Installing an official release on Windows
-----------------------------------------

Official higan releases are distributed in
[7-zip](http://www.7-zip.org/)
archives.
You will need to install 7-zip
(or another compatible archiving tool)
to install higan.
Once you have a suitable archiving tool,
extract the contents of the higan archive into a new folder.

When you're done,
the new folder should contain `higan.exe` and `icarus.exe`
along with other assorted files and folders
that describe the systems higan emulates.
You may put that new folder wherever you like.

To run higan, open the `higan.exe` file.

Uninstalling an official release on Windows
-------------------------------------------

Delete the folder containing `higan.exe`
and the other associated data from the original archive.

To remove higan's configuration:

 1. Press Win+R to open the Run dialog
 2. Type `%LOCALAPPDATA%` and press Enter
    to open the folder where higan's configuration data lives
 3. Delete the sub-folders named `icarus` and `higan`
    if they exist.

You might also want to remove
[higan's game library](../concepts/game-library.md#where-is-the-game-library)
(including in-game saves and save-states).

Compiling from source on Windows
--------------------------------

You will need a copy of the higan source-code.
If you download an official release from the higan homepage,
you will need [7-zip](http://www.7-zip.org/)
or a compatible tool to extract it.
Alternatively,
you may obtain higan source code from
[the unofficial git repo](https://gitlab.com/higan/higan/)
using the Git source-code management tool,
or by clicking the download button on the right-hand side of the web-page
and choosing an archive format.

You will need a C++ compiler to compile higan.
We recommend installing [TDM64-GCC][tdm],
preferably the latest version
but anything newer than 4.9 should be fine.
higan does not support building with clang++
(Clang is still not quite there yet for Windows)
nor Microsoft Visual C++
(last we checked, it didn't support all the C++ features higan uses).

**Note:** Make sure you get TDM64-GCC,
not TDM-GCC.
When compiled in x86 (32-bit) mode,
higan may crash at startup
because gcc targeting x86 does not support
Windows' structured exception handling (SEH).
Also,
historically in x86 mode
gcc has miscompiled a part of the NES emulation core.
See the higan forum
[for](https://board.byuu.org/viewtopic.php?p=41977#p41977)
[details](https://board.byuu.org/viewtopic.php?p=42253#p42253).

Once you've installed the compiler,
open a command-prompt window,
type `g++ --version`
then press Enter
to check it's installed correctly.
You should see a message like

```text
g++ 1.2.3 20010101
Copyright (C) 2001 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.
```

...except it should mention the compiler version that you installed
and the corresponding dates.
If you see an error message like
"'g++' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file",
you may need to add the compiler's "bin" folder
to your computer's `%PATH%`.
See the compiler's documentation for help with that.

Once mingw is installed and available from the command prompt:

 1. Put the higan source code in some convenient location,
    like `C:\higan-src`
 2. Open the command-prompt
 3. Type `cd C:\higan-src`
    (or wherever you put the higan source)
    and press Enter
 4. Type `mingw32-make -C icarus` and press Enter
    to build the icarus import tool
 5. Type `mingw32-make -C higan` and press Enter
    to build the main higan executable

[tdm]: http://tdm-gcc.tdragon.net/download

Installing a compiled build on Windows
--------------------------------------

 1. In Windows Explorer,
    create the folder where you want higan to live
 2. Assuming you built higan in `C:\higan-src`,
    copy `C:\higan-src\icarus\out\icarus.exe`
    into the new folder
 3. Copy `C:\higan-src\icarus\Database` and its contents
    into the new folder
 4. Copy `C:\higan-src\higan\out\higan.exe`
    into the new folder
 5. Copy all the `*.sys` folders
    in `C:\higan-src\higan\systems`
    into the new folder
 6. If the higan source includes a `shaders` folder,
    make another new folder named `Video Shaders`
    inside the new folder,
    and copy all the `*.shader` folders
    from `C:\higan-src\shaders\`
    into the `Video Shaders` folder.

The new folder should now contain
`icarus.exe`,
`higan.exe`,
a folder named `Database`,
and half a dozen folders named after the systems higan emulates
with `.sys` at the end.
This is what you would get by downloading an official build,
as described under
[Installing an official release on Windows][instwin]
above.

[instwin]: #installing-an-official-release-on-windows

Uninstalling a compiled build on Windows
----------------------------------------

The process is the same as
[Uninstalling an official release on Windows][uninstwin]
above. You may also wish to delete the higan source folder.

[uninstwin]: #uninstalling-an-official-release-on-windows