Opinionated setups for Windows dev boxes. Idempotent. CI-tested.
Set up a new Windows dev box in minutes, not hours. Pick a setup, run one command, get back to building. Everything here is safe to re-run.
| You want... | Go to |
|---|---|
| A full dev workstation: tools, Windows settings, WSL, and terminal. One command, one restart. | Windows Dev Config |
| A nicer WSL shell: zsh/bash, Starship, CLI tools, and a themed terminal profile. | WSL Comfort |
| One language or toolchain. | Workloads |
| Local AI: PyTorch for your GPU, plus Ollama, llama.cpp, or Foundry Local. | AI tooling |
Installs dev tools, applies opinionated Windows settings, and sets up WSL + Ubuntu — restart included. Nothing to clone, nothing to install first.
Open any PowerShell window — elevated or not — and run:
What you get
- Dev tools: Windows Terminal, PowerShell 7, Git, GitHub CLI, GitHub Copilot CLI, VS Code, .NET SDK 10, Python 3.14 + uv, Node.js LTS + nvm, Coreutils for Windows, Windows App CLI, Oh My Posh, and PowerToys.
- Terminal: PowerShell 7 as the default profile, Oh My Posh in your prompt, Cascadia Mono NF as the default font, and a GitHub Copilot profile in the dropdown.
- Windows settings: Dark theme, long paths, File Explorer defaults, Start/Search settings, and Do Not Disturb
- WSL: WSL platform + Ubuntu, including the restart and the automatic resume afterwards.
- Everything from standard
- Windows settings: Developer Mode, Sudo, widgets off, and Edge policies, additional Start/Search/System Tray settings
- Remote Desktop: Enabled and firewall settings set
irm https://aka.ms/devconfig/standard/setup.ps1 | iexirm https://aka.ms/devconfig/full/setup.ps1 | iex
⚠️ Heads up — it may restart your PC. WSL needs virtualization turned on, so save your work first. Setup picks up where it left off after the reboot.
Every tool and setting, how to undo them, and troubleshooting: Windows Dev Config README.
Also known as Comfort Shell. A polished Windows + WSL shell setup — zsh/bash, Starship prompt, modern CLI tools, themed terminal.
.\wsl-comfort\install.ps1Interactive by default — pick and choose components as it runs. Use -NonInteractive for unattended installs. The Linux half (comfort-shell-bootstrap.sh) is standalone, so you can also copy it onto any Ubuntu host and run it directly.
What you can pick
- Your choice of shell: zsh or bash.
- Optional Starship prompt.
- Optional modern CLI tools:
fzf,rg,fd,bat,eza,zoxide,jq. - Optional clipboard and
openshims (pbcopy,pbpaste,open). - Optional Homebrew.
- Optional Git defaults.
- A themed Windows Terminal profile using Cascadia Code Nerd Font.
Full details: wsl-comfort/readme.md.
Just want one toolchain? Each of these is a single command.
| Workload | Run via IRM Powershell call |
|---|---|
| WinUI 3 | irm https://aka.ms/devconfig/winui/setup.ps1 | iex |
| WinForms | irm https://aka.ms/devconfig/winforms/setup.ps1 | iex |
| WinAppCLI | irm https://aka.ms/devconfig/winappcli/setup.ps1 | iex |
| .NET | irm https://aka.ms/devconfig/dotnet/setup.ps1 | iex |
| Go | irm https://aka.ms/devconfig/go/setup.ps1 | iex |
| Rust | irm https://aka.ms/devconfig/rust/setup.ps1 | iex |
| PHP | irm https://aka.ms/devconfig/php/setup.ps1 | iex |
| Workload | Run via Winget configure |
|---|---|
| TypeScript | winget configure -f .\Workloads\typescript\configuration.winget --accept-configuration-agreements --disable-interactivity |
| Java | winget configure -f .\Workloads\java\configuration.winget --accept-configuration-agreements --disable-interactivity |
| Python | winget configure -f .\Workloads\python\configuration.winget --accept-configuration-agreements --disable-interactivity |
| SQL | winget configure -f .\Workloads\sql\configuration.winget --accept-configuration-agreements --disable-interactivity |
| PowerShell | winget configure -f .\Workloads\powershell\configuration.winget --accept-configuration-agreements --disable-interactivity |
The winget configure will soon move to one-line style. Currently, to run them from a clone of this repo. What each one installs: Workloads.
Detects your GPU, installs the matching PyTorch build (CUDA, ROCm, Intel XPU, or CPU), and proves it works. Add a local model runtime if you want one.
| Workload | Run |
|---|---|
| Local AI (PyTorch for your hardware) | irm https://aka.ms/devconfig/local-ai/setup.ps1 | iex |
| Local AI + Ollama | irm https://aka.ms/devconfig/local-ai/ollama/setup.ps1 | iex |
| Local AI + llama.cpp | irm https://aka.ms/devconfig/local-ai/llama.cpp/setup.ps1 | iex |
| Local AI + Foundry Local | irm https://aka.ms/devconfig/local-ai/foundry/setup.ps1 | iex |
Individual pieces (CUDA, ROCm, Intel AI, PyTorch, llama.cpp, Ollama, Foundry Local), hardware support, and options: AI tooling workloads.
"Unrecognized command: configure"
Run winget configure --enable. If winget configure is still not recognized after that, Workloads/_common/assert-winget-configure.ps1 tells you whether App Installer is too old, policy has disabled configuration, or something else needs fixing.
winget configure fails with "internal error" / error code -2146233079
The Visual C++ Redistributable is missing. Install it, then re-run:
# x64:
winget install Microsoft.VCRedist.2015+.x64
# ARM64:
winget install Microsoft.VCRedist.2015+.arm64Workloads/_common/enable-winget-configure.ps1 installs it automatically as part of enabling winget configure.
A workload says it succeeded but python / node / the tool isn't on PATH
Open a new terminal, or run the matching install.ps1 shim to refresh PATH in the current session.
Windows Dev Config rebooted the machine and looks stuck
A scheduled task resumes the run about 30 seconds after you sign back in and finishes the WSL setup. Nothing after a couple of minutes? Run the one-liner again — it's safe to re-run and skips everything already done. More detail in windows-dev-config/README.md.
Comfort Shell bootstrap fails because WSL is missing
Run .\wsl-comfort\install.ps1 on the Windows side instead. It installs WSL first.
WSL install fails with wsl --install ... failed with exit code -1
WSL needs hardware virtualization available to the OS. Two common root causes:
-
On bare metal: virtualization (VT-x / AMD-V) is disabled in BIOS/UEFI. Reboot into firmware settings, enable it, save, and reboot back into Windows. The exact label varies by vendor — check your motherboard or laptop manufacturer's documentation if you can't find it.
-
Inside a VM: the host hasn't exposed nested virtualization to the guest. For a Hyper-V host, run this from an elevated PowerShell session on the host (with the guest VM powered off):
Set-VMProcessor -VMName <VM_NAME> -ExposeVirtualizationExtensions $true
Other hypervisors have their own equivalent settings — check your hypervisor's documentation.
Hit a bug, a stale doc, or a setup that fails on your machine? Open an issue at github.com/microsoft/WindowsDeveloperConfig/issues. Include your Windows build (winver), the exact command you ran, and the failing output. This helps us triage faster.
Contributions of all kinds are welcome: bug reports, doc fixes, new workloads, voice-and-tone tweaks. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md, then read src/docs/development.md for the CI matrix, the "how to add a language" walkthrough, and how the sign pipeline works.
Note on the repo layout: the
src/tree is the source of truth. The top-levelwindows-dev-config/,Workloads/, andwsl-comfort/folders are Authenticode-signed release copies regenerated by the sign pipeline, so please don't edit them directly. Full details insrc/docs/development.md.
The single source of truth for every flow (paths, build/run commands, ids, language metadata) is src/manifest.yml. The Command Palette extension, the CI harness, and the per-flow shims all read from it, so keep it in sync when you add or rename a flow.