diff --git a/extras/win32-portable/README.txt.in b/extras/win32-portable/README.txt.in
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e08e4cf53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extras/win32-portable/README.txt.in
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+
+**XXX** Maybe add an introduction section (what is openslides, link to homepage, etc.)?
+**XXX** Add a note that openslides should only be run on trusted networks
+
+Getting started
+===============
+Simply running openslides.exe will start openslides using djangos
+development server. It will also try to open openslides in your
+default webbrowser.
+
+The server will listen on the IP address of your current hostname on
+port 80 (if port 80 is not available port 8000 will be used).
+This means that the server will be available to everyone on your
+local network (at least for commonly used network configurations).
+
+See `Command line options` below if you need to change this.
+
+The login for the default admin user after (created on first start),
+is as follows:
+
+  Username: admin
+  Password: admin
+
+
+Command line options
+====================
+The following command line options are available:
+
+-a, --address=ADDRESS
+    Changes the address on which the server will listen for connections
+
+-p, --port
+    Changes the port on which the server will listen for connections
+
+--syncdb
+    Create/ update the database
+
+--reset-admin
+    This will reset the password of the user
+
+Example 1: Openslides should only be accessible on this computer:
+  openslides.exe -a 127.0.0.1
+
+Example 2: Like above, but also specify the port as 8080
+  openslides.exe -a 127.0.0.01 -p 8080
+
+
+Supported operating systems and browsers
+========================================
+Windows XP or newer (32 and 64bit)
+**TODO** browsers
+
+
+Included Packages
+=================
+${PACKAGE_LIST}
+
+
+License
+=======
+openslides is distributed under the GNU General Public License
+version 2. For details about this license and the licenses of the
+bundled packages, please refer to the corresponding file in the
+licenses/ directory.
diff --git a/extras/win32-portable/prepare_portable.py b/extras/win32-portable/prepare_portable.py
index 8459b92fa..151c04326 100644
--- a/extras/win32-portable/prepare_portable.py
+++ b/extras/win32-portable/prepare_portable.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import distutils.ccompiler
 import distutils.sysconfig
 
 from contextlib import nested
+from string import Template
 
 import pkg_resources
 
@@ -245,6 +246,22 @@ def copy_msvcr(odir):
     dest = os.path.join(msvcr_dest_dir, "{0}.manifest".format(MSVCR_NAME))
     shutil.copyfile(src, dest)
 
+
+def write_readme(template_file, outfile):
+    with open(template_file, "rU") as f:
+        tmpl = Template(f.read())
+
+    packages = ["openslides-{0}".format(openslides.get_version())]
+    for pkg in SITE_PACKAGES:
+        dist = pkg_resources.get_distribution(pkg)
+        packages.append("{0}-{1}".format(dist.project_name, dist.version))
+
+    tmpl_vars = {"PACKAGE_LIST": "\n".join(packages)}
+
+    with open(outfile, "w") as f:
+        f.write(tmpl.substitute(tmpl_vars))
+
+
 def main():
     prefix = os.path.dirname(sys.executable)
     libdir = os.path.join(prefix, "Lib")
@@ -283,6 +300,9 @@ def main():
     fp = os.path.join("dist", "openslides-{0}-portable.zip".format(
         openslides.get_version()))
 
+    write_readme("extras/win32-portable/README.txt.in",
+        os.path.join(odir, "README.txt"))
+
     with zipfile.ZipFile(fp, "w", zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED) as zf:
         for dp, dnames, fnames in os.walk(odir):
             for fn in fnames: