VedaBase desktop installer

Installers for the Bhaktivedanta VedaBase desktop program, Folio Views 4.3, with two infobases:

• VedaBase 25: Śrīla Prabhupāda's books, lecture transcripts, letters, conversations and the rest of his corpus.
• VaniBase 25: works by other devotees.

Each installer downloads the VedaBase files from their public Google Drive folders and runs the original 2003 installer. Then it takes care of what that installer leaves undone (details):

• One file to double-click on Windows and macOS, one command on Linux.
• Every file is checked against its SHA-256 before it is used.
• VedaBase opens the first time. The installers add the name the VedaBase icon looks for, so there is no "master infobase … could not be found".
• Diacritics display correctly. The 51 Sanskrit fonts and Folio's display settings are put in place, on Windows for every account on the computer.
• Your notes are protected. Running an installer again leaves your highlights and notes alone (the Windows installer keeps them even through a repair), and a damaged backup never replaces a working installation.
• The 2003 installer's quirks are handled: its restart prompt, its intro sound under Wine, and a bug that can make it refuse to start on a large disk.
• On Linux it runs unattended, and can show VedaBase in a web browser on a computer with no screen.

Your computer	What to run	Status
Windows 10 or 11	double-click Install-VedaBase-Windows.cmd	tested on one Windows 11 PC (report)
Linux (Ubuntu, Debian; also WSL)	./install.sh in a terminal	tested end to end on Ubuntu 24.04
macOS (Intel or Apple Silicon)	double-click Install-VedaBase-Mac.command	not yet tried on a real Mac

The Windows installer has been tested on one Windows 11 PC so far, and the macOS installer has only been checked as far as possible without a Mac. If you are among the first to try one, please tell whoever gave you this installer how it went; docs/testing.md lists what to look at, and What's next what is planned.

Getting the files. On https://github.com/Zanzagar/vedabase, choose Code → Download ZIP, or use the ZIP you were given. On Windows, right-click the ZIP before unzipping, choose Properties, tick Unblock, and click OK. Then unzip it (on Windows: right-click → Extract All). Keep the unzipped folder whole, because each installer reads the manifest and lib folders next to it.

Each installer downloads about 1.1 GB and needs about 4 GB of free space. It checks every file against the SHA-256 in manifest/drive-files.tsv before using it. Running an installer again is safe: it finishes whatever is missing.

Windows 10 or 11

First, S mode. Windows in S mode runs only apps from the Microsoft Store, so neither the installer nor VedaBase can run there. Settings → System → Activation (on Windows 10, Settings → Update & Security → Activation) shows whether a PC is in S mode. Switching out of it is free but cannot be undone.

1. Double-click Install-VedaBase-Windows.cmd.
   • If an "Open File – Security Warning" appears, click Run.
   • If "Windows protected your PC" appears, click More info → Run anyway.
2. Windows asks once for administrator rights, which the installer needs to write to C:\ and the Fonts folder. Click Yes. A second window opens and downloads the files.
3. The original VedaBase installer then opens. A media player may open first to play a short welcome sound (or Windows asks which app should play it); close it, and the installer is behind it. Click through the installer:
   • Next → Accept → type your name (replace whatever it shows) → Next.
   • Next again. Ignore its list of old Windows versions.
   • At Select Install Type, choose Custom, then Next. (Complete would also install WinAmp, a 2002 media player.)
   • Tick All Folio Program Files and VedaBase Master Files. Leave WinAmp unticked. Then Next.
   • Next → Next → Install → Next → Next → Finish.
   • When it says your system must be restarted, choose Cancel, then OK on the next message. No restart is needed; if the PC does restart, run the .cmd again afterwards and it will finish the setup.
4. The installer finishes on its own:
   • it fixes the link to the infobase and adds VaniBase 25,
   • it registers the diacritic fonts with Windows,
   • it sets up Folio's display settings for every account on the PC,
   • it tidies up the setup files it put in C:\,
   • it adds VedaBase Unicode (Ctrl+Alt+U), which makes text copied out of VedaBase readable elsewhere (Copying text out),
   • then it offers to open VedaBase.

Open Bhaktivedanta VedaBase 2003 (VedaBase 25) or VaniBase 25 from the desktop or the Start menu.

Notes:

• Freeze on exit. If VedaBase freezes when you close it, end it from Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc). This is a known problem with this 2003 program on newer Windows, though it did not happen on the Windows 11 PC it was tested on. Do not turn on Windows XP compatibility mode against it, as devotees did on Windows 7: on Windows 11 it makes VedaBase ask for administrator rights every time it starts. (The installer removes it if an earlier version of the installer set it.)
• Leaving out VaniBase. Open the unzipped folder, click the address bar, type cmd and press Enter. In the window that opens, type .\Install-VedaBase-Windows.cmd -NoVaniBase and press Enter.
• Smart App Control. If Windows blocks the 2003 programs, Smart App Control is the likely cause (Windows Security → App & browser control). Turning it off lets VedaBase run. On Windows 11 with the updates since March 2026 you can turn it back on later from the same page; on older versions that needs a reset of Windows, so decide carefully. The installer warns you if it is on.

macOS (Intel or Apple Silicon)

1. Double-click Install-VedaBase-Mac.command. If macOS refuses to open it, see below.
2. On Apple Silicon it first installs Rosetta 2 if it is missing. That needs an administrator account, and macOS asks for your password. It then downloads a free Wine for macOS (Gcenx's build, which WineHQ distributes; CrossOver is not needed) and the VedaBase files. Keep the lid open until it is done: the installer stops the Mac from going to sleep, but closing the lid still sends it to sleep.
3. The original installer opens. Click through it as in the Windows steps above: Custom, tick the first two packages, Install, Finish. Answer the restart questions either way. The Terminal window then closes the Fonts window the installer opens, and finishes.
4. It finishes the setup and puts VedaBase 25 and VaniBase 25 apps in the Applications folder inside your home folder. Drag them to the Dock if you like. In VedaBase, ⌘C and ⌘V copy and paste; the third app there, VedaBase Unicode, makes copied text readable elsewhere (Copying text out).

Everything lives in ~/Library/Application Support/VedaBase, about 3.5 GB.

If macOS will not open the installer

macOS blocks downloaded scripts that Apple has not notarized. The way that always works:

1. Open Terminal, which is in Applications → Utilities.
2. Type bash (with a space after it).
3. Drag Install-VedaBase-Mac.command from the Finder into the Terminal window, then press Return.
4. If macOS asks whether Terminal may access your Downloads folder, click OK. If you clicked Don't Allow before, turn Terminal on under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Files and Folders (on macOS 12 or earlier: System Preferences → Security & Privacy → Privacy → Files and Folders).

Alternatively, on macOS 15 or later click Done on the warning, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway next to the file. On macOS 14 or earlier, Control-click the file and choose Open.

How long the free Mac route will work

The free Wine for macOS is an Intel program. On Intel Macs it runs on macOS 10.15.4 through 26. On Apple Silicon it runs through Apple's Rosetta 2, which Apple says will be limited to games from macOS 28 (expected autumn 2027). After that, the free route probably ends on Apple Silicon Macs.

There is also an open WineHQ bug (60494): on Apple Silicon, some 32-bit Windows programs crash or hang at random under Rosetta. Whether it affects VedaBase is not known yet.

Linux (Ubuntu, Debian; also WSL)

Once, install the tools the installer needs:

sudo apt-get install git curl xz-utils x11-xkb-utils xkb-data

On a desktop, x11-xkb-utils and xkb-data are usually there already. On a server they let the installer run the original setup out of sight. After that no root is needed:

git clone https://github.com/Zanzagar/vedabase.git ~/vedabase   # or unzip the ZIP
~/vedabase/install.sh
vedabase              # VedaBase 25: a window on a desktop, else the browser viewer
vedabase vanibase     # VaniBase 25

Running install.sh accepts the Bhaktivedanta Archives license that the original installer shows (see License), because it clicks Accept for you. It answers the other screens too, in a hidden display, using a pinned portable Wine (11.0). This takes a few minutes. Afterwards, VedaBase 25 and VaniBase 25 also appear in the desktop's application menu. If the vedabase command is not found at first, log out and back in, or run ~/.local/bin/vedabase.

install.sh --help lists the options: where to install (--home), leaving out VaniBase, reinstalling, installing from a local copy of the files, and restoring a backup.

WSL on Windows: prefer the Windows installer, since Folio is a Windows program and runs natively there. If you do use WSL, the Windows Start menu only picks up entries from /usr/share/applications. install.sh copies them there when sudo needs no password, and otherwise prints the one command to run.

On a computer with no screen

On a server you reach over SSH, either of these works:

• Browser (nothing to install on your own computer): run vedabase web. It prints an ssh -N -L 6080:… tunnel command and a http://localhost:6080/… link. Run the tunnel on your computer, open the link, and VedaBase appears in the browser. Stop it with vedabase stop.
• X11 forwarding: with an X server on your computer, connect with ssh -X, then run vedabase.

The browser viewer is for the licensed user only, and it is private. Its display has an X cookie and a VNC socket only your account can open. The page listens only on 127.0.0.1, and it asks for a password that is new each time the viewer starts and is included in the printed link.

To copy text out of the browser viewer, select it in VedaBase and press Ctrl+C. Within a second it appears in noVNC's clipboard panel: open the bar at the left edge of the page and click its Clipboard button, then copy the text from the box there. To have it in Unicode, run vedabase unicode on the server first (Copying text out).

Commands

Command	What it does
vedabase, vedabase vanibase	open VedaBase 25 or VaniBase 25: a window if there is a display, else the browser viewer
vedabase open INFOBASE	open in a window on this display (vedabase, vanibase, help for Folio's own help, or folio)
vedabase web INFOBASE	headless: private display + browser link via SSH tunnel
vedabase stop	close VedaBase and the browser viewer
vedabase status	what is running, and the browser link
vedabase doctor	check the installation
vedabase backup [FILE]	save the program, the infobases and your notes as one .tar.gz
vedabase where	print where everything is
vedabase unicode	turn text copied out of VedaBase into Unicode, on the clipboard (Copying text out); vedabase unicode - <in.txt >out.txt converts a file

Everything (about 3.5 GB) goes in ~/.local/share/vedabase unless you choose another place with --home. Choose a local disk if your home directory is small or on a network share.

Your notes are in the shadow files

Folio keeps your highlights, bookmarks and notes in the shadow files (the files ending in .sdw), next to the infobases:

• Windows: C:\Bhaktivedanta VedaBase 2003\Nfo. Windows may hide the .sdw ending; the files are Bhaktivedanta Vedabase 2003 and VaniBase_25.
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/VedaBase/prefix/drive_c/Bhaktivedanta VedaBase 2003/Nfo. In the Finder, use Go → Go to Folder… and paste the path.
• Linux: ~/.local/share/vedabase/prefix/drive_c/Bhaktivedanta VedaBase 2003/Nfo, or vedabase where. vedabase backup saves the whole installation, and install.sh --restore FILE puts it back on any Linux computer without running the installer again. Restore only a backup you made yourself: it holds programs that run as you.

Copy the .sdw files somewhere safe before reinstalling or uninstalling.

If something goes wrong

Run the installer again first: it continues where it stopped. On Windows, if VedaBase opens with blank pages after you uninstalled and reinstalled it, try signing out of Windows and back in (or restarting). If that doesn't help, send whoever gave you this installer a description, plus:

• Windows: a photo or screenshot of the error, and the log C:\Program Files\VedaBase-Setup\install.log.
• macOS: the Terminal text, and the folder ~/Library/Application Support/VedaBase/logs.
• Linux: the output of vedabase doctor, and the folder ~/.local/share/vedabase/logs.

If the download breaks

The files come from two public Google Drive folders (docs/sources.md).

• "did not arrive intact". Usually Google Drive is limiting downloads of a busy file for a while. Wait a few hours, then run the installer again.
• The files changed. If the files in those folders change, the installers refuse the new files rather than install something unchecked, and they need an update.
• Linux, installing from a copy. You can install from a copy you already have, laid out like the Drive folders (Install.exe, Fonts/, Nfo/, Spec/, VaniBase/). The Windows and Mac installers have no such option yet.

./install.sh --source /path/to/copy
./install.sh --source you@server:/path/to/vedabase/downloads   # needs ssh login with a key

Removing VedaBase

• Windows:
  • First copy your .sdw files out of C:\Bhaktivedanta VedaBase 2003\Nfo: uninstalling deletes the VedaBase one.
  • Uninstall Bhaktivedanta VedaBase 2003 in Settings → Apps.
  • Delete C:\Bhaktivedanta VedaBase 2003, C:\Program Files\VedaBase-Setup, the Bhaktivedanta VedaBase 2003, VaniBase 25 and VedaBase Unicode icons on the desktop, and the Bhaktivedanta VedaBase 2003 folder in the Start menu.
• macOS: delete ~/Library/Application Support/VedaBase and the three apps in ~/Applications.
• Linux: delete the folder shown by vedabase where (home), the launcher ~/.local/bin/vedabase, ~/.config/vedabase, and ~/.local/share/applications/vedabase.desktop, vanibase.desktop and vedabase-unicode.desktop.

Copying text out

VedaBase's fonts draw Sanskrit letters in place of ordinary ones, so text copied out of it reads wrongly anywhere else: Kåñëa instead of Kṛṣṇa, Çré instead of Śrī. Each installer adds VedaBase Unicode, which turns the copied text on the clipboard into standard Unicode, ready to paste into any program, AI tools included:

1. In VedaBase, select some text and copy it (Ctrl+C; on a Mac, ⌘C).
2. Convert it:
   • Windows: press Ctrl+Alt+U, or double-click VedaBase Unicode on the desktop. A small window says Converted to Unicode and closes by itself. If the keys do nothing at first, sign out and back in once.
   • macOS: open VedaBase Unicode in the Applications folder inside your home folder (drag it to the Dock to have it at hand).
   • Linux: choose VedaBase Unicode in the application menu, or run vedabase unicode; your desktop's keyboard settings can give it a shortcut.
3. Paste it where you like.

It converts only text fresh from VedaBase. If the copied text already has Unicode letters (such as ā or ṣ), or is the text it has just converted, it leaves the text alone and says so, because converting twice would turn the ñ of jñāna into ṣ: copy again in VedaBase before each conversion. Formatting (bold, italics) is not kept, and Devanagari script does not convert: it comes out as Latin letters. How it works.

VedaBase Unicode is new. On Linux it has been tested with text copied in VedaBase itself: in the browser viewer, with two window managers, a simple one and GNOME's (on X11), and under GNOME's Wayland compositor, each on a server's private display. It has not been tried yet on a desktop someone logs in to, on KDE, nor on Windows or a real Mac. If it does not work for you, please tell whoever gave you this installer; the first reports will correct these steps.

What the installers add

Each installer runs the original installer, then takes care of these:

• The infobase link. The shadow file that the VedaBase icon opens looks for its infobase under the name VedaBase_25.nfo, the name on the machine where it was made. The infobase itself ships as Bhaktivedanta VedaBase 2003.NFO, renamed from VB2025.NFO so that the 2003 install script finds it. Under Wine the first launch then fails with "The master infobase for this shadow, 'VedaBase_25.nfo' could not be found". The installers add VedaBase_25.nfo as a second name for the same file. This has not been checked on Windows yet; the Windows installer does it to be safe.
• Fonts and settings. Under Wine, the original installer copies the 51 diacritic fonts but does not register them. It also writes its display settings only for the account that ran it. Missing either one leaves Sanskrit words garbled. The installers register the fonts and give every account the settings.
• The intro sound. On Linux and macOS, the installer would stall on its intro sound under Wine.
• Unicode text. VedaBase Unicode turns copied text into standard Unicode (Copying text out).

docs/how-it-works.md explains every step and records what was verified. docs/sources.md summarizes the original instructions. docs/testing.md is the checklist for a first run on a new system.

What's next

The installers get better as reports come in:

• The first run on a Mac, and runs on more Windows PCs. What they show will correct these steps wherever they differ.
• What Windows updates broke. Some Folio features have stopped working on newer Windows. Once it is known which, the installers can add workarounds.
• Devanagari. VedaBase Unicode converts the transliterated Sanskrit; passages in Devanagari script still come out as Latin letters.
• New releases. For a new VedaBase release, the installers need only an updated manifest/drive-files.tsv.

License

The scripts and documents in this repository are under the MIT license (see LICENSE). It covers only them, not VedaBase. This repository contains none of the VedaBase program or texts: everything is downloaded at install time from the public Google Drive folders.

VedaBase itself comes with the 2003 Bhaktivedanta Archives license, which the original installer shows and which installing accepts:

• Clause 2.1 "permits you to use one copy of the SOFTWARE on the Host Computer", "for each licensed use of the SOFTWARE, which you have purchased", with "only one person" using it at a time.
• Clause 2.4 forbids copying "except to your personal archival copy", using it "in an on-line system", and "(h) transfer the SOFTWARE or any copy thereof to another party".

Questions about wider use are for the Bhaktivedanta Archives.

With gratitude to Ekanatha dāsa, who maintained the VedaBase files and instructions and shared them with devotees until his passing; these installers are offered in continuation of his service. Thanks also to Tāraka dāsa for sharing the files. Wine builds come from Kron4ek (Linux) and Gcenx (macOS).