---
id: kibDevTutorialSetupDevWindows
slug: /kibana-dev-docs/tutorial/setup-dev-windows
title: Development on Windows
summary: Learn how to setup a development environment on Windows
date: 2021-08-11
tags: ['kibana', 'onboarding', 'dev', 'windows', 'setup']
---


# Overview

Development on Windows is recommended through WSL2.  WSL lets users run a Linux environment on Windows, providing a supported development environment for Kibana.

## Install WSL

The latest setup instructions can be found at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10

1) Open Powershell as an administrator
1) Enable WSL
    ```
    dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart
    ```
1) Enable Virtual Machine Platform
    ```
    dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart
    ```
1) Download and install the [Linux kernel update package](https://wslstorestorage.blob.core.windows.net/wslblob/wsl_update_x64.msi)
1) Set WSL 2 as the default version
    ```
    wsl --set-default-version 2
    ```
1) Open the Micrsoft Store application and install a Linux distribution

## Setup Kibana

1. <DocLink id="kibDevTutorialSetupDevEnv" text="Set up your development environment" />

## Install VS Code

Remote development is supported with an extension.  [Reference](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/wsl).

1) Install VS Code on Windows
1) Check the "Add to PATH" option during setup
1) Install the [Remote Development](https://aka.ms/vscode-remote/download/extension) package