If you're here, it means you've encountered an issue with the development environment and need help. We hope you find what you're looking for!
"It Won't Install!"
I don't have enough disk space.
The development environment needs about 6GB of hard disk space. Try freeing some space up and run the installer again.
If you really truly can't free up that space, contact the course staff and we'll see what we can do.
It says it wants my password, but I can't type it in.
On some operating systems (macOS and Linux), when the installer prompts for your password, you may not see any feedback from the terminal when you type your password. That's a security feature to prevent someone from looking over your shoulder and seeing how long your password is. Just type your password as normal and hint enter when you're done. Even though you won't see any visible feedback that characters are being entered, the computer is reading what you type.
I rebooted my machine during a Windows install, and the installer didn't start up again.
If this happens, you can manually rerun the installer by following the instructions to navigate to your downloads folder, open a command prompt, and type the installer name in. This will rerun the installer where it left off.
I can't get the Windows installer to start.
If the Windows installer won't run on your machine, you can follow these alternate instructions to manually run the installer.
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Download the following file:
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Open File Explorer (WinKey + E) and navigate to your Downloads folder.
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Click the address bar within the window, to the right of the word "Downloads." You should see a place to type a command.
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Type
cmdand hit enter. This will bring up the Windows command prompt. -
Type
install-cs193v-windows.cmdand hit enter. This will launch the installer.
I get an error about "hashes of received file" with long alphanumeric strings.
This error sometimes occurs on macOS if you have Screen Time enabled. Temporarily disable Screen Time, run the installer again, and reenable Screen Time after the installation completes.
(Something else going wrong? Reach out to the course staff to ask for help and we'll update this section.)
"I Can't Start the Environment!"
I'm running the CS193V Development Environment program and nothing happens!
On macOS, this sometimes happens if you already have the development environment open in a terminal window. Check to see if any of your terminal windows are already open to the development environment. If so, great! Problem solved. If not, contact the course staff.
I'm not seeing the "Welcome to the CS193V Development Environment!" message when running on Windows.
Windows will have two different entries into your start menu. The first is the "CS193V Development Environment," whose icon is the CS193V logo. That's the one you want to launch. The second is labeled just "CS193V." If you choose that latter one, you'll end up inside a command prompt but outside the environment. Exit out of that terminal window and look for the one with the full, longer name. (If you can't find that one, it may mean the install failed. Try rerunning the installer.)
(Something else going wrong? Reach out to the course staff to ask for help and we'll update this section.)
"It's Running and Weird Things Are Happening!"
Claude tells me how to copy text, but nothing is copying.
Claude Code really truly does its best to give you advice about how to copy text, but across operating systems and terminals sometimes it doesn't get it right.
If you're having trouble with a copy-paste, try the following:
- macOS: Press FN while dragging to select, then do ⌘+C to copy.
- Windows: Press SHIFT while dragging to select, then do SHIFT+CTRL+C to copy.
- Linux: Press SHIFT while dragging to select, then do SHIFT+CTRL+C to copy.
A coding agent told me to look somewhere for a file, but it's not there.
The development environment runs inside a container. It sees a folder named projects, that inside the container lives at ~/projects. However, that folder has a different location on your machine. If the coding agents tell you to look somewhere on your computer for a file and you can't find that spot, ask the coding agent where it is on your host machine, and it will tell you where to look and how to get there.
(Something else going wrong? Reach out to the course staff to ask for help and we'll update this section.)