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# Appendix: Installing MinGW on Windows

> 1. Download the MinGW installer from http://www.mingw.org/wiki/HOWTO_Install_the_MinGW_GCC_Compiler_Suite. (As of this writing, the download link is a bit difficult to find; it’s under “About” in the menu on the left-hand side). You want the file entitled “Automated MinGW Installer” (currently version 5.1.4).

> 2. Run it and install MinGW. Only the basic package is strictly needed for Cython, although you might want to grab at least the C++ compiler as well.

> 3. You need to set up Windows’ “PATH” environment variable so that includes e.g. “c:\mingw\bin” (if you installed MinGW to “c:\mingw”). The following web-page describes the procedure in Windows XP (the Vista procedure is similar): http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310519

> 4. Finally, tell Python to use MinGW as the default compiler (otherwise it will try for Visual C). If Python is installed to “c:\Python27”, create a file named “c:\Python27\Lib\distutils\distutils.cfg” containing:

>        [build]
>        compiler = mingw32

The [WinInst] wiki page contains updated information about this procedure. Any contributions towards making the Windows install process smoother is welcomed; it is an unfortunate fact that none of the regular Cython developers have convenient access to Windows.

[WinInst] | http://wiki.cython.org/InstallingOnWindows