OpenClaw is a free, open-source personal AI assistant designed to run on your own PC. Once installed, you can connect it to an AI model like Claude, ChatGPT, lor Ollama and then link things like WhatsApp, Telegram, or Discord, and have a 24/7 assistant that can answer questions, automate tasks, manage files, browse the web, and handle a lot more. Wicked cool, right?

The problem is getting it running on Windows. Most Windows users expect to double-click an .exe and be done with it in a couple of clicks. OpenClaw uses a command-line installer and depends on things like Node.js, npm, and WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux). This is something common in the Linux worls but it's not exactly the most intuitive process.

Alos, my first run through an install, I accidently filled my C: drive and cleaning up was a bit of a pain as although there is a CLi unistall process it misses a lot of stuff.

And, that is exactly why these helper scripts exist. Double-click, follow the prompts, and most of the messy setup is handled for you. Will it work 100% of the time? Probably But the truth is there are some many configurations, that you may need something else. But it should work for 90% of you and same a lot of time. But if you hit a problem, just ask for help in thee comments or the forums.

What Is Included

This is not a true installer like yu may ne used to. It is a collection of scripts that install the prerequisites for OpenClaw and then attempts the OpenClaw install.

• InstallOpenClaw.bat , Double-click to install OpenClaw.
• install-openclaw.ps1 , The PowerShell script that handles the actual install.
• Uninstall OpenClaw.bat , Double-click to fully remove OpenClaw.
• uninstall-openclaw.ps1 , Removes services, tasks, folders, and leftovers.
• README.txt , Full instructions and troubleshooting info.

All five files need to stay in the same folder or the scripts will not work.

How to Install

1. Extract all five files into the same folder.
2. Double-click Install OpenClaw.bat and click Yes when Windows throws the UAC prompt.
3. If WSL2 is not already installed, the script offers to install it. Say yes. OpenClaw works much better with it. If Windows needs a reboot, restart and run the installer again afterward.
4. If Node.js v22 or newer is missing, the script installs it for you automatically.
5. OpenClaw is then downloaded and installed. When finished, the openclaw onboard setup wizard launches so you can connect your AI model and messaging apps.
6. You will need an API key from your AI provider during setup, for example Anthropic for Claude or OpenAI for ChatGPT.

How to Uninstall

1. Double-click Uninstall OpenClaw.bat and click Yes on the UAC prompt.
2. Confirm the uninstall when asked. The script stops the gateway, removes scheduled tasks, deletes config folders, and uninstalls the npm package.
3. Afterward, revoke any OAuth tokens you gave OpenClaw on third-party services. The uninstaller cannot remove those because they live on external servers, not your PC.

Google: https://myaccount.google.com/permissions
Discord: https://discord.com/settings/authorized-apps
GitHub: https://github.com/settings/applications
Slack: your-workspace.slack.com/apps

What the Installer Does

The installer checks a few things before it touches your system, including admin rights, Windows support for WSL2, PowerShell execution policy, internet access, and at least 3GB of free space. It also looks for nvm-windows and warns you if it finds it, since that can conflict with a standard Node.js install.

If everything looks good, it checks for WSL2 and offers to install it if needed. OpenClaw works better with WSL2 on Windows and frankly, I couldn't get it to work without WSL2. So there is that. It then checks for Node.js v22 or newer. If Node is missing or outdated, it tries to install it. It also fixes the npm global prefix to avoid the permission errors Windows users run into all the time.

Once that is done, it installs OpenClaw with npm, verifies the install worked, then points you to launch the onboarding wizard for OpenClaw. It also saves a full timestamped log to your Desktop.

What the Uninstaller Does

The uninstaller does a more complete cleanup than a basic npm uninstall. It starts by asking for confirmation, then offers to back up your OpenClaw config folder to the Desktop in case you want to keep your settings later.

It runs the built-in OpenClaw uninstall command if available, stops running gateway and orphaned Node processes, removes Scheduled Tasks, uninstalls the npm package, deletes leftover command stubs, and removes OpenClaw data folders like .openclaw, .clawdbot, .moltbot, and .molthub. It also cleans OpenClaw entries from your PATH.

After that, it can offer to remove WSL2. If you only installed it for OpenClaw, you probably no longer need it. It also reminds you to manually revoke OAuth tokens for services like Google, Discord, GitHub, or Slack.

Like the installer, it saves a timestamped log to your Desktop.

That's it. Let us know if it helped or if it needs more features.