OPTION 1: Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

1. Open a Command Prompt as Administrator
2. Enable WSL

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart

3. Enable Virtual Machine Platform

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

4. Reboot machine

shutdown.exe /r /t 0

5. Open a Command Prompt as Administrator
6. Set WSL 2 as the default version

wsl.exe --set-default-version 2

7. Install WSL with Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS as the Linux distribution

wsl.exe --install --distribution Ubuntu-24.04

8. Create a user account and password for the newly installed Linux distribution
9. List installed Linux distributions

wsl.exe --list --verbose

10. Launch Ubuntu-24.04 application
11. Update and upgrade packages

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

12. Install Mingw-w64

sudo apt install mingw-w64

13. Install GNU Make

sudo apt install make

14. Install Java

sudo apt install openjdk-21-jdk

15. Install Clang

sudo apt install clang

16. Install Netwide Assembler (NASM)

sudo apt install nasm

17. Invoke build tools

x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc --version && clang --version

OPTION 2: MSYS2

1. Launch Windows PowerShell application
2. Download the archive

(New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile('https://github.com/msys2/msys2-installer/releases/download/2025-06-22/msys2-base-x86_64-20250622.sfx.exe', 'msys2.exe')

3. Compute checksum of the archive

Get-FileHash ./msys2.exe -Algorithm SHA256 | Format-List

4. Extract the archive to C:\msys64

.\msys2.exe -y -oC:\

5. Delete the archive

Remove-Item msys2.exe

6. Add exclusion(s) for Mandatory ASLR (Run as Administrator)

Get-ChildItem -Recurse -File -Path 'C:\msys64\*.exe' | ForEach-Object -Process { Set-ProcessMitigation -Name $_.Name -Disable ForceRelocateImages }

7. Initialize MSYS2

C:\msys64\usr\bin\bash -lc ' '

8. Update MSYS2 (core)

C:\msys64\usr\bin\bash -lc 'pacman --noconfirm -Syuu'

9. Update MSYS2 (normal)

C:\msys64\usr\bin\bash -lc 'pacman --noconfirm -Syuu'

10. Install the MinGW-w64 toolchain along with the Clang/LLVM toolchain

C:\msys64\usr\bin\bash -lc 'pacman --noconfirm -Syu --needed base-devel vim nasm mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-toolchain mingw-w64-x86_64-toolchain mingw-w64-i686-toolchain mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-clang mingw-w64-x86_64-clang mingw-w64-clang-x86_64-toolchain'

11. Preserve the current working directory

$env:CHERE_INVOKING = 'yes'

12. Set environment to use UCRT

$env:MSYSTEM = 'UCRT64'

13. Invoke build tools

C:\msys64\usr\bin\bash -lc 'gcc --version && clang --version'

References

1. Windows 11 Enterprise
2. How to install Linux on Windows with WSL
3. Manual installation steps for older versions of WSL
4. Set up a WSL development environment
5. Mingw-w64
6. Windows Environment Setup for Tradecraft Garden and Crystal Palace
7. MSYS2
8. Using MSYS2 in CI
9. Using GCC with MinGW
10. Cygwin64 & MinGW-w64 (for Windows)
11. Installation using MSYS2 and the MinGW Compilers
12. MSYS2-Introduction
13. MSYS2 development environment for Windows
14. How to install gcc and clang on Windows using MSYS
15. Install gcc compiler on Windows with MSYS2 for C/C++
16. Ubuntu on WSL
17. Windows Terminal
18. Getting Started with Clang and Visual Studio Code on Windows with MSYS2 and MinGW-w64
19. Understanding the different flavors of Clang C and C++ compilers in Windows