Personal Notes on Windows 11 Development Environment Setup, Optimization, and Software Installation

Background: Setting Up Windows 11 for Development

When doing a clean install of Windows 11 or setting up a new PC, the default state often has unnecessary background features enabled, and Explorer settings are not optimized for developers.

This document serves as a personal setup guide for adjusting development settings, building a Dev Drive, centralizing package manager (Bun, npm, pnpm) caches, and installing frequently used software tools. It is based on the core configuration options available in Windows 11 as of June 2026.

[!NOTE]
Tuning Philosophy of This Guide
We will not perform extreme tweaks often seen in optimization articles on the internet, such as "stopping 50 unnecessary services," "modifying the registry," or "disabling Windows Defender." In modern Windows environments, these changes offer virtually no performance benefits. Instead, they are highly likely to cause system corruption, Windows Update failures, and severe security risks. This guide strictly focuses on safe approaches that improve development productivity and file access speeds while maintaining OS stability.

Overview of Configuration Steps

The overall setup workflow is outlined below. It is divided into three main phases: adjusting standard OS settings, optimizing disk access using a Dev Drive, and batch installing software tools.

flowchart TB
    A[Clean OS Installation] --> B[Disable Standard Features & Explorer Setup]
    B --> C[Enable Dev Mode & Create Dev Drive V:]
    C --> D[Enable Terminal & sudo]
    D --> E[Move Package Manager Cache to V:]
    E --> F[Install Recommended Software]

Disabling Standard Features and Modifying Explorer Settings

Disable unnecessary background processes and widgets to free up system resources, and adjust File Explorer settings to improve file visibility.

Organizing the Taskbar

Right-click the taskbar, select "Taskbar settings," and disable unnecessary items.

• Widgets: OFF

Disabling Startup Apps

Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), navigate to the "Startup apps" tab, and disable unnecessary programs that launch automatically upon login.

• Microsoft Teams: Disabled
• Microsoft OneDrive: Disabled

Modifying OneDrive Sync Settings

If you use OneDrive but want to limit automatic synchronization, open the OneDrive settings from the notification area.

• Go to "Settings" > "Sync and backup" > "Manage backup," and turn OFF backup for all folders.
• If you rely on OneDrive for system backup in your workflow, you can skip this step.

Explorer Display Settings

Open File Explorer, click the "..." (See more) menu at the top, and select "Options."

• "View" Tab Settings:
  • Uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types."
• "General" Tab Settings:
  • Change "Open File Explorer to" from Home to "This PC" (to avoid lag when loading the Home dashboard).

Disabling Microsoft Edge Background Processes

Open Microsoft Edge, go to "Settings" > "System and performance," and disable unnecessary persistent features.

• Startup boost: OFF
• Continue running background extensions and apps when Microsoft Edge is closed: OFF

Enabling Developer Features and Creating a Dev Drive

Adjust OS settings to target developer workflows and build a Dev Drive (formatted as ReFS) for high-speed file access.

What is a Dev Drive?

A Dev Drive is a storage optimization feature introduced in Windows 11 specifically for developers. It uses the "ReFS (Resilient File System)" format instead of the traditional NTFS, offering better resilience and performance.

By utilizing ReFS, it drastically improves I/O performance for tasks that access a massive number of files, such as package manager operations (npm, Bun, etc.), Git repository operations, and project build processes. It is a highly effective way to eliminate disk I/O bottlenecks in your dev environment.

Enabling Developer Mode

Go to Windows "Settings" > "System" > "For developers," and toggle Developer Mode to ON.

Creating a Dev Drive

Go to "Settings" > "System" > "Storage" > "Advanced storage settings" > "Disks & volumes" to create a Dev Drive.

• Select "Create developer drive" and choose the option to create a new VHD (Virtual Hard Disk).
• Specify the size (for a 1TB SSD, allocating around 256GB is recommended).
• The file location can be stored on C:\ or another primary partition.

[!NOTE]
The exact path and menu layout may vary depending on your Windows 11 version or build. If you cannot find the settings through the steps above, check "Settings" > "System" > "Storage" > "Advanced storage settings" > "Dev Drive" to see if there is a direct shortcut.

Mounting the Dev Drive

In "Settings" > "System" > "Storage" > "Advanced storage settings" > "Disks & volumes," choose "Attach VHD" to mount the virtual disk you just created.

• It is highly recommended to mount the drive to the drive letter V:\.

Configuring the Terminal and Enabling sudo

Set up the default terminal application and enable standard administrative command execution.

• Default Terminal Settings:
  • Go to "Settings" > "System" > "Terminal" and set the default terminal application to "Windows Terminal."
• Enabling sudo:
  • Go to "Settings" > "System" > "For developers" (or "Terminal") and toggle "Enable sudo" to ON.

Moving Package Manager Caches to the Dev Drive

To speed up dependency resolution and builds, direct your package manager caches to the Dev Drive (V:).

Open PowerShell and execute the following commands to redirect each package manager's cache directory to the Dev Drive (V:):

setx BUN_INSTALL_CACHE_DIR V:\cache\Bun
npm config set cache V:\cache\npm
pnpm config set store-dir V:\cache\pnpm

[!WARNING]
Bun goes through frequent updates and specification changes. Be aware that the method of designating its cache via environment variables could change in future releases. You can verify your active cache path at any time by running bun pm cache.

After configuring the paths, you can optionally run the following command to update your system packages in bulk:

winget upgrade --all

Recommended Software for a Windows 11 Development Environment

To minimize manual downloads and installations, utilize the Microsoft Store and Windows Package Manager (winget).
We recommend installing tools in this priority order: Microsoft Store > UniGetUI > Portable Apps.

Why Use UniGetUI?

UniGetUI (formerly WinGetUI) is an open-source utility that provides a graphical user interface (GUI) to manage packages across multiple managers like winget, Chocolatey, and Scoop.

Even if you are not accustomed to command-line package management, you can search for and install tools with a single click. It also detects updates for installed software and allows for batch updates, drastically improving package management efficiency.

Utilities Installed via the Microsoft Store

Search and install the following applications through the Microsoft Store app or web store.

Tools Installed via winget, Chocolatey, npm, and Others

Install these utilities via UniGetUI or by running winget install in PowerShell. If a package is available across multiple repositories, winget is preferred by default, followed by Chocolatey and npm.

Utilizing Portable Apps

For lightweight utilities you want to run without writing to the registry, download their portable versions from PortableApps.com and organize them within a folder on the V: drive.

Important Notes & Troubleshooting

• Dev Drive Cache & Antivirus Software:
  • Dev Drives behave differently compared to traditional NTFS volumes. By default, Windows Defender applies "Performance Mode" (asynchronous scanning) to files on a Dev Drive. However, if you use third-party antivirus software, you may need to configure exclusion boundaries manually to prevent overhead.
• Environment Variable Propagation:
  • After setting environment variables via setx, you must close and restart your active terminal sessions (PowerShell or Command Prompt) for the changes to take effect.

Conclusion

By following these setup steps, you can restrict unnecessary Windows background processes and establish a highly responsive development environment powered by a Dev Drive. Just migrating your package manager caches to the Dev Drive yields a noticeable decrease in install times and project build times.