How to Install Git on Windows

How-To Geek

By Nick Lewis

Updated Oct 28, 2023

Not to be confused with git, the pejorative.

Hannah Stryker / How-To Geek

Quick Links

Install Git with the Windows Executable

Use Winget to Download Git

Key Takeaways

Download the Git installer from the official Git website at git-scm.com, and then run the executable. You may also install Git by running "winget install --id Git.Git -e --source winget" in PowerShell.

Git is an essential tool if you're going to be coding. It lets you conveniently manage different versions of code within a repository (repo). Git is also the most common way to access GitHub, one of the largest code repositories in the world. Here are a few ways to install Git on Windows.

Install Git with the Windows Executable

The easiest way to get Git is to download the executable from the Git website.

Click "64-bit Git for Windows Setup" to start the download, and then wait a moment — the download is only about 50 megabytes, so it shouldn't take very long.

Double-click the executable you just downloaded, then click "Next" to move through the installation prompts. There are a ton of options during the installation process — don't worry too much about most of them. The default options will be just fine, but there are two you should watch out for.

The first is the text editor Git will use. The default selection is Vim. Vim is ubiquitous and a hallmark of command-line interfaces everywhere but learning to use its idiosyncratic commands can be daunting. You should probably pick something else instead, like Visual Studio Code, Sublime, NotePad++, or any other plain text editor you like.

Just click the drop-down menu, and then select the new program from the list.

Try Visual Studio Code if you don't know which one to pick.

Click the drop-down menu, then select a new plain text editor.

The second is the way Git integrates itself into your PC's PATH. Make sure that the "Git From The Command Line And Also From 3rd-Party Software" is selected.

Make sure to select the option that adds Git to your system PATH.

Click through the remaining options, and wait for everything to finish downloading. The time requires to download everything will vary depending on what you chose to install. The default selection results in a download that is about 270 megabytes.

Use Winget to Download Git

You can also use Winget to download Git if you're a fan of command-line interfaces.

Open up PowerShell, or Windows Terminal with a PowerShell tab, and then paste or type:

winget install --id Git.Git -e --source winget

You'll see a few download bars appear in the Terminal window while Winget fetches everything it needs.

A normal Windows installation window will appear as the final part of the installation process.

You're good to go after that window closes. You'll find that Git has been added to the PATH. Any programs that require it to install — like Stable Diffusion — will now work correctly.