Question: I need to show a picture on web page without uploading it. something like

```
 <img id="RuPic" src="file://localhost/D:/folder/image.jpg"/>

```

How to do that?

Answer: 
You can do that easily using `FileReader.readAsDataURL()`. The user chooses an image and you can display it without needing to upload it.

For more info see <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/FileReader/readAsDataURL>

Here is the code:

```js
function previewFile() {
    // Where you will display your image
    var preview = document.querySelector('img');
    // The button where the user chooses the local image to display
    var file = document.querySelector('input[type=file]').files[0];
    // FileReader instance
    var reader  = new FileReader();

    // When the image is loaded we will set it as source of
    // our img tag
    reader.onloadend = function () {
      preview.src = reader.result;
    }

    if (file) {
      // Load image as a base64 encoded URI
      reader.readAsDataURL(file);
    } else {
      preview.src = "";
    }
  }
```

```html
  <input type="file" onchange="previewFile()"><br>
  <img src="" height="200" alt="Image preview...">
```
Okay, you can't just let somebody else acess your local file system! You would need a server-service like Apache, let your computer run 24h a day, make sure it wont overheat, care for good security and much more to make that even possible. And because server-administration is expensive and time-consuming, most people let the pro's host our stuff for us (Webhosting).

In conclusion, if you don't want to run your own server, it's much easier to just upload it to your webhoster of choice.