Installing on Windows: Difference between revisions

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</translate>{{Code|lang=none|Uninstall-FreeCAD.exe /S}}<translate>
</translate>{{Code|lang=none|Uninstall-FreeCAD.exe /S}}<translate>


'''Note:''' to uninstall FreeCAD, FreeCAD must not be running, also no other version of FreeCAD. So when the silent uninstallation does not work, there is a running instance of FreeCAD.
'''Note:''' to uninstall, FreeCAD must not be running, also no other version of FreeCAD. So when the silent uninstallation does not work, there is a running instance of FreeCAD.


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Revision as of 14:56, 14 February 2022

You can install FreeCAD on Windows by downloading the installer below:

Template:DownloadWindowsStable

After downloading the installer, double-click it to start the installation process.

Below is more information about some technical options. But most users don't need more than the above .exe file. Head to Getting started after installation is complete.

Standard Installation

The easiest way to install the latest stable version of FreeCAD is by using the installer linked above.

If you would like to download a development version (which may be unstable), see the Weekly builds download page.

Non/Administrative installation

By default FreeCAD will only be installed for the user that executes the installer. When this user has only user permissions, the default installation path is

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Programs\FreeCAD X.YY

When the installer is executed by an admin user, or you execute it as admin you can choose of FreeCAD should be installed for all users of the system of just for you. The default is for all users.

When installed for all users, the default installation path is

C:\Program Files\FreeCAD X.YY

an "administrative" (network) installation can be initiated. The files get unpacked into the target directory (which should be a network directory), but no other modification is made to the local system. In addition, another (smaller) msi file is generated in the target directory, which clients can then use to perform a local installation (future versions may also offer to keep some features on the network drive altogether).

Currently, there is no user interface for administrative installations, so the target directory must be passed on the command line.

There is no specific uninstall procedure for an administrative install - simply delete the target directory if no client uses it anymore.

Silent Installation

To install FreeCAD silently, you can execute the installer the following way from the command line:

FreeCAD-~.exe /S

Then all choices will be kept with their default settings. To set another installation path than the default, you can specify it the following way:

FreeCAD-~.exe /S /D=A path to FreeCAD with spaces

By default there will also with silent installations be a short popup necessary to check the installer is not corrupted. This so-called cyclic redundancy check only takes few second, depending on your system less than a second. Of you are somehow annoyed by this, you can disable the corruption check by

FreeCAD-~.exe /S /NCRC

Note that the /NCRC flag is not recommended since the corruption check assures that the installer was e.g. completely downloaded.

Chocolatey

However, it is highly recommended that you use a package manager such as Chocolatey to keep your software updated. You can installed Chocolatey following these instructions and then open a PowerShell terminal as admin and run:

choco install freecad

every once in a while you can update your software with

choco upgrade freecad

to get the latest version available on Chocolatey repository. If there are any issues with the chocolatey package, you may contact maintainers on this page.

Uninstallation

To uninstall FreeCAD use preferably the Windows' tools to uninstall software. Alternatively you can execute the uninstaller directly. This is the file

Uninstall-FreeCAD.exe

you find in the folder where FreeCAD is installed.

The uninstaller can also be executed silently using the command line:

Uninstall-FreeCAD.exe /S

Note: to uninstall, FreeCAD must not be running, also no other version of FreeCAD. So when the silent uninstallation does not work, there is a running instance of FreeCAD.