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🚀 Getting Started with Cortex Workstation

Welcome to Cortex Workstation! This guide will walk you through system requirements, installation, and launching the application.

💻 System Requirements

Specification Minimum Requirement Recommended
Operating System Windows 10 (Build 19041+) or Windows 11 Windows 11 (22H2+ recommended for DirectStorage & Dev Drives)
Python Runtime Python 3.10 to 3.14 (64-bit) Python 3.12 or 3.14
Processor Dual-core x64 CPU Modern Quad-core or higher (supports multi-threaded hash pipelines)
Memory (RAM) 4 GB RAM 8 GB+ RAM
Disk Space 500 MB free storage 2 GB+ (for caches, forensic reports, and index storage)

📦 Windows Standalone Executables (No Setup Required)

If you are an end-user or system administrator who wants to run Cortex Workstation without installing Python, Rust, or compilers:

Architecture / Distribution Format Support Status Download & Execution Method
Windows 10/11 x64 Setup Installer
(Recommended)		 .exe ✅ Fully Supported Download Cortex-Workstation-v1.2.0-Setup.exe (338 MB) from GitHub Release v1.2.0. Automated 1-click installer with desktop & Start Menu shortcuts and clean uninstaller.
Windows 10/11 x64 Standalone Portable .zip ✅ Fully Supported Download Cortex-Workstation-v1.2.0-Windows-x64.zip (328 MB). Extract anywhere and run CortexCleaner.exe. Zero installation required.
Windows 11 ARM64
(Snapdragon X Elite / Copilot+ PCs)		 .exe / .zip ✅ Supported via Emulation Supported on Windows ARM64 via Microsoft Prism x64 emulation. Runs seamlessly with zero setup.
Windows 32-bit (x86) — ❌ Not Supported PySide6 / Qt 6 officially dropped 32-bit Windows support upstream in Qt 6.0; Windows 11 itself strictly requires a 64-bit CPU architecture.

🛠️ Developer Installation from Source

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/Destroyer-official/Cortex-Workstation.git
cd Cortex-Workstation

2. Set Up a Virtual Environment

# Using standard Python
python -m venv venv
.\venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

# Or using Conda
conda create -n cortex python=3.12 -y
conda activate cortex

3. Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt
pip install -r requirements-dev.txt

🎮 Launching the Application

To launch the full 139-tool workstation interface with HiDPI support and modern themes: 

python run_gui.py

Or run the one-click Conda launcher: 

.\run_with_conda.ps1

Command Line Interface (CLI)

Cortex Workstation includes 21 high-throughput CLI subcommands for headless and server environments: 

# View all available CLI tools
python -m cortex_unified.cli --help

# Run a quick system disk analysis
python -m cortex_unified.cli analyze-disk --path C:\

# Clean temporary files (dry run by default)
python -m cortex_unified.cli clean-temp --dry-run

🔐 Administrative Privileges

While basic file analysis, deduplication, and file management run in user-space, certain forensic and repair tools require elevated permissions: * Registry Compaction & Cleaning * Windows Update (DISM / SFC) Repair * DirectStorage BypassIO Tuning * Memory Standby Purging * VSS Shadow Copy Management

To access these features, right-click your terminal or launcher and select "Run as administrator".