Acquia now recommends that users transition to Acquia Cloud IDE for a managed, cloud-based development environment. If you prefer a local setup on Windows, several robust community-supported alternatives have replaced Dev Desktop:

| Component | Requirement | |-----------|-------------| | | Windows 10 Pro/Enterprise/Education (64-bit) or Windows 11 | | RAM | 8 GB minimum (16 GB recommended) | | Storage | 10 GB free space (SSD strongly advised) | | CPU | Dual-core Intel or AMD (quad-core recommended) | | Virtualization | Hyper-V or Virtualization Technology (VT-x) disabled or configured correctly |

Acquia Dev Desktop is a free, all-in-one local development solution specifically designed for Drupal. It packages Apache, MySQL, PHP, and Solr into a single application with a graphical user interface (GUI). Unlike generic local servers, Dev Desktop is optimized for Drupal’s unique requirements, including Drush integration, XDebug support, and one-click acquisition of Drupal core and distributions.

Acquia has shifted focus toward Acquia Cloud IDE and Code Studio, but the legacy Dev Desktop installer is still available for developers who prefer local virtualized environments.