Tools: Free How To Install Gcc On Windows With W64devkit 2026

Posted on Feb 16

• Originally published at lautarolobo.xyz on Feb 16

In this post, I’ll go over the process of installing w64devkit, launching its pre-configured environment, and using gcc to compile and run your C programs with some basic flags. Let’s get started!

w64devkit provides an environment to run GCC without the hassle of complex installations.

You might see .exe installers, but for portability and simplicity, use the .zip file.

Next, extract all the contents of the downloaded .zip file into your chosen folder (could be Downloads, Documents, a new folder you create…).

That’s it! There’s no further setup or complex installation routines.

With w64devkit extracted, you now have a self-contained environment ready to use.

Locate w64devkit.exe within the folder where you extracted w64devkit (e.g., C:\w64devkit\w64devkit.exe).

Double-click on w64devkit.exe. This will open a pre-configured terminal window. This terminal is a MinGW64 shell.

Once the w64devkit terminal is open, you’ll want to navigate to the directory location where your C source files are. Use the standard cd (change directory) command. For example, if your C project is in C:\Users\YourUser\Documents\MyCProject, you would type:

Source: Dev.to