA256

# Linux
sha256sum -c uplink.sha256

Windows quick start

Uplink needs a short setup pass: install Uplink, then either install the Icarus dedicated server from the dashboard or point it at an existing one.

# Download and extract the Windows release, then run
uplink.exe

# The dashboard
http://localhost:18000

1. Install Uplink — download the Windows release, extract it to a folder you control, and run uplink.exe. It writes its state next to the executable, so give it a folder of its own.
2. Open the dashboard at http://localhost:18000 and set the admin password. The first sign-in is what creates the account.
3. Set up the dedicated server — choose the guided install, or point Uplink at an existing Icarus dedicated server folder.
4. Review the automation for restarts, backups, updates, alerts and service mode before hosting a long-running session.