How to install gcc in Windows 10? (the easier way)
Tags: c, gcc, windows10, windows
Published: 2020-08-24 09:32:34

GCC, abbreviation for 'GNU Compiler Collection' (thanks @saphirakai) (and not Gulf Cooperation Council, like I'd assumed) is a necessity if you (or your pesky college) is into C Programming.

Almost all Linux distros come pre-installed with it so they are out of the trouble. But for those of you who were constant users of Windows and Command Prompt, and never felt the necessity for a C compiler, GCC seems to come out of the blue and a tough nut to install. 1000 rage-quits later, I present you this article.

This article is written so that the installation process is made easier than most of the trashy articles I had to go through.

## Installation

1. ~~Go to [MinGW official website](http://www.mingw.org/) and click on 'Downloads' on the left panel. You'll be redirected to the site which hosts the files.~~
***Important Edit: MinGW official website is now down (as of 24th March 2021). Hence, instead of their official website, download from [MinGW SourceForge page](https://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/files/Installer/mingw-get-setup.exe/download)***
2. Look for **mingw-get-setup.exe** for downloading. Download it and launch the installer. Accept the terms and move on. 
3. You'll now see that the installer is connecting to the Internet and downloading a lot of tiny and small files. Wait till it ends.
4. Right when it ends (which won't take long), you'll be presented a window with title **MinGW Installation Manager**. You should be in the 'Basic Setup' tab by default when it launches. If not, click on **Basic Setup**.
5. Out of the numerous check boxes presented to you on the right side, tick "**mingw32-gcc-g++-bin**". If you are prompted with a menu, click on Mark for Install.
6. Then on the top left corner click on **Installation > Apply Changes**. And wait while it downloads a billion files and installs them.

![MinGW Installation Manager](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/buyja9obbjs1x7p8h6cd.png)

7. Now you gotta edit your "Environment Variables" as well, so that gcc works in cmd no matter the file location.
8. For that go to **Windows Explorer > Right click on This PC > Properties > Advanced system settings > Environment Variables** or you could just search for "Environment Variables" in Windows Search...
9.  At the bottom "System Variables" panel, look for a Variable named "Path" and double click on it. Some systems show a good UI for adding a New Path easily (by clicking New), else you just need to add ; at the end and add the following path
    ```
    C:\MinGW\bin
    ```
    ###### (This is assuming you didn't manually change any installation paths and went with just clicking 'Next' during installation)

10. Click on OK, and OK and close the other windows. Open a Command Prompt Terminal and try typing `gcc --version` and press Enter.
    
    If you get something like
    ```
    gcc (MinGW.org GCC Build-2) 9.2.0
    Copyright (C) 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
    This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. 
    There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
    FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
    ```
    gcc has been successfully installed in your PC. Enjoy!

Cheers and happy coding!