Install Signal without a smartphone

signal-without-smartphone.md

Signal on Windows without a smartphone

Requirements

• Signal for Desktop
• Java Standard Edition
• signal-cli

Installation

Install the Signal desktop app.

Install Java either offline or online.

Download precompiled signal-cli binaries: signal-cli-*.tar.gz and extract its contents to a new directory, e.g. C:\usr\signal

Phone number registration

Replace ALL-CAPITALS with your actual values.

• bin\signal-cli.bat -u +COUNTRY-CODE-YOUR-PHONE-NUMBER register
• Receive the verification code in SMS
• bin\signal-cli.bat -u +COUNTRY-CODE-YOUR-PHONE-NUMBER verify VERIFICATION-CODE-RECEIVED-IN-SMS
• Open Signal Desktop app
• Make a cropped screenshot of the QR code
• Decode the QR code with ZXing Decoder Online
• bin\signal-cli.bat -u +COUNTRY-CODE-YOUR-PHONE-NUMBER addDevice --uri "tsdevice:/QR-CODE-PARSED-RESULT"
• bin\signal-cli.bat -u +COUNTRY-CODE-YOUR-PHONE-NUMBER listDevices

Documentation: https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/blob/master/man/signal-cli.1.adoc

Usage

Start using Signal without a smartphone :)

Find user data to backup in %USERPROFILE%\.local\share\signal-cli\

Supported locales are stored in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\signal-desktop\locales

Change locale on the command line: Signal.exe --lang=en-US

Please ask your question on a bigger forum.
Signal's forum, or signal-cli's issue.
I do not register numbers and do not use Signal.

Good luck!

A simple way to install Java is using the Winget the Windows package manager. From a command line just type:

winget install oracle.JDK.22

Unfortunately I got as far as decoding the QR code but then the next command just hung and nothing happened despite waiting some 5 minutes or so.

Hi,
Thank you for the instructions!
I have a problem entering the qrcode result.
The following message appears:

Invalid device link
pub_key' is not recognized as an internal or external command
or external command, an executable program or a command file.
capabilities' is not recognized as an internal or external command
or external command, an executable program or a command file.

(The words "pub_key=" and "capabilities=" appear in the qr code device link I received)

Can you help me please ? Thanks a lot

Invalid device link pub_key' is not recognized as an internal or external command or external command, an executable program or a command file. capabilities' is not recognized as an internal or external command or external command, an executable program or a command file.

Hi there!
I solved my problem, I note here the solution if it can help someone: the problem came from the fact that I was using Windows Powershell.
I performed the same operations but with Cmd instead of Powershell, and it worked!

ZXing Decoder Online is currently not available. What worked for me was: https://qrcoderaptor.com/

Maybe of help for Signal Desktop users on Linux:
Furthermore, in the signal-cli command above (the one with addDevice), the URI has a different pattern for me. The link in the decoded QR code does not start with tsdevice:/... but sgnl://linkdevice?uuid=.... When I use this link for the --uri parameter, I was able to add the device.