Setup Windows Devinstall Script Option

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CNTK developer install script options

The developer installation script (devInstall.ps1) is a PowerShell script located in the Tools subdirectory inside the root of the CNTK repository. The script can be run with several options to adopt the installation to your specific needs. Standard usage of the script is explained here. On this page we will list the additional installation options. You can get an overview about all the available options by executing get-help -full .\devInstall.ps1 from inside a PowerShell command window in the directory containing the installation script.

Note: If you have an existing Anaconda environment that you want to install CNTK to, take a look at the AnacondaBasePath option below.

Overview:

./devInstall.ps1 
  [-Execute]
  [-AnacondaBasePath <DIRECTORY>]
  [  
     [-NoPythonEnvironment]
  |
     [-PyEnvironmentName <NAME> ]
     [-PyVersion (27|35|36)] 
  ]
  [-localCache <DIRECTORY>]
  [-InstallLocation <DIRECTORY>]
  [-NoConfirm]

Please note, if you specify NoPythonEnvironment, you can't specify the PyVersion or the PyEnvironmentName parameter.

Parameter AnacondaBasePath

This optional parameter allows you to specify the location of an Anaconda installation to be used or created on your machine.

If you don't specify a directory through this parameter, Anaconda will be installed in C:\local\Anaconda3-4.1.1-Windows-x86_64. If the (default or by you specified) directory exists, the script will continue under the assumption that the directory contains a working Anaconda 3 (4.1.1) (or compatible) installation. The script will create the CNTK Python environment in that location (unless the parameter NoPythonEnvironment is specified).

Example:

./devInstall.ps1 -AnacondaBasePath c:\Python\Anaconda3

./devInstall.ps1 -AnacondaBasePath c:\Python\Anaconda3 -NoPythonEnvironment

./devInstall.ps1 -Execute -AnacondaBasePath c:\Python\Anaconda3 -PyVersion 27 -PyEnvironmentName MyCntkEnv

Parameter NoPythonEnvironment

This is an optional parameter. If you specify this parameter, no CNTK Python environment will be created inside the AnacondaBasePath. If you specify this parameter, the parameter PyVersion and PyEnvironmentName can not be defined.

Example:

./devInstall.ps1 -NoPythonEnvironment

Parameter PyVersion

This is an optional parameter and can be used to specify the Python version used in the CNTK Python environment. Supported values for this parameter are 27, 35, or 36. The default values is 35 (for a CNTK Python 35 environment).

PyVersion influences the result of the installation by

  • The Python CNTK environment matching the selected PyVersion is created in the directory <AnacondaBasePath>\envs\cntk-py<PyVersion>.
  • The cntkpy<PyVersion>.bat file is created in the scripts directory to activate the Python environment

Example:

./devInstall.ps1 -PyVersion 35

Parameter PyEnvironmentName

This optional parameter allows to specify the name of the CNTK Anaconda environment that will be created during the installation process. By default the environment will be named cntk-py<PyVersion>, where PyVersion is being replaced by the content of the parameter to this script. If this parameter is specified by you, no version substitution in the environment will be performed.

Example:

./devInstall.ps1 -PyEnvironmentName CntkEnvironment

Parameter Execute

If you just want to see what components would be installed, you can just set the parameter -Execute:$false. The installation script will execute, but no changes to your system will be performed.

Parameter NoConfirm

By default the script will ask you to confirm before the installation process starts. If you supply this parameter, the script will start the installation without any confirmation questions.

Parameter localCache

The installer will download required files from the internet. These files are reused by the installer if possible. By default the downloaded files will be stored in the directory c:\installCacheCntk. You can specify another directory to store these files with this optional parameter.

Example:

./devInstall.ps1 -localCache c:\users\currentUser\myCache -Execute

Parameter InstallLocation

By default the majority of the installed files will be placed inside the c:\local directory. If you prefer a different location you can specify a installation directory using this optional parameter.

Example:

./devInstall.ps1 -InstallLocation c:\buildCntk -Execute

PowerShell standard parameters

PowerShell supports several standard parameters for script files. In case of problems with the installation and to report problems it could be helpful to run the script with the -Verbose option. This can make it easier to analyze installation issues.

Example:

./devInstall.ps1 -Execute -Verbose

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