bootf2BCA v1.5 - Flet edition for Windows (x64)
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1. Building the executables (Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit)
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What you need: a Windows 10/11 x64 computer with an internet connection, about 2 GB of free disk space
and 10-20 minutes. Administrator rights are NOT needed. Nothing else has to be installed beforehand.
1. Unzip the bootf2BCA v1.5 source package to a short path without special characters, e.g. C:\bootf2BCA
2. Open the folder bootf2BCA_v1.5\flet and double-click build_windows.bat
(or, in PowerShell: powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\build_windows.ps1)
3. Wait for "==> Done". Near the end a bootf2BCA window opens and runs the example by itself, then closes
(automated GUI test) - please do not click into it.
The script
* uses an existing Python 3.12, or downloads Python 3.12.10 from python.org (checked against its SHA-256)
and installs it for the current user only (PATH and other Python installations are not changed);
* creates the virtual environment .venv-win with the packages of requirements_windows.txt
(the same versions as the Linux build) - it does not touch any other Python installation;
* runs the regression tests of the engine (tests\, results identical to R / F2_boot.R v1.5);
* downloads the Flet Windows client (Flutter, about 40 MB) once from the Flet GitHub release
(github.com/flet-dev/flet, v1.0.3, flet-windows.zip; SHA-256 checked) and builds the executables with
"flet pack" (PyInstaller);
* tests the executables (command-line report and GUI run with the example data: percent CI lower bound
50.81, median 57.74, SIMILAR);
* writes release\bootf2BCA_v1.5_flet_windows_x64\ and release\bootf2BCA_v1.5_flet_windows_x64.zip
Options (append to build_windows.bat or build_windows.ps1):
-Clean delete .venv-win and all previous build output first
-SkipGuiTest no automated GUI test (e.g. when building through a remote session without a desktop)
-SkipTests no tests at all (not recommended)
-NoConsoleVariant build only the desktop application
-Python C:\path\python.exe use this Python 3.12
A log of the whole build is written to build_windows.log. build_info.txt in the release folder records the
Windows version, the Python version and all package versions used.
Internet addresses used by the build: www.python.org (only if Python 3.12 is missing), pypi.org and
files.pythonhosted.org (packages), github.com and release-assets.githubusercontent.com (Flet client).
Behind a proxy, set it first, e.g.: set HTTPS_PROXY=http://proxy:8080 (then run build_windows.bat in the
same command prompt).
2. The executables
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bootf2BCA_v1.5_flet_windows_x64.exe desktop application (double-click). No console window.
bootf2BCA_v1.5_flet_windows_x64_console.exe the same program with a console window: use it for the
command-line mode and for diagnostic output.
SHA256SUMS.txt, build_info.txt, ref.txt / test.txt (example data), windows_gui_results.png (GUI test)
Both are single files and need no installation; copy them anywhere. On the first start the Flet client is
unpacked to %USERPROFILE%\.flet\client (a few seconds); later starts are faster. The Visual C++ runtime and
the graphics libraries of the Flet client (ANGLE) are included; nothing else has to be installed.
Command line (console variant):
bootf2BCA_v1.5_flet_windows_x64_console.exe --cli --ref ref.txt --test test.txt --out report.txt
bootf2BCA_v1.5_flet_windows_x64_console.exe --cli --help
Other options: --web (GUI in the default web browser, offline) --debug (detailed console log)
3. Troubleshooting
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* "Windows protected your PC" (SmartScreen): the executables are not code-signed. Click "More info" ->
"Run anyway". For distribution inside an organisation, sign them with your code-signing certificate, e.g.
signtool sign /fd SHA256 /tr http://timestamp.digicert.com /td SHA256 /a bootf2BCA_v1.5_flet_windows_x64.exe
* Antivirus programs occasionally report single-file PyInstaller programs (false positive). Check the file
against SHA256SUMS.txt and, if needed, add an exception or submit the file to the vendor.
* "SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED" (build of 2026-10-15 and earlier): Python's own download of the Flet client
did not trust the certificate chain. The script now downloads the client with PowerShell, which uses the
Windows certificate store and proxy settings. Run build_windows.bat again (no -Clean needed).
* The build stops at "installing the packages": check the internet / proxy connection; with a very long
folder path move the folder to C:\bootf2BCA and run build_windows.bat -Clean.
* The GUI test does not finish (e.g. remote desktop session minimised, locked screen): run
build_windows.bat -SkipGuiTest and start the desktop application by hand to check the window.
* The window does not open on a particular PC: start the console variant with --debug and send the output
to the author; --web opens the same GUI in the web browser.
