Setup Windows Dev

Windows Node Dev Environment Setup

You are performing the setup — not instructing the user to do it. Run every command yourself using your tools. Before starting, tell the user:

"Setting up your Windows machine for Node development now. This will take a few minutes. If you see any permission popups (UAC prompts), please accept them." Then work through each step silently and report progress as you go (e.g. "✓ Node.js already installed", "Installing Git..."). At the end, print a summary of what was installed and what was already present.

Step 1: Detect architecture

Run this first — it determines which VC++ redistributable to download later.

$env:PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE

Result will be ARM64 or AMD64 (x64). Remember this for Step 5.

Step 2: Install Node.js (if not already installed)

Check first:

$nodePath = "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe"
Test-Path $nodePath

If True — skip, report "✓ Node.js already installed", note the version:

& "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe" --version

If False — install:

winget install --id OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS -e --source winget --accept-package-agreements --accept-source-agreements

After installing, update PATH for the current session so subsequent commands can find node:

$env:PATH = "C:\Program Files\nodejs;" + $env:PATH

Step 3: Fix PowerShell Execution Policy

This prevents "scripts disabled" errors when running npm/npx. No admin required. Check first:

(Get-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser)

If result is RemoteSigned or Unrestricted — skip, report "✓ PowerShell execution policy already set". Otherwise — fix it:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Force

Step 4: Install Git (if not already installed)

Check first:

$gitPath = "C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe"
Test-Path $gitPath

Also try where.exe git in case it's installed elsewhere. If found — skip, report "✓ Git already installed". If not found — install:

winget install --id Git.Git -e --source winget --accept-package-agreements --accept-source-agreements

After installing, update PATH for the current session:

$env:PATH = "C:\Program Files\Git\cmd;" + $env:PATH

Step 5: Install Python (if not already installed)

Python is needed by many JS toolchains, skill frameworks, and build scripts. Check first:

where.exe python 2>$null

If found — skip, report "✓ Python already installed". If not found — install:

winget install --id Python.Python.3.12 -e --source winget --accept-package-agreements --accept-source-agreements

Python adds itself to the user PATH. Update for the current session — check which path was created:

$arm64 = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Python\Python312-arm64"
$x64   = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Python\Python312"
if (Test-Path $arm64) { $env:PATH = "$arm64;$arm64\Scripts;" + $env:PATH }
elseif (Test-Path $x64) { $env:PATH = "$x64;$x64\Scripts;" + $env:PATH }

Step 6: Install Visual C++ Redistributable (if not already installed)

Required on both ARM64 and x64 for native Node addons (Rollup, etc.). Without it you'll see Required DLL was not found errors. Check first — look for the registry key that the VC++ redist install leaves:

$vcKey = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\VC\Runtimes"
# ARM64
$arm64Installed = Test-Path "$vcKey\arm64"
# x64
$x64Installed   = Test-Path "$vcKey\x64"

If already installed for the correct architecture — skip, report "✓ VC++ Redistributable already installed". If not installed — download and install silently (this triggers a UAC prompt — the user was warned at the start): For ARM64:

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.arm64.exe" -OutFile "$env:TEMP\vc_redist.arm64.exe"
Start-Process -FilePath "$env:TEMP\vc_redist.arm64.exe" -ArgumentList '/install','/quiet','/norestart' -Wait

For x64:

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x64.exe" -OutFile "$env:TEMP\vc_redist.x64.exe"
Start-Process -FilePath "$env:TEMP\vc_redist.x64.exe" -ArgumentList '/install','/quiet','/norestart' -Wait

Step 7: Verify everything works

Run these and capture output to include in the final summary:

$nodePath = "C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe"
if (Test-Path $nodePath) { & $nodePath --version }
$npmPath = "C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.cmd"
if (Test-Path $npmPath) { & $npmPath --version }
$gitPath = "C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe"
if (Test-Path $gitPath) { & $gitPath --version }
python --version 2>$null

Step 8: Print final summary

After all steps complete, print a clear summary like:

Setup complete! Here's what happened:
✓ Node.js v24.x.x  (already installed)
✓ npm 11.x.x       (already installed)
✓ PowerShell policy set to RemoteSigned
✓ Git 2.x.x        (newly installed)
✓ Python 3.12.x    (newly installed)
✓ VC++ Redistributable ARM64  (newly installed)
Open a new terminal and you're ready to go.
To start a React project: npm create vite@latest my-app -- --template react

Adjust based on what was actually installed vs. already present.

Important notes

• Always run commands yourself — never ask the user to run them.
• Always check before installing. If something is already installed, skip it and say so.
• Use npm.cmd instead of npm when invoking npm from within a shell that may not have the .ps1 execution policy fixed yet.
• The session PATH must be updated after each install ($env:PATH = ...) so that subsequent steps can find the newly installed tools — the system PATH change only takes effect in new terminals, not the current one.
• If a winget install fails (e.g. already installed via a different mechanism), check with where.exe or Test-Path before treating it as an error.