Windows setup

Everything the class uses (Langflow, n8n, JupyterLab, Metabase, a database, …) runs in containers on your own laptop. On Windows it runs inside WSL2 — Windows’ built-in Linux. You turn WSL2 on once, then everything is a few copy-paste commands in an Ubuntu terminal. You do not need to be a Linux expert, and the setup script checks itself and tells you if something needs fixing.

Already installed? You don’t need this page again — starting, stopping, updating, your files and fixing things all live in Using the stack on Windows.

Before you start

• Windows 10 or 11, with 8 GB RAM (16 GB recommended) — setup installs the class’s abp set of services (Langflow, n8n, CloudBeaver, Qdrant, database); the everyday guide explains how to switch sets later — and about 20 GB free disk space.
• Do this at home, before class. Enabling WSL2 may need one reboot, and the first start downloads about 10 GB of images. Get both done at home so class time isn’t lost to downloads.
• How long? WSL2 + Ubuntu (Steps 1–2): about 15–20 minutes, most of it the restart and the Store download. The stack (Step 3): a few minutes of install plus the 10 GB download — 15–45 minutes depending on your internet. Total: plan about an hour, mostly unattended.

Already have Docker Desktop? (e.g. from another course) — perfect, keep it. Do Steps 1–2 anyway (WSL2 + Ubuntu are needed either way), then before Step 3: open Docker Desktop → Settings → Resources → WSL integration → turn it on for Ubuntu, and leave Docker Desktop running. The setup script detects it and uses it — nothing extra gets installed. Everyone else gets Podman installed inside Ubuntu instead — same stack, same commands, no difference in class. (Curious why Podman? See the FAQ.)

Step 1 — Turn on WSL2 + Ubuntu

Watch this 4-minute video and do exactly what it shows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZf4YH4WiZo

It walks you through the three things Windows needs, in order:

1. In the Start menu, search “Turn Windows features on or off”, tick Virtual Machine Platform and Windows Subsystem for Linux, click OK.
2. Restart your laptop.
3. Open the Microsoft Store, search Ubuntu, and click Get/Install.

The video ends with the first launch of Ubuntu — that’s our Step 2, below.

No Ubuntu after the restart, or it opens and shows an error? On some Windows versions the Store route isn’t enough. Open Command Prompt from the Start menu and run:

wsl --install

This installs WSL2 and Ubuntu in one go — no Store needed. Approve the admin prompt if one appears, restart again if it asks, then continue with Step 2.

Step 2 — First launch of Ubuntu

Open the Ubuntu app from the Start menu. The first time, it asks you to pick a Linux username and password. The password stays invisible while you type — that’s normal, just type it and press Enter. Remember it: some commands ask for it later.

✔ You know this step worked when you see a colored prompt ending in $.

Step 3 — Install and start the stack (inside Ubuntu)

Pasting into Ubuntu works differently than you are used to: Ctrl+V often does nothing there. Right-click into the Ubuntu window to paste (on some machines it’s Ctrl+Shift+V).

Copy this command with its copy button (it is one long line), paste it into the Ubuntu terminal, and press Enter:

cd ~ && sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y git && { git clone https://github.com/frankhuettner/kingo-pod.git 2>/dev/null || true; } && cd ~/kingo-pod && git pull --ff-only && bash setup/setup-linux.sh

The script does four things, in order, and says so as it goes:

1. Picks a container engine — uses Docker Desktop if you connected it (see the box above), otherwise installs Podman inside Ubuntu.
2. Checks your ports — if other software already uses a port the class needs (for example your own PostgreSQL on 5432), it automatically moves Kingo to a free port and tells you.
3. Downloads and starts everything (~10 GB on the first run — be patient).
4. Verifies it and prints your personal table of addresses and logins.

That one command is the whole installation — there is no second command to run. When it ends with SMOKE OK and your table of addresses and logins, Step 3 is done and you go on to Step 4.

Only if it stopped partway (Wi-Fi hiccup, closed laptop): run the line below to pick up where it left off. It is safe to re-run and skips what’s already done — but you do not need it if the setup finished.

cd ~/kingo-pod && bash setup/setup-linux.sh

(Only if the download itself broke off and even the re-run fails: delete the half-finished folder with rm -rf ~/kingo-pod and start Step 3 from the top.)

Step 4 — Did it work?

You’re done when the script prints SMOKE OK followed by a table of web addresses and logins. That printed table is the truth for your laptop — if the script had to move a port in Step 3, your addresses differ from everyone else’s. Reprint it any time (in Ubuntu, inside the kingo-pod folder):

./kingo credentials

If the script ended with an ERROR instead, go to If setup fails.

You’re set up — what now?

Everything from here on lives on one page: your addresses and logins, the commands you need day to day, how to get your own files into Langflow, how to update, and what to do when something breaks — Using the stack on Windows. That is the page to bookmark.

The class database has a short walkthrough of its own: Using CloudBeaver.

If setup fails

Always start with one command (in Ubuntu, inside kingo-pod) — it checks the usual suspects and tells you what to do:

./kingo doctor

Anything else — a port already in use, the container engine not starting, the stack not coming up — is in Using the stack on Windows → If something breaks. Still stuck? Screenshot the error and ask the instructor / TA.