We haven't tested but the npm package might work on windows. yarn global add code-server
I was able to install the npm package in windows, but I encounter a few bugs,
src/browser/media/manifest.json not found
All vscode-remote-resource path returns 404 not found, but this bug can easily be solved by removing leading slash in the path agument, eg.
http://127.0.0.1:8080/vscode-remote-resource?path=/c:/Users/Max/AppData/Local/Yarn/Data/global/node_modules/@coder/code-server/lib/vscode/extensions/markdown-basics/language-configuration.json
➡ 404 not found
Syntax highlighting, extensions and themes not working (because of 2)
Automatic update not working because https://github.com/cdr/code-server/releases/download/3.2.0/code-server-3.2.0-win32-x86_64.tar.gz does not exist
Furthermore, running the post install scripts requires Visual Studio and "VC++ 2015.3 v140 toolset for desktop (x86,x64)" to be installed, but since running code-server does not require electron to be built, I think it may be unnecessary.
We'll be removing automatic updates soon. See #1532 .
Furthermore, running the post install scripts requires Visual Studio and "VC++ 2015.3 v140 toolset for desktop (x86,x64)" to be installed, but since running code-server does not require electron to be built, I think it may be unnecessary.
Will mention this in docs, it is required as vscode uses native modules that have to be built.
cannot find module 'minimist' implies that the dependency installation step failed so you might want to try running npm with verbose logging and see if anything shows up.
Why can't I use code-server -r [path]? Moreover, the sock file displayed in the console error message does not actually exist. -------I am a Windows system and installed code-server through npm.
Manually install dependencies and create symlinks from postinstall.sh
Open an admin CMD if not already (i.e. if you normally use git-bash / powershell)
Navigate to the global node_modules folder
(This can vary depending on how NPM is installed, i.e. NVM / Scoop)
You can find it with npm root -g
I did cd "C:\ProgramData\Scoop\Global\apps\nvm\current\nodejs\nodejs\node_modules"
cd code-server
(commands below are based on commands from postinstall.sh
cd"lib\vscode"
npm install --unsafe-perm --omit=dev
REM from symlink_asarmklink /J "node_modules.asar""node_modules"REM from symlink_bin_script remote-cli code code-serverpushd"bin\remote-cli"mklink /J "code-server.cmd""code.cmd"popdREM from symlink_bin_script helpers browser browser .shpushd"bin\helpers"REM actually don't run this, as the original command may be another bug: on *nix, maybe the error level isn't affected if the symlink already exists, but on Windows, could this be enough to kill the postinstall script?REM mklink /J "browser.cmd" "browser.cmd"popdcd extensions
npm install --unsafe-perm --omit=dev
REM if no errors:exit
Manually build argon2 as the --ignore-scripts prevented it
In admin CMD again
cd"C:\ProgramData\Scoop\Global\apps\nvm\current\nodejs\nodejs\node_modules"cd code-server\node_modules\argon2
npm install --unsafe-perm --omit=dev
REM if no errors:exit
If none of the commands failed, code-server should be installed successfully on Windows, and you can test by running code-server and opening http://127.0.0.1:8080 as described in the docs.
For what it's worth, this workaround appears to address some of the recent issues with Windows installations, as described in #7093. I was using code-server@v4.103 and node@22.17.0.
Reacted by as, Liuziwei, VinciYan and roblframpton
This works great, thanks. Just wanted to point out in "cd code-server\node-modules\argon2" in the last code block it should be "node_modules" with an underscore.
I recently re-installed to update to the latest versions of everything (i.e. code-server@4.117.0 and node@22.23.1) and the previous steps applied almost verbatim. The only difference I think is noteworthy is that the method to manually build argon2 had changed.
As an aside, I will probably switch to fnm, as mentioned in vscode's "How to Contribute" page (eventually), but for now I stuck with NVM for Windows / Scoop as it's what I know. And I did try to install with the newer LTS releases (i.e. >= 24.11.0) but it doesn't seem ready yet. node-argon2 is replaced by a built-in, in node versions >=24.7, as far as I can tell, so hopefully one potential blocker will be resolved sooner or later.
Activity
danny-laa commented on May 1, 2020
@nhooyr Any updates? Does 3.0 release support Windows?
nhooyr commented on May 1, 2020
There are no self contained windows releases yet.
We haven't tested but the npm package might work on windows. yarn global add code-server
max-hk commented on May 2, 2020
I was able to install the npm package in windows, but I encounter a few bugs,
src/browser/media/manifest.json not found
All vscode-remote-resource path returns 404 not found, but this bug can easily be solved by removing leading slash in the path agument, eg.
http://127.0.0.1:8080/vscode-remote-resource?path=/c:/Users/Max/AppData/Local/Yarn/Data/global/node_modules/@coder/code-server/lib/vscode/extensions/markdown-basics/language-configuration.json
➡ 404 not found
http://127.0.0.1:8080/vscode-remote-resource?path=c:/Users/Max/AppData/Local/Yarn/Data/global/node_modules/@coder/code-server/lib/vscode/extensions/markdown-basics/language-configuration.json
➡ Correct path
Syntax highlighting, extensions and themes not working (because of 2)
Automatic update not working because https://github.com/cdr/code-server/releases/download/3.2.0/code-server-3.2.0-win32-x86_64.tar.gz does not exist
Furthermore, running the post install scripts requires Visual Studio and "VC++ 2015.3 v140 toolset for desktop (x86,x64)" to be installed, but since running code-server does not require electron to be built, I think it may be unnecessary.
nhooyr commented on May 3, 2020
@MaxLOh Awesome thanks for looking into it!
nhooyr commented on May 6, 2020
The package is now just code-server on npm. We were able to get ownership from the previous owner.
Fixed.
@code-asher
We'll be removing automatic updates soon. See #1532 .
Will mention this in docs, it is required as vscode uses native modules that have to be built.
Fix paths for Windows
nhooyr commented on May 13, 2020
Asher has fixed the paths, will publish a new release soon.
nhooyr commented on May 13, 2020
We're going to need to test/rewrite any shell scripts that will have to run on Windows.
nhooyr commented on May 18, 2020
Marking this for v3.4.0, couldn't test/get CI going in time for v3.3.0
67 remaining items
dosgo commented on Sep 12, 2024
code-asher commented on Sep 12, 2024
cannot find module 'minimist' implies that the dependency installation step failed so you might want to try running npm with verbose logging and see if anything shows up.
dosgo commented on Sep 19, 2024
The installation seems to have no errors
code-asher commented on Sep 19, 2024
Strange. Is it any different with verbose logging? I have seen npm hide installation errors from the post-install script.
zby909 commented on Nov 5, 2024
Why can't I use code-server -r [path]? Moreover, the sock file displayed in the console error message does not actually exist. -------I am a Windows system and installed code-server through npm.
code-asher commented on Nov 5, 2024
I wonder if we are doing the socket incorrectly on Windows. None of this is currently tested on Windows unfortunately.
GianSinghSarao commented on Sep 11, 2025
Windows/NPM install fails inside postinstall.sh script
First, some (brief) background:
Solution:
Calls to mklink should be passed to cmd with heredoc syntax as described at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18641864/git-bash-shell-fails-to-create-symbolic-links.
Workaround:
For what it's worth, this workaround appears to address some of the recent issues with Windows installations, as described in #7093. I was using code-server@v4.103 and node@22.17.0.
alsc-tr commented on Sep 14, 2025
This works great, thanks. Just wanted to point out in "cd code-server\node-modules\argon2" in the last code block it should be "node_modules" with an underscore.
GianSinghSarao commented on Jul 5, 2026
I recently re-installed to update to the latest versions of everything (i.e. code-server@4.117.0 and node@22.23.1) and the previous steps applied almost verbatim. The only difference I think is noteworthy is that the method to manually build argon2 had changed.
As an aside, I will probably switch to fnm, as mentioned in vscode's "How to Contribute" page (eventually), but for now I stuck with NVM for Windows / Scoop as it's what I know. And I did try to install with the newer LTS releases (i.e. >= 24.11.0) but it doesn't seem ready yet. node-argon2 is replaced by a built-in, in node versions >=24.7, as far as I can tell, so hopefully one potential blocker will be resolved sooner or later.
sheen-aa commented on Oct 9, 2026
"Windows releases are now available" in v4.137.0. Any plans to close this issue? Also, curious if anyone has used the Windows releases in production?
code-asher commented on Oct 9, 2026
Ah right this issue should be closed, thanks!
I have only spun it up in a Windows VM to make sure it runs, which it did, but I have not done any significant testing on it.