# Stash Latest : System settings

This page last changed on Aug 29, 2012 by pwatson.

This page lists the Java VM system properties which may be set to control certain aspects of Stash's behaviour.

Property Name | Values | Default | Purpose
--- | --- | --- | ---
file.encoding | utf-8 | utf-8 | The Stash WAR needs to be run with the file.encoding property set to utf-8 in the JVM.

To set JVM system properties:

There are 2 approaches to setting JVM system properties:

- The recommended approach is to add the property to ``<Stash installation directory>`/system.properties`. This file can be created as a plain text file (it follows the Java .properties format).
- You can also pass the -D parameter to the JVM.