---
title: Windows
---

# Installing DEV on Windows 10

## Installing prerequisites

_These prerequisites assume you're working on a 64bit Windows 10 operating
system machine._

### Installing WSL

Since DEV's codebase is using the Ruby on Rails framework, we will need to
install Windows Subsystem for Linux. Some dependencies used by the source code
triggered errors when installing on Windows, so using WSL allows you to work on
the software and not having to fix gem incompatibilities.

First, let's enable Windows Subsystem for Linux in your machine. You can do this
by opening `Control Panel`, going to `Programs`, and then clicking
`Turn Windows Features On or Off`. Look for the `Windows Subsystem for Linux`
option and check the box next to it. Windows will ask for a reboot.

![Enable WSL on Windows](/wsl-feature.png 'Enable WSL on Windows')

Once you've got this installed and after rebooting,
[install Ubuntu 18.04 on Windows](https://www.microsoft.com/store/productId/9N9TNGVNDL3Q).

On your first run, the system will ask for username and password. Take note of
both since it will be used for `sudo` commands.

### Ruby on WSL

First, install Ruby language dependencies:

```shell
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install git-core curl zlib1g-dev build-essential libssl-dev libreadline-dev libyaml-dev libsqlite3-dev sqlite3 libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev software-properties-common libffi-dev
```

For installing Ruby, we recommend using [rbenv](https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv):

```shell
cd
git clone https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv.git ~/.rbenv
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'eval "$(rbenv init -)"' >> ~/.bashrc
exec $SHELL

git clone https://github.com/rbenv/ruby-build.git ~/.rbenv/plugins/ruby-build
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/plugins/ruby-build/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
exec $SHELL

rbenv install $(cat .ruby-version)
rbenv global $(cat .ruby-version)
ruby -v
```

### Installing Rails

Since Rails ships with so many dependencies these days, we're going to need to
install a JavaScript runtime like NodeJS. This lets you use CoffeeScript and the
Asset Pipeline in Rails which combines and minifies your JavaScript to provide a
faster production environment.

To install NodeJS, we're going to add it using the official repository:

```shell
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
node -v
npm -v
```

If `npm -v` gives `Syntax error: word unexpected (expecting "in")`, restart the
terminal and try again.

And now, for rails itself:

```shell
gem install rails -v 5.2.3
```

Then run `rbenv rehash` to make the Rails executable available. Check it out by
using `rails -v` command

```shell
rbenv rehash
rails -v
# Rails 5.2.3
```

### Yarn

The fastest way to install Yarn for WSL would be from Debian package repository.
Configure the repository with the following commands:

```shell
curl -sS https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/pubkey.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/ stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yarn.list
```

Then you can simply issue:

```shell
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install yarn
```

Make sure that Yarn is installed with `yarn -v`

### PostgreSQL

DEV requires PostgreSQL version 9.5 or higher.

If you don't have PostgreSQL installed on your Windows system, you can do so
right now. WSL is able to connect to a PostgreSQL instance on your Windows
machine.

Download [PostgreSQL for Windows](https://www.postgresql.org/download/windows/)
and install it.

Pay attention to the username and password you setup during installation of
PostgreSQL as you will use this to configure your Rails applications to login to
the database later.

For additional configuration options, check our
[PostgreSQL setup guide](/installation/postgresql).

### ImageMagick

DEV uses [ImageMagick](https://imagemagick.org/) to manipulate images on upload.

Please refer to ImageMagick's
[instructions](https://imagemagick.org/script/download.php) on how to install
it.

### Redis

DEV requires Redis version 4.0 or higher.

We recommend to follow
[this guide](https://redislabs.com/blog/redis-on-windows-10/) to run Redis under
WSL.

### Elasticsearch

DEV requires a version of Elasticsearch between 7.1 and 7.5. Version 7.6 is not
supported. We recommend version 7.5.2.

We recommend following the install guide
[in Elasticsearch's docs](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/7.5/zip-windows.html)
for installing on Windows machines.

NOTE: Make sure to download **the OSS version**, `elasticsearch-oss`.

## Installing DEV

1. Fork DEV's repository, eg. <https://github.com/thepracticaldev/dev.to/fork>
1. Clone your forked repository, eg.
   `git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/dev.to.git`
1. Install bundler with `gem install bundler`
1. Set up your environment variables/secrets

   - Take a look at `Envfile`. This file lists all the `ENV` variables we use
     and provides a fake default for any missing keys. You'll need to get your
     own free [Algolia credentials](/backend/algolia) to get your development
     environment running.
   - The [backend guide](/backend) will show you how to get free API keys for
     additional services that may be required to run certain parts of the app.
   - For any key that you wish to enter/replace:

     1. Create `config/application.yml` by copying from the provided template
        (ie. with bash:
        `cp config/sample_application.yml config/application.yml`). This is a
        personal file that is ignored in git.
     1. Obtain the development variable and apply the key you wish to
        enter/replace. ie:

     ```shell
     GITHUB_KEY: "SOME_REAL_SECURE_KEY_HERE"
     GITHUB_SECRET: "ANOTHER_REAL_SECURE_KEY_HERE"
     ```

   - If you are missing `ENV` variables on bootup, the
     [envied](https://rubygems.org/gems/envied) gem will alert you with messages
     similar to
     `'error_on_missing_variables!': The following environment variables should be set: A_MISSING_KEY.`.
   - You do not need "real" keys for basic development. Some features require
     certain keys, so you may be able to add them as you go.

1. Run `bin/setup`

### Possible error messages

1. There is a possibility that you might encounter a _statement timeout_ when
   seeding the database for the first time. Please increase the value of
   `statement_timeout` to `9999999` in `config/database.yml`.

2. If the installation process failed with the following error
   `ERROR: Error installing pg`. Please consider installing the following
   package `libpq-dev` :

```bash
sudo apt-get install libpq-dev
```

3. If the command `bin/setup` fails at installing `cld-0.8.0` with the warnings
   `'aclocal-1.10' is missing on your system` and
   `'automake-1.10' is missing on your system`. Please install `automake-1.10`
   using the commands below.

```shell
cd
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install autoconf
wget https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/automake/automake-1.10.tar.gz
tar xf automake-1.10.tar.gz
cd automake-1.10/
./configure --prefix=/usr/local
make
```

> If you encountered any errors that you subsequently resolved, **please
> consider updating this section** with your errors and their solutions.
