jellyfin-desktop/dev/windows/README.md

Building Jellyfin Desktop on Windows

Quick Start

Setup and build

dev\windows\setup.bat   # First time: download dependencies
dev\windows\build.bat   # Build

Run the application

dev\windows\run.bat

Run the unit tests

dev\windows\test.bat

Prerequisites

• winget (Windows Package Manager)

setup.bat installs everything else:

• Visual Studio 2022 Build Tools (v143 toolset)
• CMake, Ninja, 7-Zip, Inno Setup
• aqtinstall, Qt 6.10.1
• libmpv (AVX2 + fallback), VC++ redistributable
• MinGW, WiX (for packaging)

Directory Structure

• dev/windows/deps/ - Downloaded dependencies (Qt, mpv, etc.)
• build/ - Build output (safe to delete)
• build/src/Jellyfin Desktop.exe - Built executable

Scripts

• setup.bat - Download all dependencies
• build.bat - Configure and build
• bundle.bat - Create installer and portable ZIP
• run.bat - Run executable (sets up Qt/mpv in PATH)
• test.bat - Run unit tests (sets up Qt/mpv in PATH)
• common.bat - Shared variables (sourced by other scripts)

Clean Build

rmdir /s /q build
dev\windows\build.bat

Troubleshooting

Black Screen / GPU Issues

Try software rendering:

dev\windows\run.bat --software-rendering

Common causes:

• Outdated GPU drivers
• Missing DirectX components
• Hardware acceleration incompatibility

Log Files

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Jellyfin Desktop\logs\jellyfin-desktop.log

Notes

• Qt 6.10.1 requires VS 2022 toolset (v143) for ABI compatibility
• Version info centralized in common.bat
• run.bat adds Qt/mpv to PATH; bundle.bat creates standalone packages