Hi Margaret,
Whether your underlying operating system is Linux or Windows, AtoM is intended to be installed on a server, not a personal computer like a desktop or laptop. We do provide a fairly easy way to set up a local test instance on a personal computer (our Vagrant box - see the
documentation or
slides), but these are NOT intended for use in production, as they are not scaled or stable enough to be run persistently on the web and accessible to public traffic.
With that out of the way:
It will certainly be easier to install and maintain AtoM on a Linux Ubuntu server. AtoM uses a number of open source libraries that may not always have direct compatible equivalents on Windows. We don't test installations on Windows servers, and still strongly recommend virtualization as your best approach for Windows environments.
There are virtual appliances that can be used on Windows servers for production use. You would want to install an Ubuntu 18.04 image to run in your VM - after that, you can just follow the regular Ubuntu installation instructions for AtoM inside the virtual O/S.
So: it can be done, but if you don't have someone local experienced with system administration and virtualization, then you may want to consider other options, such as hosting or remote technical support.
Cheers,