How to install and run Tahoe-Lafs on Windows

How To Install Tahoe-Lafs on Windows 7 from scratch (Note: IT'S MUCH EASIER TO install Tahoe IN LINUX)

WINDOWS INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS
Note: You can skip some of these steps or not follow the order if you follow the resource "how to build crypto on windows" in the SEE ALSO section of the addendum.

Install Python
Download Python 2.7 from : https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.4.1/python-3.4.1.msi
Run the installer (make sure to select add python to path so when you open command shell python is available.)
Note: Important to have a fresh install of Python, building tahoe lafs installs files in your python installation folder
which may cause it to fail to build correctly a second time.

Build Tahoe-Lafs
unzip Tahoe-Lafs client to a folder, I created c:\tahoe
run setup build: it will fail due to twisted requirement
delete the twisted egg folder created by the setup build installer  (do not however remove the other folder "twisted")
run the twisted 14 installer from:
https://pypi.python.org/packages/2.7/T/Twisted/Twisted-14.0.2.win32-py2.7.msi
rerun setup build, this time it will succeed.

Satisfy Broken Requires
1. service_client
2. win32api

download the pip setup file at https://raw.github.com/pypa/pip/master/contrib/get-pip.py from:
https://pip.pypa.io/en/latest/installing.html (right click save as) into your c:\python27 folder
launch command shell
run python get-pip.py to install PIP
after it completes, go into c:\python27\Scripts and run: pip install service_identity

grab pywin32 extensions installer at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/files/pywin32/Build%20219/pywin32-219.win32-py2.7.exe/download
run the pywin installer from a _COMMAND SHELL_ that has been run "AS ADMINISTRATOR", make sure it completes without error, if it errors, try running it again.  Note that if you run both the pywin 32bit and 64 bit installer, it will create multiple entries in your windows control panel add/remove applet.

Create Client
mkdir c:\tahoe\mytahoeclient to create a folder for your client, then
go back to c:\tahoe\bin\ (or just add tahoe bin folder to your path)and run the command:
tahoe create-client c:\tahoe\mytahoeclient
it will warn you to set the node nickname in the tahoe.cfg file


Configure Client
edit c:\tahoe\mytahoeclient\tahoe.cfg
set the node nickname and the introducer FURL.
The introducer furl will be provided by your grid, or if you are making your own grid,
see other docs on starting your own introducer.  You can also use the Tahoe-Lafs Public Test Grid, see:
https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/TestGrid

The rest of the settings in the tahoe.cfg don't matter right now for basic download / upload purposes.

Start Tahoe-Lafs Client
run c:\tahoe\bin\tahoe start c:\tahoe\mytahoeclient
Then open in your browser https://localhost:3456 You should see a green light connected to the introducer.


ADDENDUM

The What and Why of Tahoe-Lafs:
https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/browser/trunk/docs/about.rst

A CAP IS A CAPABILITY, a cryptographically computed string that is a pointer to a file with access permissions built in.
See: https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/Capabilities

the following urls explain how to quickly setup a simple tahoe-lafs client:
https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/browser/docs/quickstart.rst <<< official docs
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/tahoe-lafs <<< more howto
https://bigasterisk.com/tahoe-playground/ << interactive how tahoe stores your data.
https://code.google.com/p/nilestore/wiki/TahoeLAFSBasics << a really awesome intro guide

See Also:
How To Build Crypto on Windows: https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/HowtoBuildPyCryptoOnWindows
Requires: https://tahoe-lafs.org/source/tahoe-lafs/deps/tahoe-lafs-dep-eggs/README.html
Install-Time Compile errors: https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/CompileError


Privately compiled notes:
How to use PyCharm(IDE) to debug Tahoe-Lafs: http://cryptb.in/YG#f5aef5ec8cacbdd86010a6c517f29bcd
Tahoe-Lafs Gotcha's and Miscellany: http://pastebin.com/3FV7gQYu