How to Download and Install Git for Windows
This post is dedicated to helping you learn how to download and install Git for Windows. If you are a beginner, this would be a perfect place to start. We will see how to do the downloading and installation bit, before moving on to how to actually push your code into a repository.
Steps on How to Download and Install Git for Windows
Step 1: Open the following URL:
Step 2: Latest source release would be shown on the right-hand side of the screen. Click on Download 2.21.0 for Windows as shown in the figure below:
NOTE: The version might be different for you.
Step 3: Your download would begin automatically once you click on the above link:
Your download would begin in your browser then:
NOTE: If your download doesn’t start you can always click on the “click here to download manually” link in blue.
Step 4: Once the setup of git has been downloaded you need to open it.
You can directly click on the downloaded git in your browser status, or navigate to the folder where the setup has been downloaded,
and then double click on the Git setup.
Step 5: Click on next in the dialog that opens after that:
Step 6: The next screen would be about where you wish to store your Git. You can pick a place, or let it be. By default it stores itself in Program Files folder in your primary drive.
Step 7: Next screen would be where you need to select components that you wish to install. If you aren’t too sure of it, just click on Next.
Step 8: Next step is for shortcuts. You can leave things as is and click on next.
Choosing an Editor
Step 9: The next dialog box is where you need to choose an editor for your git. There are many options to select from. Just click on the dropdown to see them. Each editor is a tad different from others. This is the editor we are talking about so it really doesn’t affect things on a huge scale. It is just the look and feels and, of course, the ease of usage that is gonna get affected by your choice. That is all.
You can check out the Note in red to know more about the editor, which basically suggests you in choosing the right editor.
However, if you are unsure of which editor to pick, you can simply let things stay as default and click on Next:
Step 10: Next screen is all about adjusting your Path Environment. I would recommend going for the first one if you don’t want anything to mess with your PATH environment. Click on Next once you have selected the first radio button.
You might be asked for an additional dialog at this stage, might look something like this:
Step 11: In the next screen you have to choose the SSL/TLS library. If you don’t understand it, just click on next.
Step 12: The next screen is about the line ending. How do you want Git to treat your line endings? You can leave things as is, once again here, and click on Next.
At this point you might also be asked about the default behavior of git pull:
MinTTY Issue
Step 13: Next dialog box is probably the more important one. I have had trouble with MinTTY while working on Git for a long time. When I was trying to git bash from the Git bash here option, nothing would happen. Hence I was forced to remove MinTTY. Windows console programs generally have to be launched differently here.
Hence I would recommend going for the second option which is the “Use Windows’ default console window” option. If you do so, Git will make use of your default cmd terminal to interact with your code.
Hence, select the second radio button and then click on Next as shown:
Step 14: If you want to enable extra features you can select these. Alternatively, just move on by clicking on Install.
The above might have been replaced by the following dialog:
Toward the end, Git keeps on developing new things and adding beta features for experiments. You can choose to keep them unchecked and click on Install.
Step 15: When you click on Install, the installation would begin.
Step 16: Once done, you will get this as the final dialog screen. If you don’t want to launch Git Bash at once or see the Release Notes, just remove those checks and click on Finish.
Now that you have installed Git Bash in your system, and learned how to download and install Git for Windows, the next thing we are going to see would be how to git bash your code into your repository.
Let’s keep it separate for a different post.
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