replace installation instructions for windows

[MylesBorins]

Microsoft recently released Visual C++ Build Tools 2015 (Pre-release).

@mousetraps over in nodejs/node-gyp#629 (comment) documented a new preferred workflow for installing node on windows that works (including native modules).

Would a few people on windows be able to test the new instructions and see if they are more successful?

If we do update the instructions we should also update https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/#windows (as mentioned by @bengl) to reference where in depth instructions can be found.

[MylesBorins]

I also think this could be an awesome first commit on node if @mousetraps is interested

[mscdex]

Seeing as it's a "pre-release," I am not sure we should be promoting it as the recommended solution for building addons on Windows.

Perhaps @mousetraps might have some idea of when to expect a regular release?

[mousetraps]

Sure! I've been wrapped up in this for some time now and I'm pretty sure I've hit just about every possible issue, so it would be good to finally distill all that into a more comprehensive set of steps :-). I'll check with the VC team to see if I can glean any more info on timeline and make a PR this weekend with recommended instructions (including both VS install option, and new cpp build sku - making it clear that it is pre-release and providing a channel to send us feedback).

[MylesBorins]

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

@mousetraps that is awesome to hear. If it is clearly labelled and a suggested best practice from the VC team I think we can view that as a pretty solid vetting (to quell the valid fears of @mscdex)

it would appear to me that anything we can do to help the onboarding process of windows will be a huge win!

[Fishrock123]

Should we also put links to this into the installer?

[Qard]

Yay, thanks @mousetraps! As someone who mentors a bunch at nodeschool, better Windows installs would be lovely.

[mousetraps]

So, idk if you all have seen this (it made the rounds on twitter the other day), but we recently released a bunch of tips for configuring your windows dev environment (including MAX_PATH & dealing w/ native add-ons).

They're more unofficial tips / recommendations created by a few of us at msft who are committed to improving the experience, and I'm not sure they would really belong on nodejs.org, but a ton of folks have found them super valuable - thoughts on linking to that? In addition to making it easier for people to have a smooth experience w/ Node on Windows, part of the intention is to provide a direct line of communication to some of the folks at Microsoft about issues like this and also make it easier for us to communicate status on the various efforts going on without it getting lost in 300-comment-long threads.

[mousetraps]

Basically I imagine it could be a useful addition to some of the more concrete instructions: "For more tips on working w/ Node.js + Windows..."

[TooTallNate]

@mousetraps Wow that's a great tutorial! Also I installed the new build tools package, following your instructions on a Windows 10 machine and I'm compiling native addons as expected. Great work!

[MylesBorins]

@mousetraps you sent a PR right? I can't seem to find it right now

[MylesBorins]

This has landed in node-gyp!