# Start the Distributed Index Handler

The following sections describe the different ways that you can start the DIH.

Before you can start the DIH, you must start the License Server.

## Start the DIH on Microsoft Windows

- Double-click the `DIH.exe` file in your component installation directory.

- Start the DIH service from a system dialog box. DIH must be installed as a Windows Service. See Install an IDOL Component as a Service on Windows.

  1. Display the Windows Services dialog box.

  2. Select the DIH service for the component, and click Start to start the component.

  3. Click Close to close the Services dialog box.

  TIP: You can also configure the Windows Service to run automatically when you start the machine.

- Start a component from the command line. For more information, refer to the IDOL Getting Started Guide.

## Start the DIH on UNIX

- Start the IDOL component service from the command line. The component must be installed as a service. See Install an IDOL Component as a Service on Linux You can use one of the following commands to start the service:

  - On systemd Linux platforms:

        systemctl start DIH

  - On System V Linux platforms:

        service DIH start

  - On Solaris platforms (using System V):

        /etc/init.d/DIH start

  TIP: You can also configure the service to run automatically when you start the machine.

- Start the DIH from the command line. For more information, refer to the IDOL Getting Started Guide.

- Use the start script (`start-dih.sh`).

  NOTE: In most cases, Micro Focus recommends that you use the provided init scripts instead.

_FT_HTML5_bannerTitle.htm