Windows 10/11

Install OpenClaw on Windows

Get OpenClaw (formerly Moltbot) running on your Windows PC in minutes using Docker Desktop.

Prerequisites

Installation Steps

Download and install Docker Desktop for Windows. This provides the container runtime needed to run OpenClaw.

winget install Docker.DockerDesktop

For better performance, enable Windows Subsystem for Linux 2. Docker Desktop will use this automatically.

wsl --install

Open PowerShell or Terminal and pull the official OpenClaw Docker image.

docker pull openclaw/openclaw:latest

Create a folder to store your OpenClaw configuration and data.

mkdir $env:USERPROFILE\.openclaw

Start OpenClaw with Docker, mounting your config directory.

docker run -d --name openclaw \
  -v $env:USERPROFILE\.openclaw:/root/.openclaw \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  openclaw/openclaw:latest

Open your browser and navigate to the OpenClaw dashboard to complete setup.

http://localhost:3000

⚠️ Common Issues on Windows

Docker won't start?

Ensure Hyper-V and WSL2 are enabled. Run bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype auto in admin PowerShell and restart.

Port 3000 already in use?

Change the port mapping: -p 3001:3000 instead.

Slow performance?

Enable WSL2 backend in Docker Desktop settings for better file system performance.

Alternative: Run Natively in WSL2

For better performance, you can install OpenClaw directly in WSL2 Ubuntu:

wsl -d Ubuntu
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install | bash

Once OpenClaw is running, configure your AI provider and connect messaging channels.