---
title: Windows
---

# Installing Forem on Windows 10

## Installing prerequisites

These prerequisites assume you're working on a `64-bit Windows 10` operating
system machine

- updated to _version 1903, Build 18362_ or _higher_ for **x64 system**
- updated to _version 2004, Build 19041_ or _higher_ for **ARM64 system**

For further information regarding system requirements, head over to the
[Microsoft Docs](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10#requirements)
or
[Microsoft's blog on extending WSL 2 Support](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/wsl-2-support-is-coming-to-windows-10-versions-1903-and-1909/).

To check your Windows version, press `Win Logo key` + `R`, type `winver`, then
click OK.

There are other ways to get Forem running on lower versions, but we recommend a
complete WSL 2 installation.

### Installing WSL

Since Forem's codebase is using the Ruby on Rails framework, we will need to
install the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). 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.

Follow the instructions for
[Installing the Windows Subsystem for Linux](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10).
Once you've installed WSL, complete all the instructions under the following
sections in the link above:

1. [Update to WSL 2](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10#update-to-wsl-2).
2. [Enable the "Virtual Machine Platform" optional component](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10#enable-the-virtual-machine-platform-optional-component).
   Be sure to reboot your machine after this step.
3. [Set WSL 2 as your default version](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10#set-wsl-2-as-your-default-version).

Once all the steps mentioned above are completed,
[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. More information about the
process can be found at
[create a user account and password for your new Linux distribution](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/user-support)

### Installing rbenv

`rbenv` is a version manager for Ruby applications which allows one to guarantee
that the Ruby version in development environment matches production. First,
install Ruby language dependencies before installing `rbenv`:

```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
```

Now, we install [rbenv](https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv) using the following
commands:

```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
```

One can verify `rbenv` installation using the `rbenv-doctor` script with the
following commands:

```shell
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rbenv/rbenv-installer/main/bin/rbenv-doctor | bash
```

### Installing nvm

As a pre-requisite to install Rails, Node.js needs to be installed.
[nvm](https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm) is a Node.js version manager that helps a
developer select a specific Node.js version for development.

To install `nvm`, follow the instructions outlined in the
[official nvm documentation](https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm#install--update-script).

Be sure to reload the shell with the command `exec $SHELL` after the
installation is complete.

Run the following command to verify that `nvm` is installed:

```shell
command -v nvm
```

If the shell outputs `nvm`, the installation is successful. Installation of the
correct Node.js version will be done in a later part of the installation
process.

### 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
```

Since we do not have Node.js installed yet, we will be installing Yarn without
the default Node.js with the following command:

```shell
sudo apt update && sudo apt install --no-install-recommends yarn
```

To verify Yarn's installation, run the command `yarn -v`. It should print
`Yarn requires Node.js 4.0 or higher to be installed.`. This indicates that the
Yarn installation succeeded but Node.js still needs to be installed for it to
work fully. We install Node.js later on in the installation process.

### PostgreSQL

Forem requires PostgreSQL version 11 or higher. To Install PostgreSQL on WSL,
follow steps under the
[PostgreSQL APT Repository](https://www.postgresql.org/download/linux/ubuntu/)
section.

Once Installed, perform the following steps in order to set up a username and
password for PostgreSQL:

1. Use `sudo -i service postgresql start` to start the server.
2. Next, replace `$YOUR_USERNAME` in the following commands with your Linux
   Username and execute them:

   ```shell
   sudo -u postgres createuser -s $YOUR_USERNAME
   createdb
   sudo -u $YOUR_USERNAME psql
   ```

3. You should now be in PostgreSQL's shell interface. Execute `\password` to set
   a password for your PostgreSQL user.
4. Be sure to make a note of your username and password for future use. Exit
   PostgreSQL by executing the command `\quit`.

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

### ImageMagick

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

ImageMagick can be installed to WSL via installing its
[imagemagick](https://packages.ubuntu.com/bionic/imagemagick) package with the
following command:

```shell
sudo apt update && sudo apt install imagemagick
```

To verify its installation, run `identify -version` command.

### Redis

Forem requires Redis version 6.0 or higher.

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

## Installing Forem

1. Fork Forem's repository, eg. <https://github.com/forem/forem/fork>
1. Clone your forked repository, eg.
   `git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/forem.git`
1. Open the cloned forem folder in terminal with `cd forem`. Next, install Ruby
   with the following commands:

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

1. Install Node.js with the following set of commands:

   ```shell
   nvm install $(cat .nvmrc)
   nvm use $(cat .nvmrc)
   node -v
   yarn -v
   ```

1. Install bundler with `gem install bundler`
1. Set up your environment variables/secrets

   - Take a look at `.env_sample`. This file lists all the `ENV` variables we
     use and provides a fake default for any missing keys.
   - If you use a remote computer as dev env, you need to set `APP_DOMAIN`
     variable to the remote computer's domain name.
   - 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 `.env` by copying from the provided template (ie. with bash:
        `cp .env_sample .env`). 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
     export GITHUB_KEY="SOME_REAL_SECURE_KEY_HERE"
     export GITHUB_SECRET="ANOTHER_REAL_SECURE_KEY_HERE"
     ```

   - 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. After ensuring that the PostgreSQL server and the Redis server are running,
   run `bin/setup`.

   > The `bin/setup` script is responsible for installing a varienty of
   > dependencies. One can find it inside the `bin` folder by the name of
   > `setup`.
   >
   > - Its first task is to install the `bundler` gem. Next, it will make
   >   `bundler` install all the gems, including `Rails`, located in `Gemfile`
   >   in the root of the repository. It also installs `foreman`.
   > - It then installs JavaScript dependencies using the script in `bin/yarn`
   >   file. These dependencies are located in `package.json` in the root of the
   >   repository.
   > - Next, it uses various Rake files located inside the `lib` folder for the
   >   PostgreSQL database creation and updation.
   > - Finally it cleans up all the log files and restarts the Puma server.

### 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
```

### WSL2 and System test

In WSL2, hostname/IP address are no longer shared between Windows and Linux.
There are currently two work-arounds.

1. Use dockerized selenium, ie docker-selenium. You will need docker for the
   following steps

   1. `docker run -d --name selenium-hub -p 4444:4444 selenium/hub:3.141.59-20200409`
   2. `CH=$(docker run --rm --name=ch --link selenium-hub:hub -v /dev/shm:/dev/shm selenium/node-chrome:3.141.59-20200409)`
   3. Add `export SELENIUM_URL="http://localhost:4444/wd/hub"` to your `.env`
   4. Run your System test!

2. Port forward with `socats` (more info needed).

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

### WSL2 and End to End Tests

In order to run Cypress Test Runner, a few extra setup steps are required to run GUIs
natively inside of WSL2.

[This guide](https://nickymeuleman.netlify.app/blog/gui-on-wsl2-cypress) explains
how to use graphical user interfaces like Cypress inside WSL2.