> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/freerdp/freerdp/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Building on Windows

> Build FreeRDP on Windows using MSVC with CMake and Ninja, or cross-compile with LLVM-MinGW on Linux.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="MSVC (native)">
    ## Requirements

    * Visual Studio 2019 or later (any edition, including Build Tools)
    * CMake >= 3.13
    * Ninja (bundled with Visual Studio, or install separately)
    * A pre-built OpenSSL distribution for Windows (e.g. from [Shining Light](https://slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html) or [vcpkg](https://vcpkg.io))

    ## Opening a developer prompt

    All CMake commands must be run inside a Visual Studio Developer Command Prompt, or from a standard `cmd`/PowerShell session that has already sourced `vcvarsall.bat`:

    ```bat theme={null}
    "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat" x64
    ```

    ## Build

    <Steps>
      <Step title="Clone the repository">
        ```bat theme={null}
        git clone https://github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP.git C:\freerdp\src
        ```
      </Step>

      <Step title="Configure with CMake">
        ```bat theme={null}
        cmake -GNinja ^
          -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ^
          -DWITH_VERBOSE_WINPR_ASSERT=OFF ^
          -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=C:\freerdp\install ^
          -B C:\freerdp\build ^
          -S C:\freerdp\src
        ```
      </Step>

      <Step title="Compile and install">
        ```bat theme={null}
        cmake --build C:\freerdp\build --target install
        ```
      </Step>
    </Steps>

    ## CI preload configuration

    The repository ships `ci/cmake-preloads/config-windows.txt` with recommended Windows settings:

    ```cmake theme={null}
    set(CMAKE_WINDOWS_VERSION "WIN7" CACHE STRING "windows build version")
    set(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS OFF CACHE BOOL "build static linked executable")
    set(CMAKE_MSVC_RUNTIME_LIBRARY "MultiThreaded" CACHE STRING "MSVC runtime to use")
    set(OPENSSL_USE_STATIC_LIBS ON CACHE BOOL "link OpenSSL static")
    set(WITH_SERVER ON CACHE BOOL "build with server")
    set(WITH_CLIENT_SDL ON CACHE BOOL "build with SDL client")
    set(CHANNEL_URBDRC OFF CACHE BOOL "USB redirection")
    ```

    Apply it with:

    ```bat theme={null}
    cmake -C C:\freerdp\src\ci\cmake-preloads\config-windows.txt ^
      -GNinja ^
      -B C:\freerdp\build ^
      -S C:\freerdp\src

    cmake --build C:\freerdp\build
    ```

    ## Notable Windows flags

    | Flag                                       | Description                                           |
    | ------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------- |
    | `BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF`                    | Produce a statically linked executable.               |
    | `OPENSSL_USE_STATIC_LIBS=ON`               | Link OpenSSL statically.                              |
    | `CMAKE_MSVC_RUNTIME_LIBRARY=MultiThreaded` | Use the static MSVC runtime (`/MT`).                  |
    | `WITH_WIN_CONSOLE=ON`                      | Attach a console window to the client executable.     |
    | `WITH_SHADOW=OFF`                          | Disable the shadow server (not supported on Windows). |
    | `WITH_CLIENT_SDL=ON`                       | Build the SDL2 client.                                |
    | `WITH_SDL_LINK_SHARED=OFF`                 | Link SDL2 statically.                                 |
    | `ZLIB_USE_STATIC_LIBS=ON`                  | Link zlib statically.                                 |
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="MinGW cross-compile">
    ## Overview

    FreeRDP can be cross-compiled for Windows from a Linux host using [llvm-mingw](https://github.com/mstorsjo/llvm-mingw), which supports both `msvcrt` and `ucrt` runtimes.

    <Warning>
      MinGW builds are not actively maintained. The build may occasionally break. Pull requests to maintain MinGW support are welcome.
    </Warning>

    A maintained sample build script is located at `scripts/mingw.sh` in the repository and is periodically exercised by the CI workflow at `.github/workflows/mingw.yml`.

    A complete Docker-based build example for LLVM-MinGW is provided at `docs/mingw-example/` in the repository.

    ## Docker-based example build

    The `docs/mingw-example/` directory contains a `Dockerfile` and helper scripts that build all dependencies (zlib, OpenSSL, OpenH264, libusb, FAAC, FAAD2) and FreeRDP itself inside a Docker container.

    <Steps>
      <Step title="Build for x86_64">
        ```bash theme={null}
        cd docs/mingw-example
        ./build_x64.sh
        ```
      </Step>

      <Step title="Build for ARM64">
        ```bash theme={null}
        cd docs/mingw-example
        ./build_arm64.sh
        ```
      </Step>

      <Step title="Build for x86 (32-bit)">
        ```bash theme={null}
        cd docs/mingw-example
        ./build_ia32.sh
        ```
      </Step>
    </Steps>

    Each script sets `TARGET_ARCH` and calls `_build.sh`, which runs `docker compose up` to produce the Windows binaries.

    ## Manual cross-compile with llvm-mingw

    <Steps>
      <Step title="Install llvm-mingw">
        Download a pre-built release from [github.com/mstorsjo/llvm-mingw](https://github.com/mstorsjo/llvm-mingw/releases) and extract it, e.g. to `/usr/local`.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Configure with the toolchain file">
        A CMake toolchain file for each target triple is expected at `docs/mingw-example/toolchain/cmake/<arch>-w64-mingw32-toolchain.cmake`.

        ```bash theme={null}
        cmake -GNinja \
          -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=docs/mingw-example/toolchain/cmake/x86_64-w64-mingw32-toolchain.cmake \
          -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/build \
          -DWITH_X11=OFF \
          -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF \
          -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
          -B build -S .
        ```
      </Step>

      <Step title="Build">
        ```bash theme={null}
        cmake --build build -j $(nproc)
        cmake --install build
        ```
      </Step>
    </Steps>
  </Tab>
</Tabs>