Windows Setup Guide

Choose Your Path

Method	Difficulty	Requirements
GitHub Codespaces	Easiest	Web browser + GitHub account
DevContainer (Docker)	Easy	Docker Desktop + VS Code
Native (WSL2)	Advanced	WSL2 + manual setup

Recommendation: Use Codespaces for the workshop. It works in your browser.

Option 1: GitHub Codespaces (Recommended)

This is the easiest option — everything runs in the cloud.

1. Open https://github.com/HackXIt/42vienna-robotframework-workshop
2. Click "Fork" → "Create fork"
3. On your fork: "Code" → "Codespaces" → "Create codespace on main"
4. Wait ~3-5 minutes for setup
5. In the terminal:

   uv run robot tests/00_setup_verification/
   

Free tier: 60 hours/month on 2-core machines. More than enough for the workshop.

Option 2: DevContainer with Docker Desktop

1. Install Docker Desktop:
2. Download from https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/
3. During install, enable WSL 2 backend

4. If prompted, enable Hyper-V or WSL2 in Windows Features

5. Install VS Code:

6. Download from https://code.visualstudio.com/

7. Install Dev Containers extension:

8. In VS Code: Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X) → search "Dev Containers" → Install

9. Clone and open:

   git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/42vienna-robotframework-workshop.git
   

10. Open the folder in VS Code

11. Click "Reopen in Container" when prompted (bottom-right notification)

12. Verify:

    uv run robot tests/00_setup_verification/
    

Docker Desktop Troubleshooting

• "WSL 2 is not installed" → Run wsl --install in PowerShell (admin), restart
• "Virtualization not enabled" → Enable VT-x/AMD-V in BIOS settings
• Docker Desktop won't start → Check Windows Features: "Virtual Machine Platform" and "Windows Subsystem for Linux" must be enabled

Option 3: Native Setup with WSL2 (Advanced)

1. Install WSL2:

   # In PowerShell (admin):
   wsl --install
   

   Restart your computer. Set up Ubuntu when prompted.

2. Inside WSL2 terminal:

   # Install Node.js 22 via nvm
   curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.0/install.sh | bash
   source ~/.bashrc
   nvm install 22
   
   # Install uv
   curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
   source ~/.bashrc
   
   # Clone the repo (use WSL home, NOT /mnt/c/)
   cd ~
   git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/42vienna-robotframework-workshop.git
   cd 42vienna-robotframework-workshop
   
   # Install dependencies
   uv sync
   uv run rfbrowser init chromium
   
   # Verify
   python scripts/check_environment.py
   uv run robot tests/00_setup_verification/
   

3. VS Code WSL integration:

4. Install the WSL extension in VS Code
5. In WSL terminal: code . opens the project in VS Code connected to WSL

WSL2 Troubleshooting

• Permission denied → Don't clone into /mnt/c/ (Windows filesystem). Use ~/ instead.
• rfbrowser init hangs → Check if Windows Firewall is blocking the download
• EACCES npm errors → WSL filesystem permission issue. Use nvm instead of system npm.
• "Cannot open display" → Headless mode is required in WSL. Don't use headless=${False}.

Common Windows Issues

Problem	Fix
uv: command not found	Restart terminal after install, or source ~/.bashrc
node: command not found	Restart terminal, or install via nvm
Docker build hangs	Increase Docker Desktop memory limit (Settings → Resources)
Git line ending warnings	Run git config --global core.autocrlf input
Slow filesystem in WSL	Move project out of /mnt/c/ to ~/ in WSL

Verify Your Setup

Regardless of which option you chose, run the environment check:

python scripts/check_environment.py

This checks all 11 prerequisites and shows exactly what's wrong and how to fix it.