Setup C++ in VS Code (Windows 2024)

This blog post will guide you to install C++ in Windows for VS Code

Step 1: Installing VS Code

1. Download the latest VS Code Setup.exe from this link.
2. Click on I Accept the agreement and click on Next
3. Make sure to check all the boxes as shown below and click Next.
4. Click on Install and wait till its installed.
5. Click on finish.

Step 2: Installing Required Extensions in VS Code.

1. Go to the Extensions Tab (Ctrl+Shift+X) in VS Code.
2. Search up and Install the following Extensions.

C/C++

Code Runner

Step 3: Installing C++ Compiler.

Installing the MinGW-w64 toolchain
Get the latest version of MinGW-w64 via MSYS2, which provides up-to-date native builds of GCC, MinGW-w64, and other helpful C++ tools and libraries. This will provide you with the necessary tools to compile your code, debug it, and configure it to work with IntelliSense.

1. You can download the latest installer from the MSYS2 page or use this direct link to the installer and open it.
2. Install it with default settings and check the run MSYS2 now box at the finish page and click finish.

3. In this terminal install MINGW64 by running this command and press enter. pacman -Syu
   
   then type Y to proceed with the installation.
   and then type Y once again to update confirm all the MSYS2 Processes.

4. Open Msys2 application from the start menu.
   

5. Type this command line pacman -Su and press enter. Type Y and enter to proceed with the installation.
   

6. Paste this command in the terminal.
   pacman -S --needed base-devel mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-toolchain
   and press enter.
   
   then press enter again and type Y to proceed with the installation.

Step 4: Adding bin to Windows PATH environment variable.

1. Search Edit environment variables for your account and open it.
2. Select PATH and click on Edit.
3. Click on new and enter your path to bin folder. If you used the default settings above, then this will be the path: C:\msys64\ucrt64\bin

Step 5: Check your MinGW Installation.

To check that your MinGW-w64 tools are correctly installed and available, open a Command Prompt and type:

gcc --version
g++ --version
gdb --version

If MinGW is installed correctly you should see the version of your installation.

That's It, you have successfully installed MinGW and C++ for VS Code.