# Installed 19.3... \[node-red/tail\] not currently supported on Windows

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installed-19-3-node-red-tail-not-currently-supported-on-windows/3150>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [14 September 2018 19:55 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installed-19-3-node-red-tail-not-currently-supported-on-windows/3150 "2018-09-14T19:55:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tree-frog](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/tree-frog/32/89303_2.png) [@tree-frog](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/tree-frog)\
**Post date:** [14 September 2018 19:55 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installed-19-3-node-red-tail-not-currently-supported-on-windows/3150/1 "2018-09-14T19:55:13Z")

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I took a look to see if there was any information on this. There was a few, but the context of the discussion does not explain what [node-red/tail] is. and what and why it is not supported on windows.

Can someone please elaborate on this..

Kind Regards,

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**Author:** ![JayDickson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/jaydickson/32/90592_2.png) [@JayDickson](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/JayDickson)\
**Post date:** [14 September 2018 20:02 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installed-19-3-node-red-tail-not-currently-supported-on-windows/3150/2 "2018-09-14T20:02:19Z")

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tail is a unix/linux command that allows the last couple lines of a file to be printed into a shell window. This is useful for "tailing" logs - as the file is updated, each line shows up immediately on screen (or in a console) giving you a scroll of events.

node-red tail is a node that uses this functionality to send the output of the tail command as messages. Since windows doesn't have tail natively it won't be usable. I'm not 100%, but [https://nodered.org/docs/getting-started/running](https://nodered.org/docs/getting-started/running) makes mention of adding a tail.exe to windows, so this may be doable with some extra work.

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**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [14 September 2018 22:42 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/installed-19-3-node-red-tail-not-currently-supported-on-windows/3150/3 "2018-09-14T22:42:19Z")

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I seem to remember that there IS a Node.js tail module that does support Windows but as I've not had need to use it, I've never found time to sort through the issues and try for a PR I'm afraid.