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# Build Instructions (Windows)
Follow the guidelines below for building Electron on Windows.
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## Prerequisites
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* Windows 10 / Server 2012 R2 or higher
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* Visual Studio 2017 15.7.2 or higher - [download VS 2017 Community Edition for
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free](https://www.visualstudio.com/vs/)
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* [Python 2.7.10 or higher ](http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.7/ )
* Contrary to the `depot_tools` setup instructions linked below, you will need
to use your locally installed Python with at least version 2.7.10 (with
support for TLS 1.2). To do so, make sure that in **PATH** , your locally
installed Python comes before the `depot_tools` folder. Right now
`depot_tools` still comes with Python 2.7.6, which will cause the `gclient`
command to fail (see https://crbug.com/868864).
* [Python for Windows (pywin32) Extensions ](https://pypi.org/project/pywin32/#files )
is also needed in ordner to run the build process.
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* [Node.js ](https://nodejs.org/download/ )
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* [Git ](http://git-scm.com )
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* Debugging Tools for Windows of Windows SDK 10.0.15063.468 if you plan on
creating a full distribution since `symstore.exe` is used for creating a symbol
store from `.pdb` files.
* Different versions of the SDK can be installed side by side. To install the
SDK, open Visual Studio Installer, select
`Change` → `Individual Components` , scroll down and select the appropriate
Windows SDK to install. Another option would be to look at the
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[Windows SDK and emulator archive ](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/sdk-archive )
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and download the standalone version of the SDK respectively.
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* The SDK Debugging Tools must also be installed. If the Windows 10 SDK was installed
via the Visual Studio installer, then they can be installed by going to:
`Control Panel` → `Programs` → `Programs and Features` → Select the "Windows Software Development Kit" →
`Change` → `Change` → Check "Debugging Tools For Windows" → `Change` .
Or, you can download the standalone SDK installer and use it to install the Debugging Tools.
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If you don't currently have a Windows installation,
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[dev.microsoftedge.com ](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/ )
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has timebombed versions of Windows that you can use to build Electron.
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Building Electron is done entirely with command-line scripts and cannot be done
with Visual Studio. You can develop Electron with any editor but support for
building with Visual Studio will come in the future.
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**Note:** Even though Visual Studio is not used for building, it's still
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**required** because we need the build toolchains it provides.
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## Building
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See [Build Instructions: GN ](build-instructions-gn.md )
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## 32bit Build
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To build for the 32bit target, you need to pass `target_cpu = "x86"` as a GN
arg. You can build the 32bit target alongside the 64bit target by using a
different output directory for GN, e.g. `out/Release-x86` , with different
arguments.
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```powershell
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$ gn gen out/Release-x86 --args="import(\"//electron/build/args/release.gn\") target_cpu=\"x86\""
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```
The other building steps are exactly the same.
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## Visual Studio project
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To generate a Visual Studio project, you can pass the `--ide=vs2017` parameter
to `gn gen` :
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```powershell
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$ gn gen out/Debug --ide=vs2017
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```
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## Troubleshooting
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### Command xxxx not found
If you encountered an error like `Command xxxx not found` , you may try to use
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the `VS2015 Command Prompt` console to execute the build scripts.
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### Fatal internal compiler error: C1001
Make sure you have the latest Visual Studio update installed.
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### LNK1181: cannot open input file 'kernel32.lib'
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Try reinstalling 32bit Node.js.
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### Error: ENOENT, stat 'C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\npm'
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Creating that directory [should fix the problem ](https://stackoverflow.com/a/25095327/102704 ):
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```powershell
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$ mkdir ~\AppData\Roaming\npm
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```
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### node-gyp is not recognized as an internal or external command
You may get this error if you are using Git Bash for building, you should use
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PowerShell or VS2015 Command Prompt instead.
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### cannot create directory at '...': Filename too long
node.js has some [extremely long pathnames ](https://github.com/electron/node/tree/electron/deps/npm/node_modules/libnpx/node_modules/yargs/node_modules/read-pkg-up/node_modules/read-pkg/node_modules/load-json-file/node_modules/parse-json/node_modules/error-ex/node_modules/is-arrayish ), and by default git on windows doesn't handle long pathnames correctly (even though windows supports them). This should fix it:
```sh
$ git config --system core.longpaths true
```