Installing ODK Central on Windows 10

This guide helps you to setup ODK Central on Windows 10 whereby OS specific problems are being fixed.

Prerequisites

Node.js
Docker & Docker Compose (Docker Desktop recommended)
Git

Installation

Step 1: Setup

Clone repository

# git clone with correct EOL
git clone -c core.autocrlf=false https://github.com/getodk/central

Install submodules

cd central
git submodule update -i

Please proceed with Step 3

Step 2: Fix for Windows

This step is not necessary anymore since git manages the correct EOL during cloning.

Replace EOL from CRLF to LF for all *.sh files

# Command can be run directly from terminal ./central 

## Fix .sh files needed during build
## Issue: https://forum.getodk.org/t/odk-central-build-error/29523/10
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %a in ('dir /s /b *.sh') do ( dos2unix %a )

## fix files without extensions needed for odk-cmd
## Issue: https://forum.getodk.org/t/odk-central-command-line-tools-unable-to-create-admin-user/32521
for /f "tokens=* delims=" %a in ('dir /s /b files ^| findstr /v /i "\..*$"') do ( dos2unix %a )


# Credits: 
# recursive dos2unix: https://gist.github.com/kelvinn/512f72bf1015047af945
# Exclude files in dir: https://superuser.com/a/383646/1334887

# About windows for loop
# https://www.windows-commandline.com/windows-for-loop-examples/
# https://ss64.com/nt/for.html

Adjust 2 lines in nginx.dockerfile

RUN /bin/sh ./files/prebuild/write-version.sh
RUN /bin/sh ./files/prebuild/build-frontend.sh

Step 3: Adjust Environment

Rename environment file

mv .env.template .env

Adjust variables in .env

DOMAIN=localhost
SSL_TYPE=selfsign

Step 4: Build

Start your docker service and run

docker-compose build

To finish the build run

docker-compose up --no-start

Step 5: Start

docker-compose up -d

Credits

The fixes have been taken from the ODK Forum. Thank to these users for sharing their solutions.

@delcroip

@aankrah

@hussainhussaini

Compose can now delegate builds to bake for better performance. To do so, set COMPOSE_BAKE=true. 2025/04/21 16:54:57 http2: server: error reading preface from client //./pipe/dockerDesktopLinuxEngine: file has already been closed [+] Building 0.6s (16/19) docker:desktop-linux => => transferring dockerfile: 110B 0.0s => [postgres14 internal] load build definition from postgres14.dockerfile 0.0s => => transferring dockerfile: 513B 0.0s => [postgres internal] load build definition from postgres-upgrade.dockerfile 0.0s => => transferring dockerfile: 711B 0.0s => [secrets internal] load metadata for docker.io/library/node:22.12.0-slim 0.5s => [postgres14 internal] load metadata for docker.io/library/postgres:14.10 0.5s => [postgres internal] load metadata for docker.io/tianon/postgres-upgrade:9.6-to-14 0.4s => [postgres internal] load .dockerignore 0.0s => => transferring context: 67B 0.0s => CANCELED [postgres 1/3] FROM docker.io/tianon/postgres-upgrade:9.6-to-14@sha256:2ff78f791338b3502c8b61dc148f1e7e8a4ebdd7f69f2cdd33f0f31ec16f7896 0.0s => [postgres internal] load build context 0.0s => => transferring context: 3.61kB 0.0s => [postgres14 internal] load .dockerignore 0.0s => => transferring context: 67B 0.0s => ERROR [postgres 2/3] COPY ./files/allow-postgres14-upgrade . 0.0s => [postgres14 internal] load build context 0.0s => => transferring context: 117B 0.0s => [postgres14 1/2] FROM docker.io/library/postgres:14.10@sha256:34f4ee87fed96f254c4970e6a348c24b24b4f05ebb0880e29c8d15a5cde4e763 0.1s => => resolve docker.io/library/postgres:14.10@sha256:34f4ee87fed96f254c4970e6a348c24b24b4f05ebb0880e29c8d15a5cde4e763 0.0s => [secrets internal] load .dockerignore 0.0s => => transferring context: 67B 0.0s => [secrets internal] load build context 0.0s => => transferring context: 551B 0.0s => [secrets 1/2] FROM docker.io/library/node:22.12.0-slim@sha256:35531c52ce27b6575d69755c73e65d4468dba93a25644eed56dc12879cae9213 0.0s => => resolve docker.io/library/node:22.12.0-slim@sha256:35531c52ce27b6575d69755c73e65d4468dba93a25644eed56dc12879cae9213 0.0s ------ > [postgres 2/3] COPY ./files/allow-postgres14-upgrade .: ------ failed to solve: failed to compute cache key: failed to calculate checksum of ref zvtkb8xfuvufq0u2l6i6x28k2::6890oc1iynetru6msz0lsnf3m: "/files/allow-postgres14-upgrade": not found

tertek/odk-central-on-windows.md