Install LexiSuite on Windows

Status, 11/11/2026: not released. The installer now has direct native Windows Service Control Manager operations and pure service-reconciliation contracts. Its Windows-target build and physical Windows installation/service startup have not been run or qualified. Until a signed, tested Windows release is published, the windows directory of the current image may contain a status note instead of LexiSuite-Setup.exe. This page documents the implemented behavior and remaining release requirements.

The Windows installer runs on Windows 10 or Windows 11, x64. It installs the Panel and Engine from the LEXISUITE USB volume without booting that volume. GPU drivers are supplied by Windows and your GPU vendor; this installer does not install or change them.

From the USB stick

Open windows/LexiSuite-Setup.exe on the LEXISUITE drive. Its menu offers:

1. Install: choose the Panel, Engine, or both, then This user or All users. Only an all-users installation requests administrator elevation. The optional “reachable from other computers” selection opens TCP 8090 on private Windows networks; the default is loopback only.
2. Run from the stick: starts the portable Panel and Engine from suite/windows-x86_64/, creates a data folder in Documents/LexiSuite (or the folder supplied with --data), and opens the local Panel. No services, logon tasks, registry entries, firewall rules, or program files are installed. The separate data folder holds models and settings.
3. Upgrade: stages a new copy of selected programs before replacing the installed version. Data stays in its existing folder and the previous program generation is saved alongside the current generation. Start the setup executable on the new USB medium for upgrades rather than running the setup copy inside the current installation.
4. Roll back: restores the saved program generation, including its previous component and network selections. Models, settings, and keys are not rolled back.
5. Uninstall: unregisters startup entries, removes the program generations, shortcut, uninstall entry and the owned firewall rule. By default models, settings, and keys remain. If you explicitly choose to delete data, the installer displays the folder to be deleted and asks for confirmation.
6. Check (doctor): lists CPU, available RAM, display adapters and adapter-reported memory and drivers, free disk space, Vulkan loader presence, and NVIDIA/AMD display-driver presence. Some Windows adapter memory values use a 32-bit field and can under-report cards with large VRAM; confirm their true capacity using the vendor's driver utility.

The installer expects windows/LexiSuite-Setup.exe and suite/windows-x86_64/lexi.exe and/or suite/windows-x86_64/lexi-engine.exe on the same media root. An install does not proceed if a selected component is missing. Component payloads need to be built for Windows by the release process before creating the USB image.

Installed locations

The Start menu shortcut opens http://127.0.0.1:8090. It is created only when the Panel is installed. Current-user task names carry a stable profile-derived suffix so different users do not overwrite each other's scheduled tasks. All-users services are registered with the program command line "<path>\lexi.exe" --service or "<path>\lexi-engine.exe" --service respectively, with automatic start and restart-on-failure recovery. The service entry points are implemented by the separately built Windows Panel/Engine packages.

Machine services are configured through a small audited Windows system interface in lexi-sys rather than shelling out to sc.exe. It calls CreateServiceW for new services, ChangeServiceConfigW for upgrades, and ChangeServiceConfig2W for restart-on-failure recovery and the non-crash failure flag. Startup, shutdown and removal use StartServiceW, ControlService and DeleteService. The installer remains safe Rust. Services are registered to start automatically; recovery requests restart after five seconds, with a 24-hour reset interval. The Engine is configured and started before the Panel. Old services are removed if a later install deselects their component; uninstall removes both possible registrations.

User tasks use Task Scheduler, firewall changes use the built-in netsh advfirewall interface, and Apps & Features entries use the Windows uninstall registry. For an all-users install, administrator privileges are required to use the service manager. Cleanup failures are reported rather than silently implying that a registration was removed.

Only all-users installations can request the inbound firewall exception. To change exposure, upgrade/reinstall with the chosen selection. Remote Panel access additionally requires the Panel's own authentication policy; enabling the rule does not bypass that policy. Avoid plaintext remote access on untrusted networks.

Command line

From the USB root's windows directory:

LexiSuite-Setup.exe install --scope user
LexiSuite-Setup.exe install --scope all --reachable
LexiSuite-Setup.exe install --scope user --no-engine
LexiSuite-Setup.exe run --data "D:\AI Data"
LexiSuite-Setup.exe doctor
LexiSuite-Setup.exe upgrade --scope all
LexiSuite-Setup.exe rollback --scope all
LexiSuite-Setup.exe uninstall --scope user
LexiSuite-Setup.exe uninstall --scope all --delete-data

For a relocated payload, pass --media "D:\" to install or upgrade. Installation is refused if the named media root does not contain the expected Windows payload folder. A current-user installation does not change system firewall rules; use all-users installation for optional LAN reachability.

Current limitations: This is a text-mode Windows installer, not a graphical wizard. On Windows, large GPU memory values may be under-reported by the built-in adapter interface. A prepared Windows installer requires Windows-target Panel and Engine payloads; the Linux release binaries cannot be copied to Windows and expected to run. The Windows services depend on the native service-mode entry points in those products. Hardware execution, code signing, and Windows cross-compilation require the corresponding external release infrastructure.

Build and qualification status

The new service actions are exercised by Linux-hosted, pure contract tests (g3_07_service_reconciliation_is_pure_and_ordered and g3_07_removal_covers_stale_service_registrations). This is not proof that Windows services start correctly. The installer still needs an x86_64 Windows MSVC compilation, Windows 10/11 runtime tests for service install/upgrade/delete, task scheduling, rollback, elevation and restart recovery, and a native Panel/Engine service-mode payload. The Windows-only lexi-sys dependency must also be reflected in the integrating workspace lockfile before a --locked build. No production media should claim this executable is qualified until those checks pass.