Bitcoin Lightning Node Launcher Windows Developer Setup
Install Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015
This is needed to avoid a bug with the Node Launcher’s UI library (Qt / PySide2)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48145
Install OpenSSL
Python’s package manager (pip) does not work on Windows without OpenSSL installed
Go to https://slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html
Download the latest Win64 EXE, currently Win64 OpenSSL v1.1.1b
Open the .exe and install OpenSSL with all of the default options
Install git
Git is the version control software used by the Node Launcher (and any other software project hosted on GitHub)
Go to https://git-scm.com/download/win
The download should start automatically
Install git with all the defaults
Install Python
The Node Launcher is written in Python, an easy to read programming language
Go to https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/
Download the latest stable Windows x86–64 executable installer, but keep reading before installing!
Right click the downloaded file and Run as administrator
Make sure both boxes are checked
Then click Install Now
Install PyCharm
Go to https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/#section=windows
Download the latest PyCharm Community Edition
Install PyCharm Community Edition with the defaults
From the Start menu, right click PyCharm Community Edition and Run as administrator
Click on Check out from Version Control / Git
Copy https://github.com/lightning-power-users/node-launcher
Paste it in to clone the repository and click the Clone button
Click the Terminal tab at the bottom
Type in
pip install -r requirements.txt
Right click on run.py and select Debug ‘run’
The Node Launcher should start!