<p>You'll get that error (regardless of OS) if the <code>SECURITY_KEY</code> variable isn't set in your <code>.env</code> file: <a href="https://github.com/craftcms/craft/blob/master/.env.example#L5" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/craftcms/craft/blob/master/.env.example#L5</a></p>

<p>See this step in the install docs: <a href="https://docs.craftcms.com/v3/installation.html#step-3-set-a-security-key" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://docs.craftcms.com/v3/installation.html#step-3-set-a-security-key</a></p>

<p>If you run the <code>craft setup</code> terminal command, it will generate that key for you, but depending on how you install Craft, you can also manually set it.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-16T21:19:45.753Z
2018-09-16T21:19:45.753Z
Brad Bell
<p>I was tried to run Craft 3 on a Windows machine, it has shown the multiple errors.</p>

<pre><code>An Error occurred while handling another error:
yii\base\InvalidConfigException: craft\web\Request::cookieValidationKey must be configured with a secret key. in D:\xampp\htdocs\craft\vendor\yiisoft\yii2\web\Request.php:1554
Stack trace:
#0 D:\xampp\htdocs\craft\vendor\yiisoft\yii2\web\Request.php(1536): yii\web\Request-&gt;loadCookies()
</code></pre>

<craft3>
Craft CMS 3 error in Windows installation process
# Craft CMS 3 error in Windows installation process

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-09-16)

I was tried to run Craft 3 on a Windows machine, it has shown the multiple errors.
An Error occurred while handling another error:
yii\base\InvalidConfigException: craft\web\Request::cookieValidationKey must be configured with a secret key. in D:\xampp\htdocs\craft\vendor\yiisoft\yii2\web\Request.php:1554
Stack trace:
#0 D:\xampp\htdocs\craft\vendor\yiisoft\yii2\web\Request.php(1536): yii\web\Request->loadCookies()

**Tags:** craft3


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-09-16. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

You'll get that error (regardless of OS) if the `SECURITY_KEY` variable isn't set in your `.env` file: <https://github.com/craftcms/craft/blob/master/.env.example#L5>

See this step in the install docs: <https://docs.craftcms.com/v3/installation.html#step-3-set-a-security-key>

If you run the `craft setup` terminal command, it will generate that key for you, but depending on how you install Craft, you can also manually set it.


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