Hi @frech87 - thanks for your issue report. I don't own a windows machine myself, this is what GPT-5 tells me might be possible at present:

Short answer: Yes, you can build this on Windows, but not “as-is” from a plain cmd/PowerShell prompt. The current build relies on a Unix-like toolchain (make, cmake, pkg-config, shell utils) and builds/links C/C++ libraries via pkg-config into CGO. On Windows you need either a Unix layer (MSYS2 or WSL) or you need to bypass pkg-config and wire up CGO flags manually.

Below are two workable paths and the minimal repo tweaks that will make it smoother.

Option 1 (recommended): Native Windows build using MSYS2/MinGW This keeps the existing Makefile + pkg-config workflow.

Install MSYS2 and use the MINGW64 shell, then install packages:

pacman -Syu
pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-{toolchain,cmake,pkg-config,go,ffmpeg,make,git}

Open the MINGW64 terminal (important so you get the MinGW gcc, cmake, and pkg-config), then:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/mutablelogic/go-whisper
cd go-whisper
make whisper

Notes:
This invokes CMake to build whisper.cpp statically and installs headers/libs to build/install prefix, generates a whisper.pc, and then builds the Go binary using pkg-config via CGO.
If you hit ffmpeg issues: MSYS2 provides prebuilt ffmpeg + .pc files. If the submodule build in third_party/go-media conflicts, skip that target and use the system ffmpeg (see “Repo changes” below).

Option 2: Pure MSVC/Visual Studio toolchain (no pkg-config) Use this if you want to stay in a Developer Command Prompt for VS and link with cl/link.

Build whisper.cpp with CMake/VS:

cmake -S third_party/whisper.cpp -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF
cmake --build build --config Release
cmake --install build --prefix C:\path\to\install
Build the Go binary by pointing CGO directly at the include/lib dirs (skip pkg-config):
Set environment in a VS “Developer Command Prompt”:
set CGO_ENABLED=1
set CC=cl
set CXX=cl
set CGO_CFLAGS=/IC:\path\to\install\include
set CGO_LDFLAGS=/LIBPATH:C:\path\to\install\lib whisper.lib ggml.lib
go build -o build\whisper.exe .\cmd\whisper

Notes:
If you need ffmpeg, either provide MSVC-compatible .lib files and add them to CGO_LDFLAGS, or disable the ffmpeg-dependent parts (see “Repo changes”).
pkg-config isn’t commonly used with MSVC; this is why you feed CGO_LDFLAGS/CFLAGS directly.
GPU acceleration on Windows

CUDA: whisper.cpp supports CUDA on Windows with MSVC. Build whisper.cpp with -DGGML_CUDA=ON in the VS environment. Then build the Go binary as above. If using the MSYS2 path, CUDA is trickier; prefer MSVC for CUDA on Windows.
Vulkan: install the Vulkan SDK. With MSYS2 + MinGW use -DGGML_VULKAN=ON; with MSVC use the VS environment and add include/lib paths similarly.

Minimal repo changes to make Windows support smoother

Makefile

Don’t unconditionally build ffmpeg. Gate it so Windows builds can skip the “libffmpeg” step (or detect MSYS2’s system ffmpeg via pkg-config). For example:
Add an env toggle like FFMPEG_SYSTEM=1 to skip third_party/go-media and rely on system ffmpeg.
Or for Windows, make libffmpeg a no-op unless explicitly requested.
Prefer GOOS/GOARCH instead of uname/arch where used for tagging; MSYS2 has uname, but this avoids surprises.

pkg-config generation

Ensure the generated whisper.pc on MinGW emits:
- Libs: -L${libdir} -lwhisper -lggml -lstdc++ -lwinpthread
- Cflags: -I${includedir}

That combination links cleanly with MinGW gcc on Windows.

CGO fallback without pkg-config
Add a Windows build note or a small Go build tag path that allows using direct CGO_CFLAGS/CGO_LDFLAGS (as shown above) so developers with MSVC aren’t forced into pkg-config.

Docs
Add a “Building on Windows” section to README with the two paths above, including the MSYS2 package list and the MSVC CGO environment example.
Call out that ffmpeg on Windows is easiest via MSYS2 packages, or otherwise must be provided as MSVC .lib files.
Quick sanity checks after building

From the same shell you built the C libs in:

go test ./sys/whisper/...
go build -o build/whisper ./cmd/whisper

Run build/whisper models or transcribe a .wav to verify.

Summary

Works on Windows with either:

MSYS2 + MinGW (pkg-config flow unchanged), or
MSVC + manual CGO flags (no pkg-config).

The only “code” change likely needed is making the ffmpeg step optional and ensuring the generated .pc on MinGW includes -lwinpthread/-lstdc++. Everything else is configuration and documentation.

Develop in Windows OS #81

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