Windows Automation Tools

A collection of automation tooling for Windows environments, split into two areas:

• win-bootstrap/ — the generic, config-driven bootstrap engine for a freshly installed Windows machine.
• dev-env-bootstrap/ — PowerShell scripts that run inside an already-bootstrapped Windows guest/machine to set up build environments for kvm-guest-drivers-windows and supporting VM tooling.

All documentation for both areas lives under docs/; the code folders themselves contain only scripts/config.

Documentation

Windows bootstrap

• Configuration reference
• Operating system compatibility

Development environment bootstrap

• Visual Studio build environment
• UTM WebDAV file size limit

win-bootstrap

A generic, config-driven bootstrap engine for a freshly installed Windows machine (Windows 10/11, x64 or arm64). Every action is driven by an external YAML config, so the same script works for anyone.

Requirements

• PowerShell 5.1 (built into supported Windows releases).
• Administrator privileges for normal runs and -Verify. When started interactively without elevation, the script offers to relaunch itself through UAC. Under -Quiet, it fails immediately instead.
• -ValidateConfig is the exception: this static configuration check does not inspect or modify the machine and does not require elevation.

Capabilities

It can, among other things:

• Import trusted root CA certificates.
• Set up OpenSSH Server with pinned host keys and key-based login.
• Create and configure local user accounts.
• Configure firewall rules and SMB shares.
• Configure kernel debugging.
• Install apps and common Windows tooling.
• Manage selected Windows security, network, recovery, and power settings.
• And more — every capability is opt-in per config section.

Real secrets (certificates, private keys, passwords) can be sourced from Bitwarden Secrets Manager instead of ever being written into the config file.

See docs/windows-bootstrap.md for the full reference — start with its TL;DR section for the fastest path to a working config.

Core functionality is also expected to work on Windows Server 2019, 2022, and 2025, but server support is currently limited. Some features depend on WinGet or a desktop environment and are unavailable on older Server releases or Server Core. See the operating system compatibility matrix before using the bootstrap script on Windows Server.

dev-env-bootstrap scripts

Requirements

• See the Visual Studio build environment requirements and UTM WebDAV file size limit requirements for the supported OS of each script.
• PowerShell 5.1 (built-in on Windows 10+)
• Administrator privileges — most scripts install software, write to C:\, and set machine-level environment variables, all of which require elevation. See each script's own doc for exceptions.

Running the scripts

All scripts below live under dev-env-bootstrap/ — run them from inside that folder (or prefix the path as shown).

Each .ps1 script has a matching .cmd wrapper that handles execution policy, so you can run it from cmd.exe or double-click:

dev-env-bootstrap\setup-vs2022-env.cmd -a

To run the PowerShell script directly (e.g. from an elevated PowerShell prompt):

powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\dev-env-bootstrap\setup-vs2022-env.ps1 -a

Most scripts share the same core CLI interface (-Automatic/-a, -Quiet/-q, -Help/-h) — see each script's own doc for the full parameter reference.