diff --git a/gui/chronosharegui.cpp b/gui/chronosharegui.cpp
index 04bff02..038f05a 100644
--- a/gui/chronosharegui.cpp
+++ b/gui/chronosharegui.cpp
@@ -34,12 +34,18 @@
 using namespace boost;
 using namespace Ccnx;
 
+static const string HTTP_SERVER_ADDRESS = "localhost";
+static const string HTTP_SERVER_PORT = "9001";
+static const string DOC_ROOT = ":/html";
+static const QString ICON_PICTURE_QSTRING(":/images/friends-group-icon.png");
+
 INIT_LOGGER ("Gui");
 
 ChronoShareGui::ChronoShareGui(QWidget *parent)
   : QDialog(parent)
   , m_watcher(0)
   , m_dispatcher(0)
+  , m_httpServer(0)
 #ifdef ADHOC_SUPPORTED
   , m_executor (1)
 #endif
@@ -132,6 +138,17 @@
   m_watcher = new FsWatcher (m_dirPath,
                              bind (&Dispatcher::Did_LocalFile_AddOrModify, m_dispatcher, _1),
                              bind (&Dispatcher::Did_LocalFile_Delete,      m_dispatcher, _1));
+  QFileInfo indexHtmlInfo(":/html/index.html");
+  if (indexHtmlInfo.exists())
+  {
+    m_httpServer = new http::server::server(HTTP_SERVER_ADDRESS, HTTP_SERVER_PORT, DOC_ROOT);
+    m_httpServerThread = boost::thread(&http::server::server::run, m_httpServer);
+  }
+  else
+  {
+    _LOG_ERROR ("Http server doc root dir does not exist!");
+    // shall we bail here?
+  }
 }
 
 ChronoShareGui::~ChronoShareGui()
@@ -142,6 +159,7 @@
 
   delete m_watcher; // stop filewatching ASAP
   delete m_dispatcher; // stop dispatcher ASAP, but after watcher (to prevent triggering callbacks on deleted object)
+  delete m_httpServer;
 
   // cleanup
   delete m_trayIcon;
@@ -169,7 +187,7 @@
   messageBox.setWindowTitle(title);
   messageBox.setText(text);
 
-  messageBox.setIconPixmap(QPixmap(":/images/friends-group-icon.png"));
+  messageBox.setIconPixmap(QPixmap(ICON_PICTURE_QSTRING));
 
   messageBox.exec();
 }
@@ -181,7 +199,7 @@
   messageBox.setText(text);
   messageBox.setInformativeText(infotext);
 
-  messageBox.setIconPixmap(QPixmap(":/images/friends-group-icon.png"));
+  messageBox.setIconPixmap(QPixmap(ICON_PICTURE_QSTRING));
 
   messageBox.exec();
 }
@@ -284,7 +302,7 @@
 void ChronoShareGui::setIcon()
 {
   // set the icon image
-  m_trayIcon->setIcon(QIcon(":/images/friends-group-icon.png"));
+  m_trayIcon->setIcon(QIcon(ICON_PICTURE_QSTRING));
 }
 
 void ChronoShareGui::openSharedFolder()
diff --git a/gui/chronosharegui.h b/gui/chronosharegui.h
index eba4c12..3e9e0c3 100644
--- a/gui/chronosharegui.h
+++ b/gui/chronosharegui.h
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@
 
 #include "fs-watcher.h"
 #include "dispatcher.h"
+#include "server.hpp"
+#include <boost/thread/thread.hpp>
 
 class ChronoShareGui : public QDialog
 {
@@ -118,6 +120,8 @@
 
   FsWatcher  *m_watcher;
   Dispatcher *m_dispatcher;
+  http::server::server *m_httpServer;
+  boost::thread m_httpServerThread;
 
   QLabel* labelUsername;
   QPushButton* button;
diff --git a/gui/html.qrc b/gui/html.qrc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..29a8104
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gui/html.qrc
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+<RCC>
+    <qresource prefix="/">
+        <file>images/friends-group-icon.png</file>
+    </qresource>
+</RCC>
diff --git a/gui/html/index.html b/gui/html/index.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f372d2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gui/html/index.html
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+<html>
+<h1>It works!</h1>
+</html>
diff --git a/gui/images.qrc b/gui/images.qrc
index 15d4acf..630a137 100644
--- a/gui/images.qrc
+++ b/gui/images.qrc
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <RCC>
-    <qresource prefix="/images">
-        <file>friends-group-icon.png</file>
+    <qresource prefix="/">
+        <file>html/index.html</file>
     </qresource>
 </RCC>
diff --git a/gui/friends-group-icon.png b/gui/images/friends-group-icon.png
similarity index 100%
rename from gui/friends-group-icon.png
rename to gui/images/friends-group-icon.png
Binary files differ