Set up Build Environment on Windows

Note: This is only a one-time setup guide. For actually building KeePassXC, please refer to our build guide.

Install the build environment

• Download MSYS2 64bit: http://msys2.github.io/
• Start MSYS2 shell
• Update the system packages: pacman --needed -Sy bash pacman pacman-mirrors msys2-runtime
• Restart MSYS2 shell
• Update all packages: pacman -Syu
  If tells you to close the shell, close and reupdate the package (until you are done)

Install the C++ toolchain

This command will install the MinGW-W GCC compiler, CMake and Binutils

Open an MSYS2 shell:

pacman -S git make mingw-w64-$(uname -m)-gcc \
    mingw-w64-$(uname -m)-binutils mingw-w64-$(uname -m)-cmake

In addition, CLion needs

pacman -S mingw-w64-$(uname -m)-toolchain

to detect your Msys2 toolchain.

Install the required dependencies

This command will install qt5 libgcrypt and zlib

Open an MSYS2 shell:

pacman -S mingw-w64-$(uname -m)-qt5 \
    mingw-w64-$(uname -m)-libgcrypt mingw-w64-$(uname -m)-zlib \
    mingw-w64-$(uname -m)-argon2 mingw-w64-$(uname -m)-libsodium \
    mingw-w64-$(uname -m)-qrencode

If CMake is having trouble finding your compiler, make sure you have started the MINGW64 environment and not the MINGW32 or the generic MSYS environment. You need to have /mingw64/bin in your path.

Install YubiKey libraries

If you do not want/need the Yubikey plugin (-DWITH_XC_YUBIKEY=OFF), you can skip this step.

Download libykpers

For compiling KeePassXC with YubiKey support, we need some extra libraries. To install them, run the following commands:

Windows 64-bit

pacman -Sy unzip
wget https://github.com/trustcrypto/yubikey-personalization/releases/download/v1.19.1/ykpers-1.19.1-win64.zip
unzip ykpers-1.*-win64.zip -d /mingw64/

Windows 32-bit

pacman -Sy unzip
wget https://github.com/trustcrypto/yubikey-personalization/releases/download/v1.19.1/ykpers-1.19.1-win32.zip
unzip ykpers-1.*-win32.zip -d /mingw32/

Update your environment regularly

Open a MSYS2 shell:

pacman -Syu