runner/docs/start/envwin.md

Windows System Prerequisites

Supported Versions

Please see "Supported architectures and operating systems for self-hosted runners."

Quick Setup

1. Download the latest runner from releases
2. Extract the downloaded archive to your desired directory
3. Run config.cmd as Administrator to configure the runner
4. Install as a service (optional): svc.sh install and svc.sh start

System Requirements

.NET Runtime

• .NET 6.0 runtime (automatically installed with the runner)
• Windows PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell Core 6.0+

Windows Features

Windows runners require the following components:

# Enable required Windows features (run as Administrator)
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

Visual Studio Build Tools (For builds requiring compilation)

For repositories that need to compile code, install:

• Visual Studio 2017 or newer Install here
• Visual Studio 2022 17.3 Preview or later (for ARM64) Install here

Git for Windows

• Git for Windows Install here (required for repository operations)

Common Setup Steps

1. Create Runner Directory

mkdir C:\actions-runner
cd C:\actions-runner

2. Download and Extract

# Download latest release
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/actions/runner/releases/download/v2.xyz.z/actions-runner-win-x64-2.xyz.z.zip" -OutFile "actions-runner.zip"
# Extract
Expand-Archive -Path "actions-runner.zip" -DestinationPath "."

3. Configure

.\config.cmd --url https://github.com/YOUR_ORG/YOUR_REPO --token YOUR_TOKEN

4. Run as Service

# Install service
.\svc.sh install
# Start service  
.\svc.sh start

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

PowerShell Execution Policy:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

Windows Defender/Antivirus:

• Add runner directory to antivirus exclusions
• Exclude Runner.Listener.exe and Runner.Worker.exe

Firewall Issues:

# Allow runner through Windows Firewall
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "GitHub Actions Runner" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 443 -Action Allow

Permission Issues:

• Run config.cmd as Administrator
• Ensure the runner user has "Log on as a service" rights

Getting Help

• Check our troubleshooting guide
• Review common issues
• Search GitHub Community Discussions

More .NET Prerequisites Information