[Bug]: Manual Installation fails: Windows server 2019 - AWS EC2.

[cpparkin]

Where is the problem occurring?

None

What browsers are you seeing the problem on?

No response

Current behavior

Manual Installation on Windows Server 2019 Datacenter (AWS EC2) fails.

This can easily be duplicated, just spin up a AWS EC2 Windows Server 2019 instance and follow the manual installation process.

During installation the following error occurs:
'python3' is not recognized as an internal or external command

During the install looks like a call is made to Python3. Python3 is installed on this server, and can be called with the command "python", but not with the command python3, this is a Windows server.

Dependencies Installed:
Postgres 17.7
NodeJS 24.13.1
Python 3.14.3

Looking for guidance on how to resolve this.
Note that containers and Linux deployments are not available to me at this time due to organizational constraints.

Logs tail where the error occurs below, thx.

patch-package 8.0.0
Applying patches...
waterline@0.15.2 ✔
npm verbose cli C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\bin\npm-cli.js
npm info using npm@11.6.2
npm info using node@v24.13.0
npm verbose title npm run setup-python
npm verbose argv "run" "setup-python"
npm verbose logfile logs-max:10 dir:C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\npm-cache_logs\2026-02-09T23_14_33_226Z-
npm verbose logfile C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\npm-cache_logs\2026-02-09T23_14_33_226Z-debug-0.log

setup-python
python3 -m venv .venv && .venv/bin/pip3 install -r requirements.txt

'python3' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
npm verbose cwd C:\planka
npm verbose os Windows_NT 10.0.17763
npm verbose node v24.13.0
npm verbose npm v11.6.2
npm verbose exit 1
npm verbose code 1
npm verbose stack Error: command failed
npm verbose stack at promiseSpawn (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules@npmcli\promise-spawn\lib\index.js:22:22)
npm verbose stack at spawnWithShell (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules@npmcli\promise-spawn\lib\index.js:124:10)
npm verbose stack at promiseSpawn (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules@npmcli\promise-spawn\lib\index.js:12:12)
npm verbose stack at runScriptPkg (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules@npmcli\run-script\lib\run-script-pkg.js:79:13)
npm verbose stack at runScript (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules@npmcli\run-script\lib\run-script.js:12:10)
npm verbose stack at async Install.exec (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\lib\commands\install.js:163:9)
npm verbose stack at async Npm.exec (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\lib\npm.js:208:9)
npm verbose stack at async module.exports (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\lib\cli\entry.js:67:5)
npm error code 1
npm error path C:\planka
npm error command failed
npm error command C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /d /s /c patch-package && npm run setup-python
npm verbose cwd C:\planka
npm verbose os Windows_NT 10.0.17763
npm verbose node v24.13.0
npm verbose npm v11.6.2
npm notice
npm notice New minor version of npm available! 11.6.2 -> 11.9.0
npm notice Changelog: https://github.com/npm/cli/releases/tag/v11.9.0
npm notice To update run: npm install -g npm@11.9.0
npm notice
npm verbose exit 1
npm verbose code 1
npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\npm-cache_logs\2026-02-09T23_12_29_428Z-debug-0.log

Desired behavior

Clean installation with no errors.

Steps to reproduce

This can easily be duplicated, just spin up a AWS EC2 Windows Server 2019 instance and follow the manual installation process.

Other information

No response

[meltyshev]

Hey! I think PLANKA might not be fully optimized for installation on Windows right now, since we added the python dependency to configure notification services via Apprise.

As far as I remember, on Windows the python virtual environment has no .venv/bin path - it has .venv/Scripts instead. The same applies to the send-notifications.js file, which calls python to send the actual notifications - it currently references the bin directory in the path.

For now, I'd recommend installing it via Docker until we properly optimize the setup for Windows.

[meltyshev]

As a workaround, you could try updating the setup-python script in package.json to something like:

"setup-python": "python -m venv .venv && .venv\\Scripts\\pip install -r requirements.txt",

And then update the promisifyExecFile call in api/helpers/utils/send-notifications.js to:

await promisifyExecFile(
  `${sails.config.appPath}\\.venv\\Scripts\\python.exe`,
  [
    `${sails.config.appPath}\\utils\\send_notifications.py`,
    JSON.stringify(inputs.services),
    inputs.title,
    JSON.stringify(inputs.bodyByFormat),
  ],
  {
    env: {
      HTTP_PROXY: sails.config.custom.outgoingProxy,
      HTTPS_PROXY: sails.config.custom.outgoingProxy,
    },
  },
);

[cpparkin]

Thx for the response. The end client needs a production stable environment, and policy prevents use of containers. Is there a roadmap or timeline for a supported Windows manual installation. Client is open to the Pro version, has reached out but not yet received a response. Thx

[meltyshev]

I'm working on the fix right now, so a Windows-ready version should be available soon. It will take some time to test everything properly and make sure nothing breaks on Linux-based installations, but it shouldn't take more than 2 days.

Client is open to the Pro version, has reached out but not yet received a response.

I've already followed up on that, and the email has been answered :)

[meltyshev]

Just released v2.0.2 - should be installable and work on Windows. Also added python requirement to the docs.