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Windows Developer Config

Opinionated setups for Windows dev boxes. Idempotent. CI-tested.


Go from a fresh Windows install to a fully configured dev box in one command. These declarative, CI-tested configs set up your tools, settings, and shells the same way every time — so any machine can be your machine in minutes.

🎯 Pick your setup

Three developer setups live in this repo. Pick the one that matches what you want:

You want... Go to
A complete dev workstation: tools, OS settings, WSL, and terminal. One command, may reboot. Windows Dev Config
A polished WSL shell: zsh/bash, Starship, CLI tools, and a themed terminal profile. Interactive or unattended. WSL Comfort
A single language toolchain: Node, Python, .NET, Rust, Go, Java, PHP, WinForms, or WinUI 3. One command each. Workloads

Most of them use winget configure. If you've never used it before, enable it once:

winget configure --enable

If that fails or winget configure is still not recognized, see Troubleshooting.


🖥️ Windows Dev Config

Turns a fresh Windows 11 box into a clean, distraction-free dev workstation in one shot.

A single winget configuration file that installs dev tools, applies opinionated Windows settings, and bootstraps WSL + Ubuntu through the required reboot. Non-interactive. Idempotent. Safe to re-run on an existing machine.

winget configure -f .\windows-dev-config\dev-config.winget --accept-configuration-agreements --disable-interactivity

⚠️ May reboot. Enabling WSL needs a Windows optional feature that requires a restart. A RunOnce task picks the configuration back up after you sign in, installs Ubuntu, and finishes the run. Expect one hard reboot plus about a minute of post-login work. Save your work first.

What you get
  • Dev tools: PowerShell 7, Git, GitHub CLI, VS Code, .NET SDK 10, Python 3.13 + uv, Node.js, Oh My Posh, and PowerToys.
  • Terminal: PowerShell 7 is the default profile, Oh My Posh is enabled, and Cascadia Mono NF is set as the default font.
  • Windows settings: Dark theme, developer mode, long paths, File Explorer defaults, Start/Search cleanup, Edge policies, and other workstation defaults.
  • WSL: WSL platform + Ubuntu, including the reboot and the RunOnce resume step.

Full details: windows-dev-config/README.md.


🐧 WSL Comfort

Also known as Comfort Shell. An interactive setup for a polished Windows + WSL shell environment.

WSL Comfort stands apart. It supports both interactive and non-interactive modes, and lets you pick and choose individual components. The Windows side handles WSL, the distro, the Cascadia Code Nerd Font, and a themed Windows Terminal profile. The Linux side runs inside the distro and configures the shell itself.

.\wsl-comfort\install.ps1

Interactive by default. Use -NonInteractive for unattended runs; the bootstrap also takes --minimal for a smaller setup. The Linux half is standalone, so you can copy comfort-shell-bootstrap.sh 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 open shims (pbcopy, pbpaste, open).
  • Optional Homebrew.
  • Optional Git defaults.
  • A themed Windows Terminal profile using Cascadia Code Nerd Font.

Full details: wsl-comfort/readme.md.


🧪 Single-language workloads

Just want one toolchain? Pick a row. Each workload ships a configuration.winget file plus a matching install.ps1 shim that applies it and refreshes PATH in the current session.

Workload Installs Run
TypeScript Node.js LTS + global typescript winget configure -f .\Workloads\typescript\configuration.winget --accept-configuration-agreements --disable-interactivity
PHP PHP 8.5 winget configure -f .\Workloads\php\configuration.winget --accept-configuration-agreements --disable-interactivity
.NET .NET SDK 10 winget configure -f .\Workloads\dotnet\configuration.winget --accept-configuration-agreements --disable-interactivity
Go Go (rolling) winget configure -f .\Workloads\go\configuration.winget --accept-configuration-agreements --disable-interactivity
Java Microsoft Build of OpenJDK 25 LTS winget configure -f .\Workloads\java\configuration.winget --accept-configuration-agreements --disable-interactivity
Rust Rust stable via rustup winget configure -f .\Workloads\rust\configuration.winget --accept-configuration-agreements --disable-interactivity
Python Python 3.13 + uv winget configure -f .\Workloads\python\configuration.winget --accept-configuration-agreements --disable-interactivity
WinForms .NET SDK 10 + Windows Forms desktop workload winget configure -f .\Workloads\winforms\configuration.winget --accept-configuration-agreements --disable-interactivity
WinUI 3 .NET SDK 10 + Visual Studio Community + Windows App SDK / WinUI 3 + WinAppCLI winget configure -f .\Workloads\winui\configuration.winget --accept-configuration-agreements --disable-interactivity

Want the PATH refresh in your current shell? Use the matching shim instead of calling winget configure directly:

.\Workloads\python\install.ps1

Heads up: WinForms and WinUI 3 pull down several gigabytes of Visual Studio components. Fine on a real workstation, painful on a small VM.


🎨 Command Palette extension (coming soon)

A PowerToys Command Palette extension lives under src/future/cmdpal/. It reads the same flow list as the rest of the repo and surfaces every flow as a launchable entry, so you don't have to remember which configuration.winget to point winget at.

See src/future/cmdpal/README.md for build and install instructions.


🩺 Troubleshooting

"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.

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

It registered a RunOnce entry, so winget configure resumes once you sign back in. Give it a minute after login.

Comfort Shell bootstrap fails because WSL is missing

Run .\wsl-comfort\install.ps1 on the Windows side instead. It installs WSL first.


🐛 Reporting issues

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.


❤️ Contributing

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-level windows-dev-config/, Workloads/, and wsl-comfort/ folders are Authenticode-signed release copies regenerated by the sign pipeline, so please don't edit them directly. Full details in src/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.

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Automate the setup and configuration of your Windows development environment.

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