Download the latest release:
- Standalone installer - recommended. Does not need administrative privileges.
- System installer - installs included software system-wide. Needs administrative privileges.
- Zip archive - no installation needed.
Plese see the README included with the installer for further information on installing and using this software.
All installers are built for x64 (x86-64) platforms only, and support arm64 versions of Windows as well via emulation.
This project aims to create an easy-to-use installer to get started on Windows (using the C/C++ SDK) with Raspberry Pi Pico-series and other Raspberry Pi microcontroller-based boards. It is inspired by, and is roughly equivalent to, the pico-setup project for Raspberry Pi OS systems.
The installer automates the prerequisite installation on Windows. This project was previously the official Raspberry Pi installer for the Pico SDK on Windows; the current officially recommended method for using the SDK on Windows is the Pico VS Code extension. Please use that if your primary requirement is to use the SDK with Visual Studio Code. However, if you need more control over the build process, builds outside the VS Code environment, or any other custom setup -- then this project is for you.
The rest of this README document is about developing the installer itself. If you just want to install and use the compilers and toolchain, download the release linked to above. Further information for users is in the README included with the installer.
You will need PowerShell 7.4 or newer in order to run the build script. See Installing PowerShell on Windows for download links and instructions. Note that this is needed only for building the installer itself, and not for end-user machines where the installer will be run.
The installers are built with NSIS 3. The NSIS script is generated by build.ps1 when provided with JSON configuration files. The build script automatically downloads a local copy of NSIS to use for the build.
Only x64 (x86-64) builds are supported at this time.
Compiling OpenOCD, the RISC-V toolchain, and Pico SDK tools (picotool and pioasm) requires an installation of MSYS2. The build script automatically downloads and installs a local copy of MSYS2. You can specify a path to an existing copy of MSYS2 using the -MSYS2Path option. The build script will install a copy of MSYS2 at this path if it doesn't find an existing copy.
It is highly recommended to use a dedicated copy of MSYS2 for this build.
To build:
# Standalone installer
.\build.ps1 -CompileConfig .\config\x64-compile.json -InstallerConfig .\config\x64-standalone.json -BuildType user -MSYS2Path C:\Users\Nikhil\Downloads\msys64 -Target Download,Compile,Installer
# Zip archive
.\build.ps1 -CompileConfig .\config\x64-compile.json -InstallerConfig .\config\x64-standalone.json -BuildType user -MSYS2Path C:\Users\Nikhil\Downloads\msys64 -Target Download,Compile,Archive
# System installer
.\build.ps1 -CompileConfig .\config\x64-compile.json -InstallerConfig .\config\x64.json -BuildType system -MSYS2Path C:\Users\Nikhil\Downloads\msys64 -Target Download,Compile,InstallerThe built installers will be saved to the bin directory.