Getting Windows set up for development and daily driver use

Notes to self

• Investigate dotfiles management for WSL with this technique: https://developer.atlassian.com/blog/2016/02/best-way-to-store-dotfiles-git-bare-repo/
• Look at Microsoft Boxstarter/ Chocolatey scripts: Dev box setup scripts

Similar guides for inspiration

• https://github.com/felixrieseberg/windows-development-environment
• https://char.gd/blog/2017/how-to-set-up-the-perfect-modern-dev-environment-on-windows for front-end specific tips

Setting up a user profile

• Install Windows with offline profile (no MSFT account) so that user folder is set correctly (rather than to a truncated email address)
• Make sure BitLocker is enabled
• Sign in to MSFT account to get OneDrive syncing. Sync Development folder first
• Change name of computer (to something memorable, instead of DESKTOP-FDSFFE or some other random name)

Windows Tweaks

Disassembler0 script to edit Win10 defaults Customized version of script located in OneDrive; remember to git pull upstream master and inspect updates before running.

Restoring data

• Let OneDrive sync itself
• Restore other use folders from File History backups
• Symlinks
  • Symlink from dotfiles folder in OneDrive to User folder
  • Elevated PS prompt: New-Item -Type SymbolicLink -Name .name -Target PathToTarget

Development tools

• Enable Development mode in Windows settings and enable script execution
• Install chocolatey (in Powershell): iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
• In OneDrive/Development folder:
  • Run update_tools.ps1 to install majority of development tools
  • Run Ninite installer
• Enable WSL and Hyper-V
  • Control Panel > Add/ Remove Windows Features > Windows Subsystem for Linux & Hyper-V
  • Reboot
  • Install Ubuntu from Windows Store
• Symlink files from OneDrive/Development/dotfiles (working directory: ~)
  • Elevated PS prompt: New-Item -Type SymbolicLink -Name <linkName> -Target ./OneDrive/Development/dotfiles/<target>
• Install desired global npm modules (using yarn)
  • Make sure Node has its environment set up properly: https://github.com/Microsoft/nodejs-guidelines/blob/master/windows-environment.md#compiling-native-addon-modules
    • From elevated PS: npm install --global --production windows-build-tools
  • Look at npm-global.txt in OneDrive/Development
• Other software (as needed)
  • Visual Studio
    • C++ Development
    • Linux Development
  • Docker
  • Insomnia Rest Client
  • Anaconda

Dev Environment

• Sync VS Code settings from gist
• Install development fonts (choose 1+)
  • Hack, which comes with Powerline support built in
  • Knack NF, a Hack derivative from Nerd Fonts
  • Powerline Fonts, a less customized version of Nerd Fonts
  • Fira Code, for fancy ligatures
• Import Cmder (ConEmu) settings from conemu.xml; Hyper.JS settings from .hyper.js
• Change cmd.exe colors (also applies to Bash on Windows): Colortool
• WSL changes
  • Install ZSH: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install zsh
  • Install important development packages: sudo apt-get install git build-essential
  • Install Prezto and Pure theme for Prezto
    • Use own fork of Prezto as master and pull changes from upstream

Other

• Non-development apps
  • Anki
  • OEM apps (Dell Update, Intel Driver Update, etc.)
• Run the Windows 10 Tweak script in OneDrive
  • This also takes care of uninstall a lot of the 3rd party apps that get installed
  • Read carefully and be conservative to make sure important services aren't disabled
• Backblaze
  • Inherit backup state from old installation
• MS Store apps
  • Microsoft Todo
  • Microsoft Office
  • Spotify
  • Paint.NET
  • Facebook, Twitter, FB Messenger, WhatsApp Desktop
  • Lunacy
• Setup accounts
  • Sign in to email accounts in Mail;
  • Lastpass
  • Browser syncing: Sign into Google account in Chrome; Mozilla account in Firefox
  • Spotify
• Edge extensions
  • uBlock origin
  • LastPass
  • Pocket

BCD Configuration (if a disabled Hyper-V is necessary)

• To get VirtualBox and Hyper-V to cooperate, need to create separate BCD entries for Hyper-V on and off.
• In elevated PS: bcdedit /copy '{current}' /d "No Hyper-V", bcdedit /set '{<new entry UUID>}' hypervisorlaunchtype off