Install Bitwarden on Windows 11 and run the vault locally with the self-hostable Vaultwarden server, no cloud account required.
A self-hosted vault has no cloud recovery. If you forget the master password or lose the Vaultwarden data folder, every stored credential is unrecoverable. Keep encrypted backups.
Install **Bitwarden** desktop, point it at a **local Vaultwarden** server running in **Docker Desktop**, and store every password in a vault that never leaves your machine.
Download Docker Desktop from https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop and run the installer. Keep **Use WSL 2 instead of Hyper-V** checked. Reboot when asked, then launch Docker and accept the terms. The whale icon in the tray should go steady, not animated.
Open **PowerShell as admin** and run the command below, then reboot. This installs WSL2 and the default Ubuntu distro Docker uses as a backend.
wsl --installPick a folder to store your vault database and attachments. Create it in Explorer or run the command below. Back this folder up regularly - it is your entire vault.
mkdir C:\\Vaultwarden\\dataIn **PowerShell**, start Vaultwarden bound to localhost on port 8080. The container restarts automatically with Docker.
docker run -d --name vaultwarden --restart unless-stopped -v C:\\Vaultwarden\\data:/data -p 127.0.0.1:8080:80 vaultwarden/server:latestInstall **Bitwarden** desktop from https://bitwarden.com/download. On the login screen, click the **gear icon** (region selector), choose **self-hosted**, and set **Server URL** to http://localhost:8080. Save.
Click **Create account**. Use a strong master password you can memorize (a 4-word passphrase works well). Vaultwarden stores it as a hash in your local data folder - lose it and the vault is unrecoverable.
Install the **Bitwarden** extension from https://bitwarden.com/download. In the extension settings, set the same **Server URL** to http://localhost:8080 and log in. Save a test password on a real site and confirm it appears in both desktop and extension vaults.
Make sure Docker Desktop is running and the Vaultwarden container is up (docker ps). The URL must be http://localhost:8080, exactly.
Open PowerShell as admin and run wsl --update, then start Docker Desktop again. Also enable Virtualization in BIOS if it is off.
Open Docker Desktop, go to Containers, click vaultwarden and start it. The --restart unless-stopped flag only auto-starts when Docker itself is already running.
Bind the container to your LAN IP instead of 127.0.0.1 and set up HTTPS via a reverse proxy. The Vaultwarden wiki covers this at https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden/wiki
Vaultwarden is a lightweight Rust reimplementation of the Bitwarden API, uses one container, and is compatible with all official Bitwarden clients.
The crypto is the same (end-to-end AES-256). Security now depends on your backups and OS hardening instead of Bitwarden's SOC team.
Yes. Export your vault as a JSON file from desktop then import into any Bitwarden server.
Stop and remove the container with the two commands below, delete the C:\\Vaultwarden folder and uninstall Bitwarden desktop and the browser extension via Settings then Apps. Uninstall Docker Desktop the same way if you no longer need it.\n\ndocker stop vaultwarden\ndocker rm vaultwarden
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