You can only develop React Native for Windows app on Windows. You can run React Native for Windows apps only on:

• All Windows 11 devices
• Up-to-date Windows 10 devices (see Windows OS Compatibility for details)

To develop React-Native for Windows apps, you need to install several dependencies.

To check or install dependencies, run the script rnw-dependencies.ps1 in an elevated PowerShell window.

Run this command: Start an elevated PowerShell window and run:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process -Force;
iex (New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://aka.ms/rnw-vs2022-deps.ps1');

The recommended way is to use the script above as the information in this manual section is likely to get out of date

Alternatively, you can setup your environment manually:

• Ensure Developer Mode is turned ON in Windows Settings App.
• It is highly recommended to update the Windows system.
• Install the latest version of Visual Studio 2022 with the following options checked:
  • Workloads
    • Node.js development, or one of the following alternatives:
      • Install from Individual Components:
        • Development activities
          • Node.js development support
      • Install Node.js separately, see below for some options
    • .NET Desktop development
    • Desktop development with C++
      • Include MSVC v143 - VS 2022 C++ x64/x86 build tools (Latest) (check under 'Optional')
    • Universal Windows Platform development
      • Include C++ (v143) Universal Windows Platform tools (check under 'Optional')
  • Individual Components
    • Include Windows 10 SDK (10.0.22621.0) (target OS version from this table)
    • Include MSVC v143 - VS 2022 C++ ARM64 build tools (Latest) (to target ARM64 devices)
• Enable Long Paths in Windows 10, Version 1607, and Later.
• Install the latest version of the .NET 6.0 SDK.

Options to install Node.js separately:

• Using WinGet (React Native recommended). To use WinGet, from an elevated Command Prompt, run:

winget install OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS --version 18.18.0

• Using another package manager such as Scoop or Node Version Switcher (nvs)
• Directly from Node.js

Optional steps that are highly recommended:

• Install Yarn (required to contribute to react-native-windows)
• Install git using a method such as:
  • Using a package manager such as WinGet, Chocolatey or Scoop
  • Install git for Windows
  • Install GitHub Desktop

• If after running the app, the packager does not update (or) app does not show React Native content - close the packager command prompt window and the app, make sure browser is open, run yarn start and run the app from Visual Studio again.
• If you get a red error box in your UWP app window with the error message : ERROR: Instance failed to start. A connection with the server cannot be established, make sure you have the packager running using yarn start and run the app again.