Getting Started with Flutter on Windows using Android Studio
Published: 2023-05-22 14:04:11

Flutter is a mobile UI framework for creating native apps for IOS & Android. But with recent developments it can be used to develop applications that can run on 4 more platforms namely Windows, MacOS, Linux and the web.

But for this specific tutorial the focus is on the Android platform while developing it using the Windows operating systems.

 **

## <u>Prerequistes</u>
**

To get started your machine should meet these prerequisites for smooth operation

1. Windows Os(for my case windows 10)
2. 64-bit processor
3. Disk Space: 400MB (for Android Studio)
4. 4 GB RAM (minimum)
5. JDK 8
6. Android Studio
 

**

## <u>Download Flutter</u>
**

The first step is downloading flutter from the [Flutter Official website](https://docs.flutter.dev/get-started/install).

**Step 1:** Once you click the link it redirects you to the flutter website. Here you should click on the "Get started" Link.

![Get Started](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/eq51v9jamh9j6mwy0oju.PNG)

Next is to select the windows OS as indicated below.

![Select Windows](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/3u7yrdpz2y0khh7v10ml.PNG)

Next you will see the list of requirements required for installing Flutter. Your machine should meet these before proceeding.

![System Requirements](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/wngrhcc117ypwgr1h7kd.PNG)

If you meet the requirements you can proceed to downloading the Flutter SDK by clicking on the blue button as indicated below.

![Flutter SDK](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/cmj4b7mpnwsclmia8std.PNG)

**Step 2:**  After the download is successful, you will have to extract the SDK to your preferred location. But flutter installation warns that:

> Do not install Flutter in a directory like C:\Program Files\ that requires elevated privileges


![Extracting](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/70h3fkwbv8dhih2078rv.PNG)

For my case i extracted it under C:\Development as shown on the image below.

![Extraction File Path](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/iehq937bn161a83hxjil.PNG)

**Step 3:** Configuration of the Environment Variables.
This step involves adding the flutter SDK path to the PATH environment variables as illustrated below.

First you need to navigate to the folder where Flutter SDK was extracted and copy the path up to bin folder.


> C:\development\flutter\bin


![Flutter bin path](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/j9hvv74c7kx59nb5rjlv.PNG)

Open the Start menu and type "Environment Variables"
Click on "environment Variables"

![Environment Variables](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/s53xilq4fdpzv29i63pn.PNG)

under the user variables edit the path 

![user viarables](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/c61ovfg91mzjvrqufi9j.PNG)

Click new and then add the flutter bin path 

![Flutter bin path](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/r9o55vihhzdspcgb3vf1.PNG)

The process is done you can click "OK" to close the windows.

## **<u>Verify the Flutter installation</u>**

This involves checking whether flutter was correctly installed or configured.

> flutter doctor

To verify this type this command on your cmd.

![flutter doctor](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/06n1h1929ui6zauswbgf.PNG)

## **<u>Install Android Studio, Flutter and Dart plugins</u>**

For my case I already had Android Studio installed. But if you don't have it you can download it from [Android Developers](https://developer.android.com/studio) 

Next after successful installation of android studio, next is to install the plugins "Flutter" and "Dart"

Under the plugins tab search "Flutter" and "Dart".

![Flutter plugins](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/9yveaqg6xz6rb2a1uue3.PNG)

## **<u>Conclusion</u>**
Awesome! You managed to install flutter on the windows machine. The next step is to start creating your first flutter project.

![Flutter Project](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/h87tgyf8t6r1hvbuq87l.PNG)