INSTALLpc.txt - Installation of Vim on PC This file contains instructions for compiling Vim. If you already have an executable version of Vim, you don't need this. More information can be found here: (Very stale now.) http://mywebpage.netscape.com/sharppeople/vim/howto/ The file "feature.h" can be edited to match your preferences. You can skip this, then you will get the default behavior as is documented, which should be fine for most people. This document assumes that you are building Vim for Win32 or later (Windows XP/2003/Vista/7/8/10). There are also instructions for pre-XP systems, but they might no longer work. Contents: 1. Microsoft Visual C++ 2. Using MinGW 3. Cygwin 4. Borland 5. Cross compiling for Win32 from a Linux machine 6. Building with Python support 7. Building with Python3 support 8. Building with MzScheme/Racket support 9. Building with Lua support 10. Building with Perl support 11. Building with Ruby support 12. Building with Tcl support 13. Windows 3.1 14. MS-DOS 15. Installing after building from sources The currently preferred method is using the free Visual C++ Toolkit 2008 |msvc-2008-express|, the produced binary runs on most MS-Windows systems. 1. Microsoft Visual C++ ======================= Visual Studio ------------- Building with Visual Studio (VS 98, VS .NET, VS .NET 2003, VS 2005, VS 2008, VS2010, VS2012, VS2013 and VS2015) is straightforward. (These instructions should also work for VS 4 and VS 5.) Using VS C++ 2008 Express is recommended, the binaries built with that run on nearly all platforms. Binaries from later versions may not run on Windows 95 or XP. To build Vim from the command line with MSVC, use Make_mvc.mak. Visual Studio installed a batch file called vcvars32.bat, which you must run to set up paths for nmake and MSVC. nmake -f Make_mvc.mak console Win32 SDK or Microsoft Visual C++ nmake -f Make_mvc.mak GUI=yes GUI Microsoft Visual C++ nmake -f Make_mvc.mak OLE=yes OLE Microsoft Visual C++ nmake -f Make_mvc.mak PERL=C:\Perl PYTHON=C:\Python etc. Perl, Python, etc. Make_mvc.mak allows a Vim to be built with various different features and debug support. Debugging with MS Devstudio is provided by Make_dvc.mak. For a description of the use of Make_dvc.mak, look in Make_mvc.mak. For compiling Gvim with IME support on far-east Windows, add IME=yes to the parameters you pass to Make_mvc.mak. To build Vim from within the Visual Studio IDE, open the Make_ivc.mak project. (Note: Make_ivc.mak is not as rich as Make_mvc.mak, which allows for far more configuration.) Make_ivc.mak can also be built with nmake. nmake -f Make_ivc.mak CFG="Vim - Win32 Release gvim" GUI Microsoft Visual C++ 4.x or later nmake -f Make_ivc.mak CFG="Vim - Win32 Release gvim OLE" OLE Microsoft Visual C++ 4.x or later See the specific files for comments and options. These files have been supplied by George V. Reilly, Ben Singer, Ken Scott and Ron Aaron; they have been tested. Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition *msvc-2008-express* ------------------------------- Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition can be downloaded for free from: http://www.microsoft.com/express/downloads/ This includes the IDE and the debugger. To set the environment execute the msvc2008.bat script. You can then build Vim with Make_mvc.mak. For building 64 bit binaries you also need to install the SDK: "Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1" You don't need the examples and documentation. If you get an error that Win32.mak can't be found, you have to set the variable SDK_INCLUDE_DIR. For example, on Windows 10, installation of MSVC puts include files in the following directory: set SDK_INCLUDE_DIR=C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Include Visual C++ 2010 Express Edition *msvc-2010-express* ------------------------------- Visual C++ 2010 Express Edition can be downloaded for free from: http://www.microsoft.com/express/vc/Default.aspx This includes the IDE and the debugger. To set the environment execute the msvc2010.bat script. You can then build Vim with Make_mvc.mak. Targeting Windows XP with new MSVC *new-msvc-windows-xp* ---------------------------------- Beginning with Visual C++ 2012, Microsoft changed the behavior of LINK.EXE so that it targets Windows 6.0 (Vista) by default. In order to override this, the target Windows version number needs to be passed to LINK like follows: LINK ... /subsystem:console,5.01 Make_mvc.mak now supports a macro SUBSYSTEM_VER to pass the Windows version. Use lines like follows to target Windows XP (assuming using Visual C++ 2012 under 64-bit Windows): set WinSdk71=%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1A set SDK_INCLUDE_DIR=%WinSdk71%\Include set INCLUDE=%WinSdk71%\Include;%INCLUDE% set LIB=%WinSdk71%\Lib;%LIB% set PATH=%WinSdk71%\Bin;%PATH% set CL=/D_USING_V110_SDK71_ nmake -f Make_mvc.mak ... WINVER=0x0501 SUBSYSTEM_VER=5.01 The following Visual C++ team blog can serve as a reference page: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2012/10/08/windows-xp-targeting-with-c-in-visual-studio-2012.aspx OLDER VERSIONS The minimal supported version is Windows XP. Building with older compilers might still work, but these instructions might be outdated. If you need the executable to run on Windows 98 or ME, use the 2003 one |msvc-2003-toolkit|. Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 *msvc-2003-toolkit* ----------------------- You could download the Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 from http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/vctoolkit2003/ Unfortunately this URL is no longer valid. Inofficial downloads appear to be available from links mentioned on these pages (use at your own risk): http://www.filewatcher.com/m/VCToolkitSetup.exe.32952488.0.0.html http://feargame.net/wiki/index.php?title=Building_Source_with_the_VC2003_Toolkit This contains the command-line tools (compiler, linker, CRT headers, and libraries) for Visual Studio .NET 2003, but not the Visual Studio IDE. To compile and debug Vim with the VC2003 Toolkit, you will also need |ms-platform-sdk|, |dotnet-1.1-redist|, |dotnet-1.1-sdk|, and |windbg-download|. It's easier to download Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition, |msvc-2008-express|, which is freely available in perpetuity. The free Code::Blocks IDE works with the VC2003 Toolkit, as described at http://wiki.codeblocks.org/index.php?title=Integrating_Microsoft_Visual_Toolkit_2003_with_Code::Blocks_IDE (This site also takes you through configuring a number of other free C compilers for Win32.) To compile Vim using the VC2003 Toolkit and Make_mvc.mak, you must first execute the following commands in a cmd.exe window (the msvcsetup.bat batch file can be used): set PATH=%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322;%PATH% call "%VCToolkitInstallDir%vcvars32.bat" set MSVCVer=7.1 call "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Platform SDK\SetEnv.Cmd" set LIB=%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Vc7\lib;%LIB% Now you can build Vim with Make_mvc.mak. Getting the Windows Platform SDK *ms-platform-sdk* You will also need a copy of the Windows Platform SDK from http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/platformsdk/sdkupdate/ Specifically, you need the Windows Core SDK subset of the Platform SDK, which contains the Windows headers and libraries. Getting the .NET Framework 1.1 Runtime *dotnet-1.1-redist* You need the .NET Framework 1.1 Redistributable Package from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3 or from Windows Update: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ This is needed to install |dotnet-1.1-sdk|. It also contains cvtres.exe, which is needed to link Vim. Getting the .NET Framework 1.1 SDK *dotnet-1.1-sdk* You need the .NET Framework 1.1 SDK from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9b3a2ca6-3647-4070-9f41-a333c6b9181d This contains some additional libraries needed to compile Vim, such as msvcrt.lib. You must install |dotnet-1.1-redist| before installing the .NET 1.1 SDK. Getting the WinDbg debugger *windbg-download* The Debugging Tools for Windows can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx This includes the WinDbg debugger, which you will want if you ever need to debug Vim itself. An earlier version of the Debugging Tools is also available through the Platform SDK, |ms-platform-sdk|. Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition *msvc-2005-express* ------------------------------- Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition can be downloaded for free from: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualC/default.aspx This includes the IDE and the debugger. You will also need |ms-platform-sdk|. You can build Vim with Make_mvc.mak. Instructions for integrating the Platform SDK into VC Express: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/usingpsdk/default.aspx 2. MinGW ======== (written by Ron Aaron: ) This is about how to produce a Win32 binary of gvim with MinGW. First, you need to get the 'mingw32' compiler, which is free for the download at: http://www.mingw.org/ or you can use 'MinGW-w64' compiler. http://mingw-w64.sourceforge.net/ Or a compiler provided on msys2: https://msys2.github.io/ Once you have downloaded the compiler binaries, unpack them on your hard disk somewhere, and put them on your PATH. If you are on Win95/98 you can edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file with a line like: set PATH=C:\MinGW\bin;%PATH% or on NT/2000/XP, go to the Control Panel, (Performance and Maintenance), System, Advanced, and edit the environment from there. If you use msys2 compilers, set your installed paths: C:\msys2\mingw32\bin or C:\msys64\mingw32\bin for 32bit. And 64bit: C:\msys2\mingw64\bin or C:\msys64\mingw64\bin Test if gcc is on your path. From a CMD (or COMMAND on '95/98) window: C:\> gcc --version gcc (GCC) 4.8.1 C:\> mingw32-make --version GNU Make 3.82.90 (...etc...) Now you are ready to rock 'n' roll. Unpack the vim sources (look on www.vim.org for exactly which version of the vim files you need). Change directory to 'vim\src': C:\> cd vim\src C:\VIM\SRC> and you type: mingw32-make -f Make_ming.mak gvim.exe After churning for a while, you will end up with 'gvim.exe' in the 'vim\src' directory. You should not need to do *any* editing of any files to get vim compiled this way. If, for some reason, you want the console-mode-only version of vim (this is NOT recommended on Win32, especially on '95/'98!!!), you can use: mingw32-make -f Make_ming.mak GUI=no vim.exe If you are dismayed by how big the EXE is, I strongly recommend you get 'UPX' (also free!) and compress the file (typical compression is 50%). UPX can be found at http://www.upx.org/ As of 2011, UPX still does not support compressing 64-bit EXE's; if you have built a 64-bit vim then an alternative to UPX is 'MPRESS'. MPRESS can be found at: http://www.matcode.com/mpress.htm ADDITION: NLS support with MinGW (by Eduardo F. Amatria ) If you want National Language Support, read the file src/po/README_mingw.txt. You need to uncomment lines in Make_ming.mak to have NLS defined. 3. Cygwin ========= Use Make_cyg.mak with Cygwin's GCC. See http://users.skynet.be/antoine.mechelynck/vim/compile.htm With Cygnus gcc you should use the Unix Makefile instead (you need to get the Unix archive then). Then you get a Cygwin application (feels like Vim is running on Unix), while with Make_cyg.mak you get a Windows application (like with the other makefiles). 4. Borland =========== Use Make_bc5.mak with Borland C++ 5.x. See http://users.skynet.be/antoine.mechelynck/vim/compile.htm 5. Cross compiling for Win32 from a Linux machine ================================================= [Update of 1) needs to be verified] If you like, you can compile the 'mingw' Win32 version from the comfort of your Linux (or other unix) box. To do this, you need to follow a few steps: 1) Install the mingw32 cross-compiler. See http://www.mingw.org/wiki/LinuxCrossMinGW http://www.libsdl.org/extras/win32/cross/README.txt 2) Get and unpack both the Unix sources and the extra archive 3) in 'Make_cyg_ming.mak', set 'CROSS' to 'yes' instead of 'no'. Make further changes to 'Make_cyg_ming.mak' and 'Make_ming.mak' as you wish. If your cross-compiler prefix differs from the predefined value, set 'CROSS_COMPILE' corresponding. 4) make -f Make_ming.mak gvim.exe Now you have created the Windows binary from your Linux box! Have fun... 6. Building with Python support =============================== For building with MSVC 2008 the "Windows Installer" from www.python.org works fine. When building, you need to set the following variables at least: PYTHON: Where Python is installed. E.g. C:\Python27 DYNAMIC_PYTHON: Whether dynamic linking is used. Usually, set to yes. PYTHON_VER: Python version. E.g. 27 for Python 2.7.X. E.g. When using MSVC (as one line): nmake -f Make_mvc.mak PYTHON=C:\Python27 DYNAMIC_PYTHON=yes PYTHON_VER=27 (rest written by Ron Aaron: ) Building with the mingw32 compiler, and the ActiveState ActivePython: http://www.ActiveState.com/Products/ActivePython/ After installing the ActivePython, you will have to create a 'mingw32' 'libpython20.a' to link with: cd $PYTHON/libs pexports python20.dll > python20.def dlltool -d python20.def -l libpython20.a Once that is done, edit the 'Make_ming.mak' so the PYTHON variable points to the root of the Python installation (C:\Python20, for example). If you are cross-compiling on Linux with the mingw32 setup, you need to also convert all the 'Include' files to *unix* line-endings. This bash command will do it easily: for fil in *.h ; do vim -e -c 'set ff=unix|w|q' $fil Now just do: make -f Make_ming.mak gvim.exe And if you use msys2 to build python support (as one line): mingw32-make -f Make_ming.mak PYTHON=c:/msys64/mingw64 PYTHON_HOME=c:/msys64/mingw64 PYTHONINC=-Ic:/msys64/mingw64/include/python2.7 DYNAMIC_PYTHON=yes PYTHON_VER=27 DYNAMIC_PYTHON_DLL=libpython2.7.dll ARCH=x86-64 STATIC_STDCPLUS=yes You will end up with a Python-enabled, Win32 version. Enjoy! 7. Building with Python3 support ================================ For building with MSVC 2008 the "Windows Installer" from www.python.org works fine. Python 3.4 is recommended. When building, you need to set the following variables at least: PYTHON3: Where Python3 is installed. E.g. C:\Python34 DYNAMIC_PYTHON3: Whether dynamic linking is used. Usually, set to yes. PYTHON3_VER: Python3 version. E.g. 34 for Python 3.4.X. E.g. When using MSVC (as one line): nmake -f Make_mvc.mak PYTHON3=C:\Python34 DYNAMIC_PYTHON3=yes PYTHON3_VER=34 8. Building with MzScheme/Racket support ======================================== 1) Building with MzScheme support (written by Sergey Khorev ) Vim with MzScheme (http://www.plt-scheme.org/software/mzscheme) support can be built with either MSVC, or MinGW, or Cygwin. Supported versions are 205 and above (including 299 and 30x series). The MSVC build is quite straightforward. Simply invoke (in one line) nmake -fMake_mvc.mak MZSCHEME= [MZSCHEME_VER=] [DYNAMIC_MZSCHEME=] where is the last seven characters from MzScheme dll name (libmzschXXXXXXX.dll). If DYNAMIC_MZSCHEME=yes, resulting executable will not depend on MzScheme DLL's, but will load them in runtime on demand. Building dynamic MzScheme support on MinGW and Cygwin is similar. Take into account that should contain slashes rather than backslashes (e.g. d:/Develop/MzScheme) "Static" MzScheme support (Vim executable will depend on MzScheme DLLs explicitly) on MinGW and Cygwin requires additional step. libmzschXXXXXXX.dll and libmzgcXXXXXXX.dll should be copied from %WINDOWS%\System32 to other location (either build directory, some temporary dir or even MzScheme home). Pass that path as MZSCHEME_DLLS parameter for Make. E.g., make -f Make_cyg.mak MZSCHEME=d:/Develop/MzScheme MZSCHEME_VER=209_000 MZSCHEME_DLLS=c:/Temp DYNAMIC_MZSCHEME=no After a successful build, these dlls can be freely removed, leaving them in %WINDOWS%\System32 only. 2) Building with Racket support MzScheme and PLT Scheme names have been rebranded as Racket. Vim with Racket (https://racket-lang.org/) support can be built with either MSVC or MinGW (or Cygwin). You need to set the following variables: MZSCHEME: Where Racket is installed. E.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Racket DYNAMIC_MZSCHEME: Whether dynamic linking is used. Usually, set to yes. MZSCHEME_VER: Racket DLL version. E.g. 3m_9z0ds0 for Racket 6.3. MZSCHEME_COLLECTS: (Optional) Path of the collects directory used at runtime. Default: $(MZSCHEME)\collects User can override this with the PLTCOLLECTS environment variable. E.g. When using MSVC (as one line): nmake -f Make_mvc.mak MZSCHEME="C:\Program Files (x86)\Racket" DYNAMIC_MZSCHEME=yes MZSCHEME_VER=3m_9z0ds0 Or when using MinGW (as one line): mingw32-make -f Make_ming.mak MZSCHEME='C:/Program\ Files\ (x86)/Racket' DYNAMIC_MZSCHEME=yes MZSCHEME_VER=3m_9z0ds0 Spaces should be escaped with '\'. 9. Building with Lua support ============================ Vim with Lua support can be built with either MSVC or MinGW (or maybe Cygwin). You can use binaries from LuaBinaries: http://luabinaries.sourceforge.net/ This also applies to when you get a Vim executable and don't build yourself, do the part up to "Build". 1) Download and install LuaBinaries Go to the Download page of LuaBinaries: http://luabinaries.sourceforge.net/download.html Download lua-X.Y.Z_Win32_dllw4_lib.zip for x86 or lua-X.Y.Z_Win64_dllw4_lib.zip for x64. You can use them both for MSVC and MinGW. Unpack it to a working directory. E.g. C:\projects\lua53. Lua's header files will be installed under the include directory. Copy luaXY.dll to your Windows system directory. The system directory depends on your Windows bitness and Vim bitness: 32-bit Vim on 32-bit Windows: C:\Windows\System32 32-bit Vim on 64-bit Windows: C:\Windows\SysWOW64 64-bit Vim on 64-bit Windows: C:\Windows\System32 Or another option is copying luaXY.dll to the directory where gvim.exe (or vim.exe) is. 2) Build You need to set LUA, DYNAMIC_LUA and LUA_VER. LUA: Where Lua's header files are installed. E.g. C:\projects\lua53. DYNAMIC_LUA: Whether dynamic linking is used. Set to yes. LUA_VER: Lua version. E.g. 53 for Lua 5.3.X. E.g. When using MSVC (as one line): nmake -f Make_mvc.mak LUA=C:\projects\lua53 DYNAMIC_LUA=yes LUA_VER=53 Or when using MinGW (as one line): mingw32-make -f Make_mingw.mak LUA=C:\projects\lua53 DYNAMIC_LUA=yes LUA_VER=53 Or when using Cygwin (as one line) (untested): make -f Make_cyg.mak LUA=/cygdrive/c/projects/lua53 DYNAMIC_LUA=yes LUA_VER=53 10. Building with Perl support ============================== Vim with Perl support can be built with either MSVC or MinGW (or Cygwin). You can use binaries from ActiveState (ActivePerl) or Strawberry Perl. http://www.activestate.com/activeperl http://strawberryperl.com/ When building, you need to set the following variables: PERL: Where perl is installed. E.g. C:\Perl, C:\Strawberry\perl DYNAMIC_PERL: Whether dynamic linking is used. Usually, set to yes. PERL_VER: Perl version. E.g. 522 for Perl 5.22.X. E.g. When using MSVC (as one line): nmake -f Make_mvc.mak PERL=C:\Perl DYNAMIC_PERL=yes PERL_VER=522 Or when using MinGW (as one line): mingw32-make -f Make_mingw.mak PERL=C:\Perl DYNAMIC_PERL=yes PERL_VER=522 11. Building with Ruby support ============================== Vim with Ruby support can be built with either MSVC or MinGW (or Cygwin). Ruby doesn't provide the official Windows binaries. The most widely used Windows binaries might be RubyInstaller. http://rubyinstaller.org/ If you use MinGW you can easily build with RubyInstaller, but if you use MSVC you need some tricks described below. (Another binary distribution is ActiveScriptRuby: http://www.artonx.org/data/asr/) When building, you need to set the following variables at least: RUBY: Where ruby is installed. E.g. C:\Ruby22 DYNAMIC_RUBY: Whether dynamic linking is used. Usually, set to yes. RUBY_VER: Ruby version. E.g. 22 for Ruby 2.2.X. RUBY_API_VER_LONG: Ruby API version in a long format. E.g. 2.2.0 for Ruby 2.2.X. Ruby version vs. Ruby API version: Ruby ver. | Ruby API ver. ========================= 1.8.X | 1.8 1.9.[1-3] | 1.9.1 2.0.0 | 2.0.0 2.X.Y | 2.X.0 (Ruby 1.9.0 is excluded from the table because it is an unstable version.) A) Using MSVC If you want to link with ruby, normally you must use the same compiler as which was used to build the ruby binary. RubyInstaller is built with MinGW, so normally you cannot use MSVC for building Vim if you want to link with RubyInstaller. If you use a different compiler, there are mainly two problems: config.h and Ruby's DLL name. Here are the steps for working around them: 1) Download and Install RubyInstaller. You can install RubyInstaller with the default options and directory. E.g.: C:\Ruby22 (32-bit) or C:\Ruby22-x64 (64-bit) Ruby 2.2.X is used in this example. 2) Download Ruby 2.2.X's source code and generate config.h: cd C:\projects git clone https://github.com/ruby/ruby.git -b ruby_2_2 cd ruby win32\configure.bat nmake .config.h.time Note that ruby_2_2 is the branch name for Ruby 2.2.X's source code. There is no need to build whole Ruby, just config.h is needed. If you use 32-bit MSVC10, the config.h is generated in the .ext\include\i386-mswin32_100 directory. 3) Install the generated config.h. xcopy /s .ext\include C:\Ruby22\include\ruby-2.2.0 Note that 2.2.0 is Ruby API version of Ruby 2.2.X. 4) Build Vim. Note that you need to adjust some variables (as one line): nmake -f Make_mvc.mak RUBY=C:\Ruby22 DYNAMIC_RUBY=yes RUBY_VER=22 RUBY_API_VER_LONG=2.2.0 RUBY_MSVCRT_NAME=msvcrt WINVER=0x501 If you set WINVER explicitly, it must be set to >=0x500, when building with Ruby 2.1 or later. (Default is 0x501.) When using this trick, you also need to set RUBY_MSVCRT_NAME to msvcrt which is used for the Ruby's DLL name. B) Using MinGW Using MinGW is easier than using MSVC when linking with RubyInstaller. After you install RubyInstaller, just type this (as one line): mingw32-make -f Make_ming.mak RUBY=C:/Ruby22 DYNAMIC_RUBY=yes RUBY_VER=22 RUBY_API_VER_LONG=2.2.0 WINVER=0x501 If you set WINVER explicitly, it must be set to >=0x500, when building with Ruby 2.1 or later. (Default is 0x501.) 12. Building with Tcl support ============================= Vim with Tcl support can be built with either MSVC or MinGW (or Cygwin). You can use binaries from ActiveState (ActiveTcl). http://www.activestate.com/activetcl When building, you need to set the following variables: TCL: Where tcl is installed. E.g. C:\Tcl86 DYNAMIC_TCL: Whether dynamic linking is used. Usually, set to yes. TCL_VER: Tcl version in a short format. E.g. 86 for Tcl 8.6.X. TCL_VER_LONG: Tcl version in a long format. E.g. 8.6 for Tcl 8.6.X. E.g. When using MSVC (as one line): nmake -f Make_mvc.mak TCL=C:\Tcl86 DYNAMIC_TCL=yes TCL_VER=86 TCL_VER_LONG=8.6 Or when using MinGW (as one line): mingw32-make -f Make_mingw.mak TCL=C:\Tcl86 DYNAMIC_TCL=yes TCL_VER=86 TCL_VER_LONG=8.6 13. Windows 3.1x ================ The Windows 3.1x support was removed in patch 7.4.1364. 14. MS-DOS ========== The MS-DOS support was removed in patch 7.4.1399. 15. Installing after building from sources ========================================== [provided by Michael Soyka] After you've built the Vim binaries as described above, you're ready to install Vim on your system. However, if you've obtained the Vim sources using Git, Mercurial or by downloading them as a unix tar file, you must first create a "vim80" directory. If you instead downloaded the sources as zip files, you can skip this setup as the zip archives already have the correct directory structure. A. Create a Vim "runtime" subdirectory named "vim80" ----------------------------------------------------- If you obtained your Vim sources as zip files, you can skip this step. Otherwise, continue reading. Go to the directory that contains the Vim "src" and "runtime" directories and create a new subdirectory named "vim80". Copy the "runtime" files into "vim80": copy runtime\* vim80 B. Copy the new binaries into the "vim80" directory ---------------------------------------------------- Regardless of how you installed the Vim sources, you need to copy the new binaries you created above into "vim80": copy src\*.exe vim80 copy src\GvimExt\gvimext.dll vim80 copy src\xxd\xxd.exe vim80 C. Move the "vim80" directory into the Vim installation subdirectory --------------------------------------------------------------------- Move the "vim80" subdirectory into the subdirectory where you want Vim to be installed. Typically, this subdirectory will be named "vim". If you already have a "vim80" subdirectory in "vim", delete it first by running its uninstal.exe program. D. Install Vim --------------- "cd" to your Vim installation subdirectory "vim\vim80" and run the "install.exe" program. It will ask you a number of questions about how you would like to have your Vim setup. Among these are: - You can tell it to write a "_vimrc" file with your preferences in the parent directory. - It can also install an "Edit with Vim" entry in the Windows Explorer popup menu. - You can have it create batch files, so that you can run Vim from the console or in a shell. You can select one of the directories in your PATH or add the directory to PATH using the Windows Control Panel. - Create entries for Vim on the desktop and in the Start menu. Happy Vimming!