Connect to MinIO from Windows

A Windows desktop client for MinIO. How to create access keys, which port the S3 API uses and how to handle self-signed TLS.

Get your keys

How you create keys depends on which MinIO you run:

Current Community Edition builds no longer offer key management in the web console. Create a key with the mc CLI instead: mc admin accesskey create myminio (use your own alias). Copy the printed Access Key and Secret Key.
Older releases and MinIO’s commercial AIStor still have an Access Keys page in the web console: open it and click Create access key.
The root user and password also work, but per-user access keys are the better habit.

Add a new connection and choose the MinIO preset.
Enter your server’s URL and port and paste the keys. The preset switches the connection to path-style addressing, which MinIO expects out of the box.
Connect. If your server has no region configured, leave the region field alone; the preset default works.

Service	Default port
S3 API (what the app talks to)	`9000`
MinIO Console (web UI)	`9001`

The most common connection mistake is pointing the app at the console port. If you can log in at :9001 in a browser, the app still needs :9000.

Self-hosted MinIO often runs with a self-signed certificate. The app shows you the certificate on first connect and asks for approval instead of failing silently; approve it once and it is remembered.
Buckets created on MinIO behave like standard S3 buckets: versioning, lifecycle rules and policy editing in the app all work against MinIO’s implementation.
For MinIO deployments behind a reverse proxy, use the proxy’s hostname and port and make sure the proxy forwards the Host header unchanged.