Setting up MinGW on Windows
MinGW is a compiler system based on the GNU GCC and Binutils projects that compiles and links code to be run on Win32 (Windows) systems. It provides C, C++ and Fortran compilers plus other related tools. ‘MinGW’ refers to the “Minimalist GNU for Windows” project.
For beginners setting up MinGW can be a daunting task, so follow along the steps mentioned below to set up MinGW on your local windows machine.
Step 1: Download and Install MinGW
Search for MinGW on google and go to their website.
- Alternatively, click on https://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/
- And click on the download button.
- Once downloaded, run the file and click on install
- Click on continue and don’t change the default settings.
- Once the download is complete click on continue, this would launch the MinGW installation manager.
Step 2: Installing the packages using the MinGW installer.
- In the installation manager, right-click on all the packages one by one and click on the mark for installation.
- Once all the packages have been marked, on the left-hand top side, click on installation then on apply changes
- This would start the installation of all the packages, this might take some time, so don’t close any window.
- Once the installation is complete, the checklist next to packages would turn green, now you can close the installer window
Step 3: Adding MinGW bin to the system path
- Go to Local Disk C: > MinGW>bin
- And copy the path
- Next, go to control panel > system and security > system settings
and click on advanced settings
- Click on environment variables.
- And choose path > edit.
- Now click on new and paste the path that we copied in the beginning (C:\MinGW\bin).
- And click on ok
Step 4: Check if g++ is installed
- Open a command prompt and type the following command
g++ — version
Voila! you are done. Now it’s time to start coding, so check out the courses on Algozenith and start enjoying coding.
