> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Building on Windows

> Instructions for building Bitcoin Core on Windows using WSL and MinGW-w64

This guide explains how to build Bitcoin Core for Windows.

## Build Options

The following options are known to work for building Bitcoin Core on Windows:

* **On Linux**, using the [Mingw-w64](https://www.mingw-w64.org/) cross compiler tool chain
* **On Windows**, using [Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about) and Mingw-w64
* **On Windows**, using [Microsoft Visual Studio](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com) - see [build-windows-msvc.md](./build-windows-msvc.md)

Other options which may work but have not been extensively tested:

* On Windows, using a POSIX compatibility layer such as [cygwin](https://www.cygwin.com/) or [msys2](https://www.msys2.org/)

<Note>
  The instructions below work on Ubuntu and Debian. Make sure the distribution's `g++-mingw-w64-x86-64-posix` package meets the minimum required `g++` version specified in [dependencies.md](/building/dependencies).
</Note>

## Installing Windows Subsystem for Linux

If you're building on Windows, first install WSL by following the upstream installation instructions:

[WSL Installation Guide](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install)

## Cross-Compilation for Ubuntu and WSL

The steps below can be performed on Ubuntu or WSL. The depends system will also work on other Linux distributions, however the commands for installing the toolchain will be different.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Install NSIS (optional)">
    If you want to build the Windows installer using the `deploy` build target, install NSIS:

    ```bash theme={null}
    apt install nsis
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Clone the repository">
    Acquire the source in the usual way:

    ```bash theme={null}
    git clone https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.git
    cd bitcoin
    ```

    <Warning>
      For WSL, the Bitcoin Core source path MUST be somewhere in the default mount file system (e.g., `/usr/src/bitcoin`), and NOT under `/mnt/d/`. If this is not the case, the dependency autoconf scripts will fail.

      This means you cannot use a directory located directly on the host Windows file system to perform the build.
    </Warning>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Build using the depends system">
    Build the dependencies and configure the build:

    ```bash theme={null}
    gmake -C depends HOST=x86_64-w64-mingw32  # Append "-j N" for N parallel jobs
    cmake -B build --toolchain depends/x86_64-w64-mingw32/toolchain.cmake
    ```

    To see all available configuration options:

    ```bash theme={null}
    cmake -B build -LH
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Compile Bitcoin Core">
    ```bash theme={null}
    cmake --build build     # Append "-j N" for N parallel jobs
    ```
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Depends System

For further documentation on the depends system, see README.md in the `depends/` directory of the source code and the [dependencies documentation](/building/dependencies).

## Installation

After building using the Windows subsystem, it can be useful to copy the compiled executables to a directory on the Windows drive in the same directory structure as they appear in the release `.zip` archive.

### Standard Installation

This will install to `c:\workspace\bitcoin`, for example:

```bash theme={null}
cmake --install build --prefix /mnt/c/workspace/bitcoin
```

<Note>
  Due to the presence of debug information, the binaries may be very large.
</Note>

### Installation Without Debug Symbols

If you do not need debug information, you can prune it during install:

```bash theme={null}
cmake --install build --prefix /mnt/c/workspace/bitcoin --strip
```

### Creating an Installer

You can also create a Windows installer:

```bash theme={null}
cmake --build build --target deploy
```

<Note>
  This requires NSIS to be installed (see Step 1 above).
</Note>