Installing and setting up mingw in windows

how_to_install_mingw_on_windows_machine.md

Steps to Download and Set Up MinGW On Windows Machine:

1. Download MinGW

   • Go to the MinGW download link and download the ZIP file.

2. Extract the ZIP File

   • After downloading, extract the contents of the ZIP file to a folder of your choice.
   • Move the extracted folder to C:\ (e.g., C:\winlibs-x86_64-posix-seh-gcc-14.2.0-mingw-w64msvcrt-12.0.0-r3).

3. Find gcc.exe

   • Open the extracted folder and navigate to the bin folder.
   • The location of gcc.exe will be:

     C:\winlibs-x86_64-posix-seh-gcc-14.2.0-mingw-w64msvcrt-12.0.0-r3\mingw64\bin\gcc.exe
     

4. Add gcc.exe to the System PATH Variable

   • Open the Start menu, type sysdm.cpl, and press Enter.
   • In the System Properties window, go to the Advanced tab and click on Environment Variables.
   • In the System variables section, find and select the Path variable, then click Edit.
   • Click New and paste the path to the bin folder:

     C:\winlibs-x86_64-posix-seh-gcc-14.2.0-mingw-w64msvcrt-12.0.0-r3\mingw64\bin
     

   • Click OK to save.

5. Verify the Configuration

   • Open a new Command Prompt (Win + R, type cmd, and press Enter).
   • Type:

     gcc --version

   • If everything is set up correctly, you should see the GCC version details.

Thank you! comping from unix this was much needed!