============================================================================== SERVER DASHBOARD - web monitoring for Windows Server 2016 Version 1.16.0

A monitoring dashboard you can open from any computer on the local network by simply typing the server IP address in a browser:

http://192.168.1.10:8080

No installation, no agent, no third-party software: one .bat file and a PowerShell script that starts a web server built into Windows. The interface is translated into 38 languages and has a light and a dark theme.

FILES

Everything you normally need is in the root folder; the rest is tidied away.

ServerDashboard\
|
+-- Install.bat              install and start (run as administrator)
+-- Uninstall.bat            undo exactly what the installer changed
+-- Start-Dashboard.bat      manual start, installs nothing
+-- Stop-Dashboard.bat       stop the dashboard
+-- settings.txt             server settings, editable with Notepad
|
+-- .config-do-not-delete-me\  the local secrets of this installation:
|                             pwd (the password file, empty = none) and
|                             settings-backup.txt (written by Install.bat)
|
+-- scripts\                 everything that runs
|   +-- ServerDashboard.ps1          the engine
|   +-- Diagnose.bat / Diagnose.ps1  read-only diagnostics
|   +-- Repair-Autostart.bat         rebuild task + URL reservation
|   +-- Test-Notification.bat        show the logon notification now
|   +-- Update-Now.bat               check GitHub for a new version now
|   +-- version.txt                  the version: single source of truth
|   +-- Test-Syntax.ps1              parse check of every script
|   +-- New-DashboardTask.ps1        registers the boot task as SYSTEM
|   +-- Set-UrlAcl.ps1               URL reservation, localized names
|   +-- Show-StartupNotification.ps1 the notification itself
|   +-- Stop-DashboardProcess.ps1    stops the script and frees the port
|   +-- Set-Password.ps1            set / change / remove the password
|   +-- install-state.txt           what the installer changed (hidden,
|                                    read-only; used by Uninstall.bat)
|
+-- lang\                    the 38 translations, one XML each
|
+-- screenshots\           the images used by the GitHub page
|
+-- Changelog\              CHANGELOG.md: the only changelog file
|   |
|   +-- release-notes\       RELEASE-NOTES-vX.Y.Z.md, one per release
|
+-- docs\                    README.md (this manual), logo.png,
|                            Dashboard-Preview.html (offline preview)
|
+-- logs\                    one file per day, kept 14 days:
                             ServerDashboard-YYYY-MM-DD.log
                             ServerDashboard-notify-YYYY-MM-DD.log
                             previous-task-backup.xml

The four files you use day to day are in the root. Everything under scripts
is called by them; you never need to open it, but nothing stops you. The logs
folder is created automatically and stays empty when logging = no in settings.txt.

SETUP (3 MINUTES)

Copy the whole folder to the server, for example C:\ServerDashboard\ - all files must stay together, including the lang\ subfolder.
Right-click Install.bat and choose "Run as administrator".
The installer inspects the machine, applies only the missing changes and prints a report with the BEFORE and AFTER value of each one:
```
[+] Firewall rule "PiBOH Windows Server Dashboard 8080"
    BEFORE : not present  |  AFTER : created (inbound, TCP 8080)
[=] URL reservation http://+:8080/
    BEFORE : already reserved  |  AFTER : unchanged
[+] Scheduled task "PiBOH Windows Server Dashboard"
    BEFORE : not present  |  AFTER : created, runs at boot as SYSTEM
```
The installer also asks whether to set an optional password: type it (masked, twice) or just press Enter for none. Right after, it asks what the password must protect - the whole page (total) or only the server options (partial) - and writes password_mode into settings.txt. The file .config-do-not-delete-me\pwd is always created: an empty file simply means "no password". Both can be changed at any time with scripts\Set-Password.ps1.
From another computer on the LAN open http://SERVER-IP:8080. The name of the server works too: http://SERVER-NAME:8080. Keep the http:// part (or at least the two slashes: //SERVER-NAME:8080): a bare SERVER-NAME:8080 is read by the browser as a web search, not as an address. That is a rule of every browser: no web server can change it. Two tricks make it shorter: after the first complete address the browser autocompletes it from the history while you type, and a name that contains a dot, like SRV01.COMPANY.LOCAL:8080, is accepted even without http:// (a single-word name never is; localhost:8080 is the only exception).

For a quick test without installing anything, use Start-Dashboard.bat.

To uninstall: right-click Uninstall.bat and choose "Run as administrator". It reads install-state.txt and undoes exactly what was done: the task is deleted (or the task that existed before is restored from previous-task- backup.xml), the firewall rule and the URL reservation are removed only if the installer created them, settings.txt is deleted only if it did not exist before. Program files are never deleted.

WHAT THE DASHBOARD SHOWS

HEADER (always visible) The top bar is sticky: server name, connection state, uptime, last update and the refresh selector stay on screen while you scroll.

CPU Total load %, load per single core with bars, real clock speed in GHz and maximum frequency, socket/core/thread count, processor model, temperature, plus a dedicated trend chart.

Temperature sources, tried in this order: 1. BIOS/ACPI sensor (MSAcpi_ThermalZoneTemperature). Many Dell, HP and Lenovo servers do not expose it. 2. Core Temp, the plain program from alcpu.com: NO add-on, no server plug-in, nothing to configure. While it runs, Core Temp always publishes its readings in a shared memory block, and the dashboard reads it directly - the 32-bit and the 64-bit build alike, one reading per core, Fahrenheit converted to Celsius automatically. Install Core Temp and let it run: that is all. Its readings are visible when Core Temp and the dashboard share the same logon session (dashboard started with Start-Dashboard.bat, or both launched by tasks in session 0); otherwise the chain simply moves on to the next source. 3. Core Temp with its free "Core Temp WMI provider" add-on (namespace root\CoreTemp): same readings, but through WMI, which also works when Core Temp runs in another logon session than the dashboard - the option to pick for a boot task plus an always-logged-in user. 4. LibreHardwareMonitor or OpenHardwareMonitor, with the WMI option enabled (namespaces root\LibreHardwareMonitor and root\OpenHardwareMonitor). 5. HWiNFO with its shared WMI provider enabled (root\HWiNFO). If none of them is available the dashboard writes "not available (no ACPI sensor)" instead of a wrong number.

MEMORY Used, free and total in GB, percentage, page file, installed modules (slot, size, speed), plus its own trend chart.

DISKS AND PARTITIONS One box per physical drive (model, bus and media type, size, partition count, health status and live I/O) containing the boxes of its own partitions:

  [ disk ( partition 1 )( partition 2 ) ]

Each partition shows drive letter, label, file system, used/free/total space with a coloured bar and its own read / write / busy activity. How a volume is matched to its disk: the classic WMI associators first, then the Storage module (MSFT_Partition / Get-Partition) when those return nothing, which happens with several RAID and storage drivers. If local volumes are still unmatched and the server has a single physical disk they are attached to it; if no physical disk is exposed at all, the local volumes are grouped under one entry called "Local disks". The log says which route was used ("disks: volume mapping resolved through ..."), and scripts\Diagnose.bat prints, disk by disk, which letters were matched.

Only devices that are really not disks of the server - USB sticks, card readers and optical drives - are listed apart, at the bottom, under the heading "Other devices". Virtual disks (Hyper-V, VMware, VirtualBox, KVM, iSCSI) stay in the main list, because on a virtual machine they ARE the disks of the server: they simply carry a "virtual" badge and a cloud icon. Volumes with no physical drive, such as mapped network drives, are grouped under "Other volumes".

NETWORK Real-time download/upload (KB/s or MB/s), history chart, per-adapter figures, total RX/TX, link speed, status, MAC and the number of active TCP connections.

IP CONFIGURATION Per adapter: IPv4, subnet mask, gateway, DNS servers, IPv6, MAC, DHCP yes/no with its server.

OPERATING SYSTEM Name, version and build, architecture, computer name, domain, server manufacturer and model, BIOS, serial number, install date, last boot, uptime, user sessions.

PROCESSES All running processes, in a scrollable pane with sticky headers. The main line of the first column is the friendly name of the executable ("Windows Explorer" for explorer.exe, "Task Manager" for taskmgr.exe), read from the version info of the file itself: it comes already in the language of the server, exactly like Task Manager shows it. The real image name, extension included (sqlservr.exe, w3wp.exe, svchost.exe), sits right under it in gray; when an executable has no friendly name the image name alone is shown. The dashboard itself is listed under its own name: the engine, which would otherwise be just another powershell.exe, is tagged "PiBOH Windows Server Dashboard", so it can be found in its own list. Hover a name to see the full path of the executable; the filter searches the image name, the friendly name and the path, so you can type "task manager", "exe" or a folder name too.

SERVICES The complete service list with display name, internal name, state, startup type, PID and log-on account; text search plus a state filter (all / running / stopped / automatic not started) and a summary line.

EVENTS Critical, error and warning entries of the System and Application Windows event logs of the last 24 hours (up to 150), with timestamp, level, log, source, event ID and message (hover a row to read the full text). Text filter, level filter and sortable columns; newest first by default. Reading the event log is expensive, so this section is refreshed once a minute regardless of the dashboard refresh rate. To include other logs, such as Security, edit the LogName list in the Get-RecentEvents function inside ServerDashboard.ps1.

TABLE SORTING In every table you sort by clicking the column header, exactly like Windows File Explorer: click to sort, click again to reverse; a triangle marks the active column. The choice is stored in the browser. Numeric columns sort by value, text columns alphabetically.

LANGUAGES

The dashboard is translated into 38 languages: every language Windows Server 2016 is fully localized in (Multilingual User Interface).

ar-SA  bg-BG  cs-CZ  da-DK  de-DE  el-GR  en-GB  en-US  es-ES
es-MX  et-EE  fi-FI  fr-CA  fr-FR  he-IL  hr-HR  hu-HU  it-IT
ja-JP  ko-KR  lt-LT  lv-LV  nb-NO  nl-NL  pl-PL  pt-BR  pt-PT
ro-RO  ru-RU  sk-SK  sl-SI  sr-Latn-RS  sv-SE  th-TH  tr-TR
uk-UA  zh-CN  zh-TW

Default language = Windows language. At startup the script reads Get- UICulture and the dashboard opens in that language. If the exact culture is missing the base language is used (de-CH becomes de-DE); if that is missing too it falls back to English.
The footer button "Language" is always in English, so it stays recognizable in any translation. It opens an overlay window listing every language in its own script followed by the English name, for example "Italiano (Italian)" or "Nihongo (Japanese)". Click a language to apply it, press Escape or click outside to close.
The choice is saved in the browser: every computer can read the dashboard in its own language without touching the server.
Arabic and Hebrew switch the layout to right-to-left automatically.

Each language is an independent XML file in lang\ :

<language code="it-IT" nativeName="Italiano"
          englishName="Italian" dir="ltr">
  <string key="cpu">CPU</string>
  ...
</language>

To fix a translation edit the string and restart the service. To add a language copy an existing file, change code, nativeName and englishName, translate the values and restart: it shows up in the picker by itself, because the catalog is read from the folder.

THEME AND SETTINGS PANEL

The footer has three areas: settings and language buttons on the left, "ServerDashboard " in the centre, the light/dark theme switch on the right. Dark is the default.

The gear button opens the settings panel:

Option	Stored where	Who can change it
Theme	browser cache (localStorage)	every visitor
Language	browser cache (localStorage)	every visitor
Refresh interval	browser cache (localStorage)	every visitor
Default interval	server, settings.txt	on the server, or from
		the panel with the pwd
Visible sections	server, settings.txt	(same as above)
Logging	server, settings.txt	(same as above)
Automatic updates	server, settings.txt	(same as above)

Defaults: dark theme, language of Windows, half a second refresh, everything visible, logging on.

Theme, language and refresh interval are personal: every workstation keeps its own choice in its browser cache, and they are what the settings panel changes.
The refresh interval offered by default is the one in settings.txt, shown in the list as "server default (5 seconds)". A visitor can pick any other value, from half a second to five minutes: it only changes how often THEIR browser asks for data, it does not touch the server and it does not affect the other viewers. Choosing "server default" again gives back the configured value.

The server options (default interval, visible sections, logging, automatic updates) belong to the server, and what the panel lets you do depends on the password (see section 9):

no password set    -> greyed out, with the note "read-only: set on the
                      server in settings.txt". The API refuses every
                      write with 403 and logs the address of the
                      caller, so the restriction holds even against a
                      handcrafted request, not only against the page.
password, partial  -> the options look normal: the password is asked
                      by a small popup the moment one of them is
                      clicked, never before. The server checks it
                      immediately (a wrong one is refused in red,
                      inside the popup); after that the options stay
                      editable and Save writes them to settings.txt.
password, total    -> you already typed the password to open the page,
                      so the server options are editable directly.

To change them, edit settings.txt on the server with Notepad. The file is watched: the change is applied within ten seconds, no restart needed.
settings.txt is created automatically at the first start, already filled with the default values, so the settings panel works from the very first start. It is a plain text file with one "key = value" per line, so you can also change it with Notepad and restart the service:
```
refresh_seconds = 0.5      (0.5 - 3600, dot as decimal separator)
idle_seconds    = 0        (0 = do not sample when nobody watches)
logging         = no       (never create a log file)
password_mode   = total    (with a pwd file: total = whole page,
                            partial = server options only)
show_cpu        = yes
show_events     = no
```
Unknown or misspelled keys are ignored, missing keys keep their default, and a deleted file is recreated with the defaults at the next start.
Without a password, logging = yes/no is available in settings.txt only, on purpose: nobody watching the dashboard can turn the log on or off. With a password set it can also be changed from the panel, by whoever knows it. The log is rotated every day: each day has its own file (logs\ServerDashboard-YYYY-MM-DD.log), so no file ever grows without limit, and the files older than 14 days are deleted automatically. With logging = no no log file is ever created. The setting is read before the first line would be written, and it survives every save made from the panel.
If no settings are found (first run, or browser cache cleared) the defaults above are applied automatically. "Restore defaults" resets everything from the panel itself.
Twelve sections can be hidden: CPU, CPU trend, Memory, RAM trend, Network, Network adapters, IP configuration, Disks and partitions, Operating system, Processes, Services, Events.

REFRESH RATE The refresh interval can be set to 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 30 seconds, 1 minute or 5 minutes. Half a second gives a live view of CPU, memory and network; thanks to the tiered sampling described below, choosing 0.5 instead of 5 seconds does not multiply the load on the server.

TIERED SAMPLING (WHY IT IS CHEAP) Not all metrics cost the same, so they are not read at the same pace. Cheap performance counters are refreshed on every cycle, while the expensive queries run on their own slower schedule and are served from memory in between:

+----------------------------+-------------------------------+
| Metric                     | Read every                    |
+----------------------------+-------------------------------+
| CPU, memory, network       | every cycle (0.5 s by default) |
| Processes                  | 5 seconds                     |
| Disks and partitions       | 10 seconds                    |
| Services, sessions         | 30 seconds                    |
| Windows events             | 60 seconds                    |
| OS, BIOS, CPU model, RAM   | once at startup               |
+----------------------------+-------------------------------+

The browser does its part too: the process, service, event and disk tables are rebuilt only when the data actually changed, and polling stops completely while the tab is in the background.

NOBODY WATCHING = NOTHING RUNNING When no browser has asked for data for a few refresh intervals (at least 15 seconds), the collector stops sampling completely: it only checks four times a second whether somebody came back, which costs nothing. Sampling restarts within a quarter of a second of the first request, so the first page you open is already up to date.

A browser tab moved to the background stops polling too, and says "Paused" in the header, so leaving the dashboard open on a forgotten tab does not keep the server busy.

If you would rather keep collecting in the background, to have a continuous history, set idle_seconds in settings.txt to the number of seconds you want (for example 900 for a sample every 15 minutes). The default, 0, means "do not sample at all".

The engine keeps its own footprint small too: every 5 minutes it releases the memory pages it is not using (working set trim), so what Task Manager shows is the memory the dashboard really needs, not the pages it happened to touch since it started.

5-bis. SELF UPDATE

At every start - including the automatic one at boot, which runs as SYSTEM without any logon - the dashboard reads scripts\version.txt from the main branch of github.com/PiBOH/windows-server-dashboard. If the published version is newer, the release tagged v is downloaded, unpacked and copied over the current files, without ever touching settings.txt, the .config-do-not-delete-me folder, the logs folder or the local backups. The dashboard then restarts itself on the new version, and writes both a log line and an entry in the Windows event log.

Since 1.16.0 the check is ALSO repeated every 24 hours while the dashboard runs, so a server that stays on for months does not need a reboot to receive an update: the running instance launches, detached, the very same cycle used by Update-Now.bat (download, stop, install, start), and a marker file keeps a manual run and the automatic one out of each other's way.

Two more safety nets came with 1.16.0. Before handing over to a new version the script verifies that version.txt on disk really changed: if an install ever fails to land, the dashboard stays up on the current version instead of restarting in a loop. And every start removes the leftover folders of the pre-1.15.1 updater bug (the scripts\scripts nesting), which is what made updates look stuck on servers updated with an old version: run scripts\Update-Now.bat once with 1.16.0 and the installation cleans itself.

Since 1.16.2 the order is "page first": the update check runs after the web server is already answering, so a slow network can no longer keep the port closed at boot. And an update always ends with a running dashboard: the updater waits for the old instance to release the port, asks the task to start again and again and, as a last resort, launches the engine directly; when a hand over at boot cannot launch the new version, the current instance keeps serving instead of exiting.

The automatic check is switched on and off in settings.txt (auto_update = yes, the default, or no). Without a password no visitor can change it from the page; with a password set, whoever knows it can.
scripts\Update-Now.bat is the manual way: it checks GitHub and, when a new release exists, does the whole cycle by itself - download, stop the dashboard, install, start the dashboard again and wait for its answer. With no new release it prints "up to date" and changes nothing. It works even with auto_update = no, because it is an explicit request.
ServerDashboard.ps1 -CheckUpdatesOnly only reports whether a new release exists (exit code 3 = available) and touches nothing.
Releases must be tagged v for the updater to find them.

5-ter. LOGON NOTIFICATION

At every user logon a Windows notification says whether the dashboard started correctly, in the Windows display language: the text is translated into all the 38 languages, reading the same lang*.xml files used by the page. It is produced by Show-StartupNotification.ps1, run by the scheduled task "PiBOH Windows Server Dashboard Notify" that Install.bat creates.

The script waits up to 90 seconds for the service to answer on /api/health, because at logon the machine is still starting, then shows one of two messages, in the language of Windows:
```
PiBOH Windows Server Dashboard - Dashboard started successfully
Available at http://192.168.1.10:8080

PiBOH Windows Server Dashboard - Dashboard is NOT running
Check the newest logs\ServerDashboard-*.log for details
```
The title is always the English product name: only the message under it follows the language of Windows.
Three display methods are tried in order: a real Windows toast in the Action Center, a tray balloon tip, and finally a window drawn like a Windows 10 toast in the bottom right corner, which always works on a desktop. Windows Server often has no Action Center, so the last one is what you usually see.
The script waits for the shell (explorer.exe) before showing anything, and writes what it tried in the daily logs\ServerDashboard-notify-*.log.
scripts\Test-Notification.bat shows the notification immediately, without logging off and on, so you can check it in five seconds.
To disable it: schtasks /Delete /TN "PiBOH Windows Server Dashboard Notify" /F, or set startup_notification = no in settings.txt and remove the task.

5-quater. DO I HAVE TO LOG ON TO THE SERVER?

No, and since 1.11.4 the installer proves it to you: after creating the task it reads it back and prints

[OK] AUTOSTART VERIFIED: the task runs as SYSTEM with an "at system
     startup" trigger and logon type ServiceAccount.

The dashboard is a scheduled task that starts AT BOOT and runs as SYSTEM, so it works with the server sitting at the lock screen, with no session open and nobody logged on. After a reboot the page is already there: just open http://SERVER-IP:8080 from your computer.

The only thing that needs a logon is the courtesy notification described above, simply because a notification has to be shown to somebody: if no one logs on, nothing happens and the dashboard keeps running. The installer asks whether you want it, and you can answer N.
To check the state without logging on to the console: Install.bat itself prints the result of a health check at the end of the installation, and from any computer you can open http://SERVER-IP:8080/api/health or run schtasks /Query /TN "PiBOH Windows Server Dashboard" /V /FO LIST from a remote shell.
Start-Dashboard.bat is the only script that runs inside your session, and it exists just for a quick manual test: it stops when you log off. The installed task does not.

TASK "READY" BUT LAST RESULT 1, AND NO LOG FILE That combination always means the same thing: PowerShell could not even compile the script, so it exited with code 1 before writing anything. Run Test-Syntax.ps1 (Install.bat now runs it automatically before installing and refuses to continue if a file does not parse):

  powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\Test-Syntax.ps1

It prints the file, the line and the column of every syntax error.

NOTIFICATION TASK WITH LAST RESULT 267011 That code (0x41303) is not an error: it means "the task has never run yet". The notification is triggered at logon, so it will appear at the next one. To see it immediately, run scripts\Test-Notification.bat.

IF IT REALLY WORKS ONLY AFTER A LOGON Run scripts\Diagnose.bat (it elevates by itself, keeps the window open and, if you prefer, can be run directly as powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File Diagnose.ps1). It changes nothing and reports the task state (Run As User, Logon Mode), the process and its account, what is listening on the port, the URL reservation, the firewall rule, the answer of /api/health and the last lines of the log. The cause is almost always one of these three:

The URL reservation is missing. Without it the script cannot bind http://+:8080/ and, up to version 1.11.0, it fell back to localhost: the page answered on the server only. Fix: run Install.bat as administrator. Since 1.11.1 that fallback happens only on a real permission error, and the log prints the netsh command to run.
The folder is inside a user profile or a OneDrive folder, which a task running as SYSTEM may not be able to read at boot. Move it to C:\ServerDashboard\ and install again; the installer now warns you before doing anything.
The task runs as your user instead of SYSTEM, or with "run only when the user is logged on". In Diagnose.bat, Run As User must be SYSTEM and Logon Mode must be "Background only".

HOW IT WORKS

A background thread samples the metrics and keeps them in memory, so pages load instantly and the load on the server stays negligible: with the tiered sampling the average cost is well below 1% CPU even at a 1 second refresh, for about 40 MB of RAM.
The web server is System.Net.HttpListener, a native Windows component: IIS is not installed and port 80 is left alone.
The HTML page is embedded in ServerDashboard.ps1 (the $Html block) and served from memory; the language XML files and settings.txt are the only files read from disk at runtime.
All metrics use CIM/WMI classes whose property names are always English, so the script works on any localized Windows.

Endpoints:

Endpoint	Purpose
/	the dashboard page
/api/stats	full JSON, handy for Zabbix or Grafana
/api/languages	language catalog
/lang/`.xml`	one dictionary
/api/settings	GET reads; POST writes only with password
/api/health	state and version (never password asked)

CUSTOMIZATION

Open the .bat files with Notepad and edit the first lines:

set "PORT=8080"      REM change the port
set "INTERVAL=5"     REM seconds between two samples
set "HIDDEN=1"       REM 0 = show the console with the live log

After changing the port run Uninstall.bat and then Install.bat again, so the old firewall rule and URL reservation are cleaned up. The refresh interval can also be changed at runtime from the settings panel; delete settings.txt to go back to the defaults.

TROUBLESHOOTING

Symptom	Fix
Works locally, not from the LAN	Firewall rule missing: run as admin
Log says localhost ONLY	Missing privileges: run as admin
Port already in use	netstat -ano
Updates never install, a	The pre-1.15.1 updater left a
scripts\scripts folder	scripts\scripts nest: update once by
exists	hand with Update-Now.bat (1.16.0
	removes the nest by itself)
Temperature not available	Let Core Temp run (the plain program
	is enough), or check the source list
Page does not refresh	Check the newest logs\ServerDashboard-*.log
Browser never asks the password	password_mode = partial opens
	the page BY DESIGN: run
	scripts\Diagnose.bat, it
	checks file and running
	service end to end
Check the task state	schtasks /Query /TN "PiBOH Windows Server Dashboard" /V
Uninstall	Run Uninstall.bat as administrator
How do I find the dashboard	It runs as powershell.exe (the name
in Task Manager?	"Windows PowerShell" belongs to
	the file): in the Details tab enable
	the "Command line" column and look
	for ServerDashboard.ps1

SECURITY

The dashboard is read only: anyone on the LAN who can reach port 8080 can see the data (system information, process, service and event lists - no command can be executed), and without a password nothing can be changed from the page. An optional password can close the whole page or just the server options.

OPTIONAL PASSWORD

The password lives in a plain text file called "pwd" (no file extension) in the .config-do-not-delete-me folder at the root of the package, next to the settings backup: .config-do-not-delete-me\pwd. The file always exists - Install.bat asks for the password during the installation and creates it, and the dashboard itself recreates it empty whenever it is missing. An empty file simply means "no password". To set or change it later run scripts\Set-Password.ps1 (masked input, Enter alone = no password) or edit the file with Notepad: the password goes on the first line. Empty the file (or delete it) to remove the password. Every change applies within ten seconds, no restart needed. The key password_mode in settings.txt decides what it protects:

total   (default)  the whole dashboard asks for the password: the
                   browser opens its standard login window, and without
                   the password nothing at all is served.
partial            everybody can look at the dashboard. The server
                   options look normal in the panel and a popup asks
                   for the password the moment one of them is clicked,
                   not before.

Worth knowing:

The password itself is never sent to the browsers: /api/settings only reports whether one is set and in which mode. It is never written to the log either, and Diagnose.bat only reports whether it is set.
No browser will ever offer to save this password - not Chrome, Edge, Safari or any other Chromium / WebKit browser, desktop or mobile, and not Firefox: where supported the popup field is technically not a password field at all (it only looks like one), elsewhere it belongs to no form and is never submitted. What you type stays in a JavaScript variable for the request only: never in the browser storage, never on disk.
/api/health always stays open, even in total mode: the updater, Repair-Autostart.bat and the logon notification poll it to see whether the service answers, and it only carries the version number.
A wrong password is logged with the address of the caller: for the page in total mode, and for a refused settings change in partial mode.
In total mode any user name is accepted: only the password is checked.
The pwd file is preserved by every update, is never published on GitHub (it is in .gitignore, so it is not in the release zip either) and is deleted by Uninstall.bat. Updating from 1.16.0 moves it automatically from the package root into the .config-do-not-delete-me folder.
WARNING: like everything else in the dashboard, the password travels unencrypted on the local network (HTTP Basic authentication). It keeps curious colleagues out; it is no defense against somebody who can sniff the traffic or attack the server itself.

If the server is ever exposed to the Internet, restrict the firewall rule to the local subnet:

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule ^
      name="PiBOH Windows Server Dashboard 8080" ^
      new remoteip=192.168.1.0/24

VERSIONING

The current version is shown in the centre of the footer and returned by /api/health. Changes follow Semantic Versioning (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH); see Changelog\CHANGELOG.md.

Current version: 1.16.0

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============================================================================== SERVER DASHBOARD - web monitoring for Windows Server 2016 Version 1.16.0

5-bis. SELF UPDATE

5-ter. LOGON NOTIFICATION

5-quater. DO I HAVE TO LOG ON TO THE SERVER?

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============================================================================== SERVER DASHBOARD - web monitoring for Windows Server 2016 Version 1.16.0

5-bis. SELF UPDATE

5-ter. LOGON NOTIFICATION

5-quater. DO I HAVE TO LOG ON TO THE SERVER?