Windows FAQ

postmarketOS is about creating a Linux-based OS for mobile devices, and so most of the developers use Linux for development as well. This is highly recommended, more people will be able to help you and it just makes more sense ideologically to use a free software based development environment for this. So if you are on Windows, consider setting up a Linux installation somewhere and use that for postmarketOS hacking, maybe on a spare laptop or Raspberry Pi or similar. Or run a VM inside of Windows if your really need to stick to that operating system. Running pmbootstrap on Windows is not supported.

With that being said, some people do try to run pmbootstrap with WSL etc, so this page exists. Let's keep all Windows related information in this wiki page and link to it where appropriate, instead of filling other wiki pages with Windows-specific information.

Can I use pmbootstrap in WSL?
Yes, see Connecting USB devices to WSL for further details.

1. Install the latest release of usbipd.

2. Run PowerShell or Command Prompt as admin.

3. Run, locate your device and its BUSID.

4. Run  (replacing BUSID with your device's BUSID, 2-1 for example).

You should now have access to your device from within WSL. Run  from within WSL to confirm that it has connected.

If your device gets detected as ADB Interface/Recovery
1. Click Update Driver - choose "Composite USB Device"("Составное USB Устройство" in Russian locale of Windows)

2. Unknown device with name RNDIS device would appear

Installing RNDIS
1. Click Update Driver - choose "Browse my computer for driver software." and then "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer."

2. Choose "Network Adapter" section

3. Choose "Microsoft" manufacturer

4. Choose "Remote NDIS compatible device"
 * On Windows 10 version 1709, the device is "Remote NDIS based Internet Sharing Device"

5. That's all! Wait for Windows to install driver for your device and SSH into it!

Using PuTTY instead of the Terminal inside the VM
If your phone only connects successfully to the VM, but you want to use PuTTY (or another Windows SSH client) for Telnet/SSH:
 * Start a SSH server in the VM
 * Connect via PuTTY to the VM
 * Then connect to the device from that SSH session

Flashing images to SD cards
It should be possible to write images with the usual command-line tools once you have WSL up and running. Alternatively, use Fedora MediaWriter.