Setting up Ruby on Windows is more of a challenge than using macOS or Linux, but there are a number of tools to make the setup easier. The five components you will need to get started are:
http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/installing-rails-5-windows is an excellent tutorial that guides you through installing the first three components; in case the tutorial isn't working, you can also find what you need at http://rubyinstaller.org and https://nodejs.org.
To verify that ruby installed correctly, install your first rubygem by running:
gem install bundler
To verify that node.js installed correctly, install your first npm package by running:
npm install webpack
### Git
Git can be downloaded from https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/releases. Using the latest release ending in "64-bit.exe" should be fine. After installing, you can verify it works and set up your environment by running these commands in the command prompt:
PostgreSQL 9.2 can be downloaded from http://www.enterprisedb.com/products-services-training/pgdownload. During the installation, you'll need to choose a database password. Anything is fine, just note down what you choose.
## Build Metamaps
Once you are ready, create a new folder to hold this and any other git repositories. As an example, let's pretend you've chose C:\git, and made that folder writable by your user account.
The `bundle install` command downloads and installs the rubygem dependencies of Metamaps. `gem install bundler` is only needed if you didn't run it earlier.
This command will open a Windows Explorer window of the "config" directory of Metamaps. Copy `.example-env`, and rename the copy to `.env`. Edit the file and set the DB_PASSWORD to be whatever you set up with postgres earlier. Once you're done, then move back into the command prompt. The next few commands will fail unless `.env` is correctly configured and Postgres is running.
And you're set up! At this point, you should be able to run the server at any time with only one command; you don't need to repeat any of the previous steps again. The command to run the server is: