If you're installing system wide (into Program Files), select the path variable under 'System Variables', otherwise select the path variable under 'User variables for (your user name)'. Do this in windows 10, search for ' Edit the system environment variables', click the result to open the 'System Properties' window, and click the 'Environment Variables' button. To save some time and typing: navigate inside of the mingw64 folder, and then into the bin folder, and copy that folder's path from the address bar.Īdd the (.)/mingw64/bin folder path to your path variable so it's accessible from anywhere on the machine. If you just want it on your account you can leave it where ever, but if you want to install it system wide then drag and drop it into C:/Program Files/, accepting the admin prompt (because Program Files is a system directory).

At the time of writing, this is GCC 12.1.0 click the download link for the archive format of your choice (7z or zip) for the Win64 version under the release with UCRT (LLVM etc isn't required, you can download the one without it for a smaller size)Įxtract the mingw64 folder to somewhere.

So when it comes to set up someone with a C++ environment on windows, my approach is a bit more involved and time consuming, but I've had great success with it.ĭownload the latest WinLibs build of GCC. They all have downsides and my students always end up hitting some snag. There are dozens of ways to get set up, but from my experience, most of the 'easy' / 'one-click' solutions like WSL2, bloated MSVC, package managers.

How to install c++ compiler on mac