Claude Code on Windows: native support, WSL, and what differs

Yes, and it no longer needs WSL

Claude Code ships a native Windows binary. As of August 2026 the documented requirements are Windows 10 version 1809 or later, or Windows Server 2019 or later, on an x64 or ARM64 processor, with 4 GB of RAM and either PowerShell or CMD as your shell. You do not need WSL, you do not need Node.js, and you do not need to run the installer as Administrator.

The install lands in your user profile at %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin\claude.exe and updates itself in the background. Everything below is about the parts that genuinely behave differently from macOS and Linux.

Native, WSL 2, or WSL 1

This is the only decision on Windows that has a wrong answer, and the deciding factor is documented but easy to miss: sandboxed command execution is supported under WSL 2 and nowhere else on Windows.

# Fast: the repo lives on the Linux filesystem
cd ~/code/myapp && claude

# Slow: the repo lives on the Windows filesystem
cd /mnt/c/Users/you/code/myapp && claude

If your repo is on C:\ and you have no Linux toolchain requirement, run the native build. If your repo already lives inside the WSL filesystem, run the Linux build inside WSL. Mixing the two is the only combination that is straightforwardly bad.

The shell tool: Bash or PowerShell

On macOS and Linux, Claude Code shells out through Bash and that is the end of it. On native Windows it depends on what you have installed, and this changes what the agent can actually do.

• Without Git for Windows, Claude Code runs shell commands through the PowerShell tool.
• With Git for Windows, it uses Git Bash for the Bash tool, which is what almost every CLAUDE.md, hook, and project script on the internet assumes.
• WSL setups need neither. They already have a real Bash.

Git for Windows is documented as optional rather than required, but installing it is still the higher-compatibility choice, because POSIX shell syntax is the default assumption in nearly every repo convention file you will inherit.

winget install --id Git.Git -e

If Claude Code cannot find Git Bash after you install it, point at it explicitly in your settings file.

{
  "env": {
    "CLAUDE_CODE_GIT_BASH_PATH": "C:\\Program Files\\Git\\bin\\bash.exe"
  }
}

Getting it on the machine

Four routes, all supported. The full walkthrough with the failure modes lives in the Windows install guide; this is the shortest form of each.

claude --version
claude doctor

ARM64, Windows Server, and enterprise machines

ARM64 Windows is a first-class target, not an afterthought. The npm package publishes both win32-x64 and win32-arm64 binaries, and the desktop app ships a separate ARM64 installer alongside the x64 one. Snapdragon-based Copilot+ machines run the native build without emulation.

Windows Server 2019 and later is in the supported matrix, which matters for build agents and jump boxes. Server installs are still per-user under %USERPROFILE%, so a machine shared by several accounts gets one install per account.

The failures that are specific to Windows

$env:PATH -split ';' | Select-String '\.local\\bin'

# no output? add it to the User PATH
$currentPath = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('PATH', 'User')
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('PATH', "$currentPath;$env:USERPROFILE\.local\bin", 'User')

where.exe claude
Test-Path "$env:USERPROFILE\.local\bin\claude.exe"

Questions people ask

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