esp-idf/docs/get-started/windows-setup.rst

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Standard Setup of Toolchain for Windows
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Introduction
============

Windows doesn't have a built-in "make" environment, so as well as installing the toolchain you will need a GNU-compatible environment. We use the MSYS2_ environment to provide this. You don't need to use this environment all the time (you can use :doc:`Eclipse <eclipse-setup>` or some other front-end), but it runs behind the scenes.


Toolchain Setup 
===============

The quick setup is to download the Windows all-in-one toolchain & MSYS zip file from dl.espressif.com:

https://dl.espressif.com/dl/esp32_win32_msys2_environment_and_toolchain-20170330.zip

Unzip the zip file to ``C:\`` (or some other location, but this guide assumes ``C:\``) and it will create an ``msys32`` directory with a pre-prepared environment.


Check it Out
============

Open a MSYS2 MINGW32 terminal window by running ``C:\msys32\mingw32.exe``. The environment in this window is a bash shell. 

.. figure:: ../_static/msys2-terminal-window.png
    :align: center
    :alt: MSYS2 MINGW32 shell window
    :figclass: align-center

    MSYS2 MINGW32 shell window

Use this window in the following steps setting up development environment for ESP32.


Next Steps
==========

To carry on with development environment setup, proceed to section :ref:`get-started-get-esp-idf`.


Related Documents
=================

.. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 1

    windows-setup-scratch


.. _MSYS2: https://msys2.github.io/