Installing Lazarus on Windows: what changed

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1	1		[![Windows logo - 2012.svg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Windows_logo_-_2012.svg/60px-Windows_logo_-_2012.svg.png)](</File:Windows_logo_-_2012.svg>)
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3	3		This article applies to [Windows](</Category:Windows> "Category:Windows") only.
4	4
5	5		See also: [[Multiplatform Programming Guide]]
6	6
7	7		## Using the Windows Installer
8	8
9	9		By far the easiest and most common way to install Lazarus on Windows is to go to the official [Lazarus SourceForge download site](<https://sourceforge.net/projects/lazarus/files/>) select an appropriate combined FPC/Lazarus installation package, download the latest release and launch the installer.
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11	11		The current releases of the Windows Lazarus installer packages install very easily, and should work 'out-of-the-box'.
12	12
13	13		Do not install into the standard program folder `c:\Program Files` because access to it is restricted. Moreover, it is recommended to avoid spaces in the folder name because it may confuse some tools used by Lazarus.
14	14
15	15		If you already have another Lazarus version on your system it is recommended to keep the old version and to keep it separate from the new installation. For this purpose Lazarus offers to write its configuration files into a specific directory so that both versions can coexist. See section Preparation for the first start below.
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17	17		Upgrading can be as simple as downloading the new installer and running it. You will be taken through a typical Windows installation wizard to install the FPC compiler and FPC source within the same directory structure as Lazarus IDE, and Lazarus should launch and operate without significant problems, provided you have uninstalled any previous version of Lazarus and/or FPC which was not installed with a recent version fo the Windows installer (older installations can often be found in the C:\pp directory).
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21	21		[![Note-icon.png](/wiki-images/b/be/Note-icon.png)](</File:Note-icon.png>)
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23	23		Tip: It's perhaps a good idea to reboot your Windows system after you have installed Lazarus and before you try to install additional Lazarus components such as zeoslib for example.
24	24
25	25		## Installing Lazarus on a Portable USB device
26	26
27	27		It is even possible to install the whole Lazarus/FPC package on a portable USB drive or memory stick (capacity at least 256 MB), for use in environments where you are not allowed to install software on your Windows workstation or where you do not have administrator privileges. You do have to be very careful about adjusting the paths in the compiler and environment options and the `fpc.cfg` file.
28	28
29	29		Helpfully there is a third-party Lazarus application [startLazarusPortable](<https://github.com/JoeJoeTV/startLazarusPortable>) available on GitHub in both source and compiled form to take care of this for you. startLazarusPortable is a launcher application that starts Lazarus from a folder/portable USB device and makes all the necessary configuration changes for you.
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31	31		See also [this forum post](<https://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php/topic,46436.msg393696.html#msg393696>) which (as of early February 2020) contains a fix for when you have added some packages to the Lazarus IDE from the online repository.
32	32
33	33		## Installing Lazarus from sources on Windows
34	34
35	35		Installing form sources on Windows basically is a process of getting the sources, put those in an appropriate folder and start the build process (see below).
36	36		This will create the Lazarus IDE in the same folder as where the sources are located.
37	37		If so desired, you can then create a Windows shortcut for the IDE for example on your desktop.
38	38
39	39		The use of `make install`, whic is a common practise on e.g. Linux, is discouraged.
40	40		If however you insist on using `make install` then notice that you must use `LAZARUS_INSTALL_DIR=C:/somepath` instead of `INSTALL_PREFIX=C:/somepath`, also you must use forward slashes (/) as a directoryseparator, or use double backslash (\\\\\\\ e.g. C:\\\\\\\somepath). See [Issue #38010](<https://gitlab.com/freepascal.org/lazarus/lazarus/-/issues/38010>).
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43	43		The following instructions are for both SubVersioN and Git repository of the Lazarus IDE. If you are not planning to follow the development source, just want a one-off, you can download a zip file of the Lazarus development source.
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45	45		It is assumed that the following installations will go into folders appropriately named `c:\Lazarus-fixes22` or `c:\Lazarus-dev`. Of course any other folder names can be used provided that they do not contain spaces or non-ASCII characters, and that the folders are fully writeable by the user. Do NOT install into `c:\Program files` which is not fully writeable by a user.
46	46
47	47		### Getting the Lazarus sources by using TortoiseSVN
48	48
49	49		The easiest way to work with svn is by using the TortoiseSVN application (<https://tortoisesvn.net/index.de.html>). Install this application if you do not have it already. It adds short-cuts to the Explorer context menu from which you can work with svn easily.
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51	51		To download the Lazarus fixes 2.2 sources create the folder `c:\Lazarus-fixes22` and right-click on it in Explorer. In the context menu open the command _SVN Checkout..._. Enter the _URL of the SVN repository_ in the corresponding box. This is:
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53	53		* https://github.com/fpc/Lazarus/branches/fixes_2_2 for the fixes version (adjust the version number in the `fixes22` folder name for the current version).
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55	55		Make sure that the _Checkout directory_ box contains the directory in which you want to have the new Lazarus version (`c:\Lazarus-fixes22` in our example). After pressing OK the source files are downloaded which will take some time.
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57	57		Note: svn checkout of the development version (aka trunk in svn or or main in git) is problematical due to an svn bug. See below using command line svn.
58	58
59	59		### Getting the Lazarus sources from the command line
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61	61		Alternatively you can also download the sources from the command line if you have the command line version of SVN (<https://subversion.apache.org/packages.html#windows>) or GIT (<https://gitforwindows.org/>) on your system.
62	62
63	63		#### Downloading Lazarus "fixes" version source
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65	65		[[Lazarus 2.2 fixes branch\|Details of the fixes]] included in the Lazarus 2.2 fixes version. Here are the steps to follow to download the fixes source:
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67	67		* Open a command prompt window
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69	69		* Create a folder for the new Lazarus:
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71	71		```
72	72		md c:\Lazarus-fixes22
73	73		```
74	74
75	75		* Change into this folder:
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77	77		```
78	78		cd c:\Lazarus-fixes22
79	79		```
80	80
81	81		Using git:
82	82		```
83	83		git clone -b fixes_2_2 https://gitlab.com/freepascal.org/lazarus/lazarus.git .
84	84		```
85	85
86	86		Using svn:
87	87		```
88	88		svn checkout https://github.com/fpc/Lazarus/branches/fixes_2_2 .
89	89		```
90	90
91	91		* The download will take some time. Be patient.
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93	93		#### Downloading Lazarus development version source
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95	95		Here are the steps to follow to download the development (was known as "trunk" in SVN; now known as "main" in GIT) version source of the Lazarus IDE using svn or git:
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97	97		* Open a command prompt window
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99	99		* Create a folder for the new Lazarus:
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101	101		```
102	102		md c:\Lazarus-dev
103	103		```
104	104
105	105		* Change into this folder:
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107	107		```
108	108		cd c:\Lazarus-dev
109	109		```
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111	111		Using git:
112	112		```
113	113		git clone -b main https://gitlab.com/freepascal.org/lazarus/lazarus.git .
114	114		```
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116	116		Using svn (due to an svn bug, this is a two step process):
117	117		```
118	118		svn checkout --depth files https://github.com/fpc/Lazarus/branches .
119	119		svn update --set-depth infinity main
120	120		```
121	121
122	122		* The download will take some time. Be patient.
123	123
124	124		### Getting the Lazarus sources from a snapshot
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126	126		A snapshot of the Lazarus development version source is available from the official GitLab repository. You can download it through the Gitlab web interface at <https://gitlab.com/freepascal.org/lazarus/lazarus>. Alternatively, you can fetch it from <https://gitlab.com/freepascal.org/lazarus/lazarus/-/archive/main/lazarus-main.zip>.
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128	128		Other, previously available snapshot 'servers', are mentioned here [[Lazarus Snapshots Downloads\|snapshot servers]]. Not recommended.
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130	130		Unzip the downloaded archive to the folder in which you want Lazarus to be installed, eg `c:\lazarus-dev`.
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132	132		### Building Lazarus
133	133
134	134		Prerequisite for building Lazarus is that a recent FPC installation must be available. "Recent version" means:
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136	136		* the current FPC release;
137	137		* the previous release version;
138	138		* the FPC fixes version; or
139	139		* the FPC development version.
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141	141		If you already have a Lazarus release installation on your disk - here you can find the FPC in the equally named folder of the installation directory. Make sure that the FPC version number is adequate. If not, install a newer Lazarus release (which is always recommended). Or, of course, you can also install FPC separately. You are also strongly recommended to install the FPC source as well, not absolutely essential but very handy.
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143	143		You should also be aware that the bitness of the FPC determines the bitness of the Lazarus IDE and the bitness of the applications that you will create. So, when your fpc.exe resides in a folder `i386_win32` the IDE (and your applications) will be 32-bit. When the folder is `x86_64-win64` the IDE (and your applications) will be 64-bit.
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145	145		* Remember the full path to the folder containing `fpc.exe` and use it in the following batch file.
146	146		* Change to the folder into which you downloaded the source files and create a batch file with the following content
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148	148		```
149	149		set path=c:\freepascal\bin\x86_64-win64
150	150		:: Of course change this path variable to the path of your FPC compiler
151	151		make bigide
152	152		```
153	153
154	154		* Executing this batch file will build a Lazarus containing all the basic packages, like in a release version. (Of course you must install any other third-party packages by yourself later.)
155	155		* if using Powershell, try these commands (this time assuming your FPC is in c:\FPC\3.2.2 - typical of a recent install) -
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157	157		```
158	158		$env:PATH="c:\FPC\3.2.2\bin\i386-win32"
159	159		make bigide
160	160		```
161	161
162	162		* Since the Lazarus development version (trunk in svn, main in git) is not "stable" it may happen that the "bigide" version cannot be build due to an error in one of the standard packages. In this case it may be helpful to know that the basic IDE (with LCL only) can be built by using the `make` command without the `bigide` parameter:
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164	164		```
165	165		set path=c:\freepascal\bin\x86_64-win64
166	166		:: Of course change this path variable to the path of your FPC compiler
167	167		make
168	168		```
169	169
170	170		* Because the Lazarus IDE by default links to a dll-call "CreateToolhelp32Snapshot", which does not exist on the Win9x platform, the IDE will not run on Win9x out of the box. In order to make it run you have to rebuild the IDE with `make -dWIN9XPLATFORM bigide`.
171	171		* Compilation will take some time again. At the end, the new IDE is ready, but you should not start it yet -- read the next section first.
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173	173		### Preparation for the first start
174	174
175	175		Before you start the new IDE you should make sure that it does not interfere with your current other Lazarus installation(s). For this purpose you must have a separate directory for the Lazarus configuration files, maybe `c:\LazConfigs\trunk`. Lazarus writes is configuration settings to this folder if you open the `lazarus.exe` with the argument `--primary-config-path=c:\LazConfigs\dev`, or shorter, `--pcp=c:\LazConfigs\dev`. When this parameter is missing the configuration files are read from and written to the default folder in `c:\users\<your_name>\appdata\lazarus` which will very probably change settings of the other installation.
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177	177		Since it is easy to forget this command line parameter it is highly recommended to add a file `lazarus.cfg` to the lazarus installation folder (the folder containing `lazarus.exe`) in which the pcp parameter is listed. This is also how the Lazarus release versions handle secondary installations.
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179	179		`echo "--pcp=c:\LazConfigs\trunk" > lazarus.cfg``↵ Enter`
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181	181		Starting Lazarus in the directory containing that `lazarus.cfg` file will ensure Lazarus keeps its config files in the nominated directory.
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183	183		Alternatively you can also start the IDE from the desktop short-cut which has the `--pcp=...` as an argument.
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185	185		### First start of the IDE
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187	187		When you start the new IDE for the first time probably there will be an error message saying that the FPC and the debugger cannot be found. In this error dialog, navigate to the folder which you had used as the path to build the IDE, and select the `fpc.exe`. As for the debugger, navigate to the `mingw` folder of your Lazarus release installation (or install gdb separately) and select the `gdb.exe`. There may also be a message about an issue with the fppkg configuration - click "Restore fppkg configuration" to resolve this. If subsequent error messages appear they can be ignored.
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189	189		Now the IDE will be happy and you can start using your new Lazarus trunk (or fixes) IDE.
190	190
191	191		### Updating the installed version
192	192
193	193		It is the advantage of a version-control system such as git and svn that it is very easy to update the installed source version with any subsequent changes.
194	194
195	195		#### svn
196	196
197	197		* If you used TortoiseSVN right-click on the installation folder of this Lazarus and select _SVN Update_ from the context menu.
198	198		* If you prefer the console change directory (cd) to the installation folder and type `svn update`, or `svn up`
199	199
200	200		#### git
201	201
202	202		If you used git:
203	203
204	204		* Open a command prompt
205	205		* cd to the installation folder and type `git pull`
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207	207		The download now is very fast because only the differences to the local installation must be fetched.
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209	209		Then start the IDE, go to _Tools_ > _Build Lazarus with profile..._ and recompile the IDE. It may happen that compilation aborts with some error; in this case go to _Tools_ > _Configure Build Lazarus_ , select _Clean all_ and _Switch after building to automatically_ in the "Clean up" box, and click _Build_.
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211	211		### Help: The new IDE does not start
212	212
213	213		In very rare cases the new sources contain a fatal error so that the IDE does not start successfully.
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215	215		For this case you must know that the IDE always keeps a backup copy, called `lazarus.exe.old`. Simply delete the newly created `lazarus.exe` and rename `lazarus.exe.old` to `lazarus.exe`. Now you are back to work, at least with the old version.
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217	217		Try the installation later again, usually such catastrophic bugs are soon detected, reported and fixed.
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219	219		If you used TortoiseSVN you may want to right-click on the Lazarus installation folder and select _SVN Show Log_ from the context menu to see the commit notes of the recent changes and to learn whether the bug already has been fixed.
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221	221		If you used command line git, you can change to the source folder and type `git log `\|` more` to see the commit notes of the recent changes and to learn whether the bug already has been fixed.
222	222
223	223		### What does the _bigide_ `make` argument do?
224	224
225	225		The _bigide_ `make` argument adds a bunch of packages to Lazarus that many find useful and cannot do without. The packages that are added are:
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227		-	* cairocanvas
228		-	* chmhelp
229		-	* datetimectrls
230		-	* externhelp
231		-	* fpcunit
232		-	* fpdebug
233		-	* instantfpc
234		-	* jcf2
235		-	* lazcontrols
236		-	* lazdebuggers
237		-
238		-	\|
239		-
240		-	* lclextensions
241		-	* leakview
242		-	* macroscript
243		-	* memds
244		-	* onlinepackagemanager
245		-	* pas2js
246		-	* PascalScript
247		-	* printers
248		-	* projecttemplates
249		-	* rtticontrols
250		-
251		-	\|
252		-
253		-	* sdf
254		-	* sqldb
255		-	* synedit
256		-	* tachart
257		-	* tdbf
258		-	* todolist
259		-	* turbopower_ipro
260		-	* virtualtreeview
261		-
262		-
	227	+	cairocanvas · chmhelp · datetimectrls · externhelp · fpcunit · fpdebug · instantfpc · jcf2 · lazcontrols · lazdebuggers \| lclextensions · leakview · macroscript · memds · onlinepackagemanager · pas2js · PascalScript · printers · projecttemplates · rtticontrols \| sdf · sqldb · synedit · tachart · tdbf · todolist · turbopower_ipro · virtualtreeview
263	228		---\|---\|---
264	229
265	230		The above list is sourced from the _`[Lazarus source directory]/IDE/Makefile.fpc`_ and may be subject to change.
266	231
267	232		Note that if you have not compiled your own Lazarus IDE with the _bigide_ argument, you can install any of these packages yourself using the Lazarus IDE [[IDE Window: Installed Packages\|_Package > Install/Uninstall Packages..._]] dialog.
268	233
269	234		## Multiple Lazarus installs
270	235
271	236		Please see [[Multiple Lazarus]] for details on having more than one Lazarus version installed on one system. We cover issues that can arise due to multiple Lazarus installs here, because they can also happen when installing over a previous version.
272	237
273	238		## Troubleshooting
274	239
275	240		Troubleshooting details that should (hopefully) be applicable across platforms may be found in the article [[Installation Troubleshooting]].
276	241
277	242		## Lazarus FAQ
278	243
279	244		The Lazarus FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions - page is available [[Lazarus Faq\|here]].
280	245
281	246		## Installing old versions
282	247
283	248		See [[Installation hints for old versions]]
284	249
285	250		## See also
286	251
287	252		* [[Lazarus Installer\|Creating your own Lazarus Windows installer]]
288	253
289	254		---
290	255		From the Free Pascal wiki, page "Installing Lazarus on Windows", as the Internet Archive kept it on 2025-06-16, last changed on 2024-09-18. Copyright stays with the author who wrote it, according to the old wiki's [[Licensing]] page. If you have concerns about this material, [message the admin](/wiki-contact).

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