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
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
If you choose the Developer edition, you must download and install it manually, as no WinGet package is currently available.
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 the Synergex Resource Center.
You must run a local license server. 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 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 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 Streaming Integration Platform components. It can be installed using WinGet:
winget install Rustlang.Rustup -e
OpenSSL and Zlib
OpenSSL and Zlib (a compression library) are required to build the Rust applications and must be installed via VCPKG.
If vcpkg is not already installed, install it like this:
cd C:\DEV
git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git
cd vcpkg
bootstrap-vcpkg.bat
Then install OpenSSL and Zlib:
vcpkg install openssl:x64-windows
vcpkg install zlib:x64-windows
Also, for some of the build scripts to work, you must define the environment variable VCPKG_ROOT and point it to your VCPSK install directory:
set VCPKG_ROOT=C:\DEV\vcpkg
This can be done in either the user or system environments.