142 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown
142 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown
---
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stage: none
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group: unassigned
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info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#designated-technical-writers
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type: reference, howto
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---
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# Windows Development
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There are times in development where a Windows development machine is needed.
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This is a guide for how to get a Windows development virtual machine on Google Cloud Platform
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(GCP) with the same preinstalled tools as the GitLab shared Windows runners.
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## Why Windows in Google Cloud?
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Use of Microsoft Windows operating systems on company laptops is banned under GitLab's [Approved Operating Systems policy](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/security/approved_os.html#windows).
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This can make it difficult to develop features for the Windows platforms. Using GCP will allow us to have a temporary Windows machine that can be removed once we're done with it.
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## Shared Windows runners
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You can use the shared Windows runners in the case that you don't need a full Windows development machine.
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The [GitLab 12.7 Release Post](https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2020/01/22/gitlab-12-7-released/#windows-shared-runners-on-gitlabcom-beta)
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and [Windows shared runner beta blog post](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2020/01/21/windows-shared-runner-beta/#getting-started) both
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outline quite a bit of useful information.
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To use the shared Windows runners add the following `tags` to relevant jobs in your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file:
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```yaml
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tags:
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- shared-windows
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- windows
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- windows-1809
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```
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A list of software preinstalled on the Windows images is available at: [Preinstalled software](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/shared-runners/images/gcp/windows-containers/blob/master/cookbooks/preinstalled-software/README.md).
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## GCP Windows image for development
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The [shared Windows GitLab
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runners](https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2020/01/22/gitlab-12-7-released/#windows-shared-runners-on-gitlabcom-beta)
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are built with [Packer](https://www.packer.io/).
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The Infrastructure as Code repository for building the Google Cloud images is available at:
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[GitLab Google Cloud Platform Shared Runner Images](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/shared-runners/images/gcp/windows-containers).
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### Build image
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There is a chance that your Google Cloud group may already have an image
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built. Search the available images before you do the work to build your
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own.
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Build a Google Cloud image with the above shared runners repository by doing the following:
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1. Install [Packer](https://www.packer.io/) (tested to work with version 1.5.1).
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1. Install Packer Windows Update Provisioner.
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1. Clone the repository <https://github.com/rgl/packer-provisioner-windows-update> and `cd` into the cloned directory.
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1. Run the command `go build -o packer-provisioner-windows-update` (requires `go` to be installed).
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1. Verify `packer-provisioner-windows-update` is in the `PATH` environment variable.
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1. Add all [required environment variables](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/shared-runners/images/gcp/windows-containers/-/blob/master/packer.json#L2-10)
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in the `packer.json` file to your environment (perhaps use [`direnv`](https://direnv.net/)).
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1. Build the image by running the command: `packer build packer.json`.
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## How to use a Windows image in GCP
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1. In a web browser, go to <https://console.cloud.google.com/compute/images>.
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1. Filter images by the name you used when creating image, `windows` is likely all you need to filter by.
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1. Click the image's name.
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1. Click the **CREATE INSTANCE** link.
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1. Important: Change name to what you'd like as you can't change it later.
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1. Optional: Change Region to be closest to you as well as any other option you'd like.
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1. Click **Create** at the bottom of the page.
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1. Click the name of your newly created VM Instance (optionally you can filter to find it).
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1. Click **Set Windows password**.
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1. Optional: Set a username or use default.
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1. Click **Next**.
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1. Copy and save the password as it won't be shown again.
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1. Click **RDP** down arrow.
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1. Click **Download the RDP file**.
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1. Open the downloaded RDP file with the Windows remote desktop app (<https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/remote/remote-desktop-services/clients/remote-desktop-clients>).
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1. Click **Continue** to accept the certificate.
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1. Enter the password and click **Next**.
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You should now be remoted into a Windows machine with a command prompt.
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### Optional: Use GCP VM Instance as a runner
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- Register the runner with a project: `gitlab-runner.exe register`.
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- Install the runner:`gitlab-runner.exe install`.
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- Start the runner: `gitlab-runner.exe start`.
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For more information, see [Install GitLab Runner on Windows](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/install/windows.html)
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and [Registering runners](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/register/index.html).
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## Developer tips
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Here are a few tips on GCP and Windows.
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### GCP cost savings
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To minimise the cost of your GCP VM instance, stop it when you're not using it.
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If you do, you'll need to re-download the RDP file from the console as the IP
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address changes every time you stop and start it.
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### chocolatey
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Chocolatey is a package manager for Windows. You can search for packages on <https://chocolatey.org/>.
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- `choco install vim`
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### Visual Studio (install / usage for full GUI)
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You can install Visual Studio and run it within the Windows Remote Desktop app.
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Install it by running: `choco install visualstudio2019community`
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Start it by running: `"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" .`
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### .NET 3 support
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You can install .NET version 3 support with the following `DISM` command:
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`DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx3 /All`
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### nix -> Windows `cmd` tips
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The first tip for using the Windows command shell is to open PowerShell and use that instead.
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Start PowerShell: `start powershell`.
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PowerShell has aliases for all of the following commands so you don't have to learn the native commands:
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- `ls` ---> `dir`
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- `rm` ---> `del`
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- `rm -rf nonemptydir` ---> `rmdir /S nonemptydir`
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- `/` ---> `\` (path separator)
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- `cat` ---> `type`
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- `mv` ---> `move`
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- Redirection works the same (i.e. `>` and `2>&1`)
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- `.\some.exe` to call a local executable
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- curl is available
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- `..` and `.` are available
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