diff --git a/config.ini b/config.ini
index fecf2b8..c5a0943 100644
--- a/config.ini
+++ b/config.ini
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
+# items in the [home] section are copied into the home directory with the same
+# relative location as they appear in the dotfiles repo
 [home]
-dirs=
+files=
+    # sync vim plugin directories but not all of .vim
     .vim/ftplugin
     .vim/pack
 
-files=
+    # individual files to sync
     .bash_profile
     .bashrc
     .screenrc
@@ -11,3 +14,13 @@ files=
     .vimrc
     .config/htop/htoprc
     .config/lazydocker/config.yml
+
+# items in map.posix define a place where config files will be placed on posix
+# systems relative to the user's home directory
+[map.posix]
+nvim/init.vim=.config/nvim/init.vim
+
+# items in the map.windows section defines a place where config files will be
+# placed on windows, relative to the user's home directory
+[map.windows]
+nvim/init.vim=AppData/Local/nvim/init.vim
diff --git a/install b/install
index afbf5ed..bcd9f28 100755
--- a/install
+++ b/install
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
 """
 installs preferences
 """
-from installer import install
-install()
+from installer import Installer
+installer = Installer()
+installer.run()
diff --git a/installer/__init__.py b/installer/__init__.py
index ab12045..ff4e228 100644
--- a/installer/__init__.py
+++ b/installer/__init__.py
@@ -14,13 +14,7 @@ from functools import cached_property
 from installer import host
 from installer.options import Options
 from installer import log
-
-def install():
-    """
-    runs our install process based on cli arguments
-    """
-    installer = Installer()
-    installer.run()
+from installer import targets
 
 class Installer:
     """
@@ -28,86 +22,75 @@ class Installer:
     """
     def __init__(self):
         self.options = Options.from_cli_args()
-        self.config_path = "include.json"
 
     def run(self):
         """
         runs the install process
         """
-        if home_files := self.config.get('home_files'):
-            for name in home_files:
-                self.install_home_file(name)
+        if host.is_windows and not host.is_admin:
+            print("You are not admin: admin is required on Windows")
+            os.exit(1)
+
+        print("linking in home files")
+        home = self.options.config['home']
+        home_files = filter(None, home['files'].splitlines())
+        for fname in home_files:
+            print(f"\n{fname}")
+            path = pathlib.Path(fname)
+            self.map_file(path, path)
+
+        if host.is_linux:
+            self.map_section('map.posix')
+            self.map_section('map.windows')
 
-    def install_home_file(self, name):
+        if host.is_windows:
+            self.map_section('map.windows')
+
+    @cached_property
+    def targets(self):
         """
-        installs a given file
+        defines all of the places where preferences files will be installed
         """
-        log.debug("install: %s", name)
+        if host.is_linux:
+            return [targets.Linux(), targets.WSLHost()]
+
+        if host.is_windows:
+            return [targets.Windows()]
+
+        return []
+
+    def map_file(self, source_path, target_path):
+        if not source_path.is_absolute():
+            source_path = host.dotfiles_root / source_path
 
-        source_path = self.prefs_dir / name
-        log.debug("  source: %s", source_path)
+        print(f"source path: {source_path}")
+        print(f"source drive: {source_path.drive}")
         if not source_path.exists():
-            log.warning("home file source path %s does not exist", source_path)
+            print('skip: no such file')
             return
 
-        if not source_path.is_file():
-            log.warning("home file source path %s is not a file", source_path)
-            return
+        for target in self.targets:
+            target.map_file(source_path, target_path)
 
-        if host.is_linux:
-            target_path = pathlib.Path.home() / name
-            log.debug("  target: %s", target_path)
-            if target_path.exists():
-                log.debug("    target path exists, will remove")
-                target_path.unlink()
-            log.debug("    link: %s -> %s", target_path, source_path)
-            target_path.symlink_to(source_path)
-
-        if host.is_wsl:
-            target_path = self.windows_home_dir / pathlib.PureWindowsPath(name)
-            log.debug("  target: %s", target_path)
-            if target_path.exists():
-                log.debug("    target path exists, will remove")
-                target_path.unlink()
-            log.debug("    copy: %s -> %s", source_path, target_path)
-            shutil.copy(source_path, target_path)
+    @property
+    def config_path(self):
+        # pylint: disable=missing-function-docstring
+        return self.options.config
 
     @cached_property
     def config(self):
         """
-        loads the json configuration
+        the contents of our configuration file
         """
         with open(self.config_path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as config_fp:
             log.debug("loading config from path %s", self.config_path)
             return json.load(config_fp)
 
-    @property
-    def prefs_dir(self):
-        """
-        directory containing our preferences repo
-        """
-        here = pathlib.Path(os.path.realpath(__file__))
-        return here.parent.parent
-
-    @cached_property
-    def windows_home_dir(self):
-        """
-        Finds the home directory of the user's Windows home directory and
-        returns it as a Posix path representing its mount point from the
-        perspective of WSL.
-        """
-        if not host.is_wsl:
-            raise Exception("cannot get windows home dir from anything other than wsl")
-        res = subprocess.run(['wslvar', 'USERPROFILE'], check=False,
-                capture_output=True)
-        winpath = res.stdout.decode('utf-8').strip()
-        res = subprocess.run(['wslpath', winpath], check=False,
-                capture_output=True)
-        return pathlib.Path(res.stdout.decode('utf-8').strip())
-
-    def setup_file(self, fname):
-        """
-        sets up an individual file
-        """
-        source = self.prefs_dir / fname
-        print(source)
+    def map_section(self, section_name):
+        section = self.options.config[section_name]
+        for source_name in section:
+            target_name = section[source_name]
+            source_path = pathlib.Path(source_name)
+            target_path = pathlib.Path(target_name)
+            print(f"Map {source_path} to {target_path}")
+            self.map_file(source_path, target_path)
diff --git a/installer/host.py b/installer/host.py
index 5db43e6..b381dfc 100644
--- a/installer/host.py
+++ b/installer/host.py
@@ -3,8 +3,11 @@ host module represents our host: the machine on which the installer script is
 running. On WSL, that means we're on Linux
 """
 
-import sys
+import ctypes
+import os
 import platform
+import sys
+import pathlib
 from functools import cached_property
 
 class _Host:
@@ -26,4 +29,30 @@ class _Host:
         """
         return platform.system() == 'Linux'
 
+    @cached_property
+    def is_windows(self):
+        """
+        true if we're on Windows (and running Python from Windows)
+        """
+        return platform.system() == 'Windows'
+
+    @cached_property
+    def is_admin(self):
+        """
+        tells us whether the running user has admin powers or not
+        """
+        try:
+            return os.getuid() == 0
+        except AttributeError:
+            return ctypes.windll.shell32.IsUserAnAdmin() != 0
+
+    @property
+    def dotfiles_root(self):
+        """
+        directory containing our preferences repo
+        """
+        here = pathlib.Path(os.path.realpath(__file__))
+        return here.parent.parent
+
+
 sys.modules[__name__] = _Host()
diff --git a/installer/options.py b/installer/options.py
index 8ab1a19..9b07a94 100644
--- a/installer/options.py
+++ b/installer/options.py
@@ -3,8 +3,10 @@ cli options
 """
 
 import argparse
+import configparser
+import pathlib
 
-from installer import log
+from installer import log, host
 
 class Options:
     """
@@ -24,10 +26,7 @@ class Options:
                 """)
         parser.add_argument('-v', '--verbose', action='store_true')
         parser.add_argument('-q', '--quiet', action='store_true')
-        parser.add_argument('-c', '--config', default='config.ini',
-                help="path to config file",
-                metavar='config.ini',
-                type=argparse.FileType('r', encoding='utf-8'))
+        parser.add_argument('-c', '--config', help="path to config file")
         options = cls()
         parser.parse_args(namespace=options)
 
@@ -64,4 +63,12 @@ class Options:
 
     @config.setter
     def config(self, val):
-        self._config = val
+        if val is None:
+            path = host.dotfiles_root / "config.ini"
+        else:
+            path = pathlib.Path(val)
+
+        with open(path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as config_file:
+            parser = configparser.ConfigParser()
+            parser.read_file(config_file)
+            self._config = parser
diff --git a/installer/targets.py b/installer/targets.py
index a5e6da1..0e3bd81 100644
--- a/installer/targets.py
+++ b/installer/targets.py
@@ -1,3 +1,148 @@
 """
 defines target classes: the places where things should be written
 """
+
+import pathlib
+import subprocess
+import shutil
+import os
+from functools import cached_property
+
+from installer import host
+
+class Target:
+    """
+    base class of all target platforms
+    """
+    def target_path(self, relpath):
+        """
+        computes the path of a file in the home directory
+        """
+        return self.target_root / relpath
+
+    @cached_property
+    def target_root(self):
+        """
+        locates the home directory
+        """
+        return pathlib.Path.home()
+
+    def map_file(self, source_path, target_path):
+        """
+        maps a file from a source path to some target path. The source path is
+        expected to be an absolute path, while the target_path is a relative
+        path, relative to the target's root.
+        """
+        if not target_path.is_absolute():
+            target_path = self.target_root / target_path
+
+        print(f"target path: {target_path}")
+        print(f"target drive: {target_path.drive}")
+        if not target_path.parent.exists():
+            print("creating missing parent directories for target")
+            parent_dir = target_path.parent
+            parent_dir.mkdir(parents=True)
+
+        print(f"checking if target path {target_path.parts} exists")
+        exists = os.path.exists(str(target_path))
+        print(f"exists: {exists}")
+        is_link = os.path.islink(str(target_path))
+        print(f"is link: {is_link}")
+        if target_path.exists():
+            print("target path exists")
+            if target_path.is_symlink():
+                print("target path is symlink")
+                if target_path.resolve() == source_path:
+                    print("symlink is up to date")
+                    return
+                print("removing out of date symlink")
+                target_path.unlink()
+            elif target_path.is_file():
+                print("removing existing regular file")
+                target_path.unlink()
+            elif target_path.is_dir():
+                print("skip: target path is existing directory")
+                return
+            else:
+                print("skip: target path already exists")
+                return
+        else:
+            print("target path does not exist")
+            if target_path.is_symlink():
+                # ok this deserves some explaining: if a symlink points to
+                # itself, then pathlib considers it to not exist. It can't be
+                # resolved because it's an infinite loop, but a non-existent
+                # file that is a symlink is a circular reference in a symlink.
+                print("removing broken symlink")
+                target_path.unlink()
+        print("creating symlink")
+        target_path.symlink_to(source_path)
+
+class Linux(Target):
+    """
+    defines a local Linux target: the local machine when the script is run on
+    Linux
+    """
+
+class Windows(Target):
+    """
+    defines a local Windows target: the local machine when the script is run on
+    Windows
+    """
+
+class WSLHost(Target):
+    """
+    defines the Windows machine on which the WSL instance is hosted
+    """
+    @cached_property
+    def target_root(self):
+        if not host.is_wsl:
+            raise Exception("cannot get windows home dir from anything other than wsl")
+        res = subprocess.run(['wslvar', 'USERPROFILE'], check=False,
+                capture_output=True)
+        winpath = res.stdout.decode('utf-8').strip()
+        res = subprocess.run(['wslpath', winpath], check=False,
+                capture_output=True)
+        return pathlib.Path(res.stdout.decode('utf-8').strip())
+
+    def map_file(self, source_path, target_path):
+        """
+        maps a file from a source path to some target path. The source path is
+        expected to be an absolute path, while the target_path is a relative
+        path, relative to the target's root.
+        """
+        if source_path.is_file():
+            clone = shutil.copy
+        elif source_path.is_dir():
+            clone = shutil.copytree
+        else:
+            print(f"source path {source_path} is not a file or directory")
+            return
+
+        if not target_path.is_absolute():
+            target_path = self.target_root / target_path
+
+        print(f"target path: {target_path}")
+        print(f"target drive: {target_path.drive}")
+        if not target_path.parent.exists():
+            print("creating missing parent directories for target")
+            parent_dir = target_path.parent
+            parent_dir.mkdir(parents=True)
+
+        print(f"checking if target path {target_path.parts} exists")
+        exists = os.path.exists(str(target_path))
+        print(f"exists: {exists}")
+        is_link = os.path.islink(str(target_path))
+        print(f"is link: {is_link}")
+        if target_path.exists():
+            print("target path exists")
+            if target_path.is_file():
+                print("removing existing regular file")
+                target_path.unlink()
+            else:
+                print("skip: target path exists and is not a regular file")
+                return
+        else:
+            print("target path does not exist")
+        print("copying file to target")
+        clone(source_path, target_path)