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Required Developer Tools

Windows 11

  • Professional or Enterprise
  • The optional Virtual Machine Platform component is enabled
  • The optional Windows Subsystem for Linux component is enabled and installed
  • Windows Terminal (should be present by default in Windows 11)
  • User account must have local administrator rights

Visual Studio 2025

You can use any edition that you are licensed for, and you can install it using WinGet:

winget install --id Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.\<edition\> -e

where edition is Community, Professional, or Enterprise.

At a minimum, install the following workloads and components:

  • .NET Desktop Development
  • ASP.NET and Web Development
  • Desktop Development with C++

If necessary, you can also install Git for Windows by selecting it from the "Individual Components" tab.

SQL Server 2025

For development use, we recommend using either the Developer or Express edition. At the time of writing (January 2025) the Express edition can be installed using WinGet:

winget install --id Microsoft.SQLServer.2025.Express -e

But there is currently no WinGet package available for the developer edition, so that must be downloaded and installed manually.

During installation:

  • Configure the database as the default instance (MSSQLSERVER), not a named instance.
  • Select the optional PolyBase Query Service for External Data component.
  • Select mixed mode authentication (Windows and SQL Server logins), and for the highest compatibility with the default development environment configuration, set the "sa" account password to "manager".
  • Make sure your Windows account is added as a SQL Server administrative user.

After installation:

  • Use SQL Server Configuration Manager to enable the named pipes and TCP/IP network protocols.
  • Restart the MSSQLSERVER service.
  • Use Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security to open TCP/IP port 1433 for inbound access.

Synergy/DE

You will need the SDE x86 (101), SDE x64 (104), and SDI products, which you can download from https://resources.synergex.com.

You must run a local license server, and when obtaining your development licenses, we recommend that you have at least 10 available runtime (RUN12) licenses.

Git for Windows

Git for Windows can be installed either as an optional component when installing Visual Studio or using WinGet:

winget install --id Git.Git -e

Or you can download it from https://git-scm.com/downloads/win and install it manually.

WiX Toolset V3 and Visual Studio Extension (Votive)

Download Wix Toolset 3.14.1 from https://github.com/wixtoolset/wix3/releases/tag/wix3141rtm and install it manually.

Download the Visual Studio Extension from https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=WixToolset.WixToolsetVisualStudio2022Extension and install it manually.

7-Zip and 7-zip ZS

7-Zip can be installed using WinGet:

winget install 7zip.7zip -e

Or you can download it from https://www.7-zip.org/download.html and install it manually.

ISAM snapshot files are counted files compressed into LZ4 archives and stored in a TAR file. If you want to be able to extract the LZ4 files on Windows, a different, special version of 7-Zip is required that can be installed side by side with the regular version. 7-Zip ZS can be installed using WinGet:

winget install mcmilk.7zip-zstd -e

Or you can download it from https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/7_zip_zs.html and install it manually.

LLVM

LLVM (Low Level Virtual Machine) is a compiler infrastructure project that provides a set of modular, reusable compiler and tool chain technologies. It’s widely used in programming language development, code analysis, and optimization. It can be installed using WinGet:

winget install LLVM.LLVM -e

CMake

CMake (cross-platform make) is a cross-platform build system generator. It can be installed using WinGet:

winget install Kitware.CMake -e

Rust

Rust is a modern systems programming language that focuses on performance, reliability, and safety, and it's required to build several components. It can be installed using WinGet:

winget install Rustlang.Rustup -e

OpenSSL

OpenSSL is required to build the Rust applications and, although it can be installed using WinGet which used to work fine, now something has changed and it must be installed via VCPKG. I'm not completely sure what the following commands do, but I received the following advice, so I'm passing it along to you: "Please just follow instructions!"

cd C:\DEV

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git

cd vcpkg

bootstrap-vcpkg.bat

vcpkg install openssl:x64-windows