Windows and DOS C program with MinGW GCC Compiler

Download MinGW installer

MinGW Minimalist download starts automatically.

Locate Installer

Look in downloads for installer file mingw-get-setup.exe

Open installer

Accept defaults for following screens. Watch progress bars and tick close boxes.

MinGW Installation Manager

Select mingw32-base and Apply Changes. You can add other software packages.

Close installation when finish.

Edit Environmental Variable

Windows needs to know that a GCC C compiler toolchain is now installed in your computer in directory C:\MingW\bin. Press the Windows key on your keyboard and type Edit the system environment variables

Open Control Panel->System Properties->Advanced Tab->Environmental Variables

Edit Path on the bottom window

add New C:\MinGW\bin where our new GCC compiler is located. Browse can take you there.

You should open that folder in explorer and look around. It is a software build system that can program a laptop or desktop PC.

Restart Computer

Open CMD window. Type

gcc —version
which gcc.exe
PATH

We see that gcc has been installed and where it is located.

Hello World

Save notepad file main.c

#include <stdio.h>
int main (void) {
printf("Hello World, C program\n");}

Compile and execute from terminal

gcc main.c
a.exe

In the folder we see the output file appear.