What is the best way to run emacs under Windows?

Question

I tried using the GNU Emacs download, unzipped it and then clicked on emacs.exe, but got some obscure error.

Then I tried Cygwin emacs, but when I press ctrl x ctrl c to quit emacs it thinks I pressed ctrl x ctrl "g"!!! I checked all the key mapping and they work otherwise in Emacs.

Is there another version of emacs for windows that just works!

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 24 '10 at 10:02

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I have used GNU emacs in windows without issues, at least version 22 and 23. Anyway, you can try XEmacs and see if you have better luck.

answered Mar 24 '10 at 10:02

Dan Andreatta

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I tried XEamcs under cygwin and it works perfectly. thanks! – yazz.com Mar 24 '10 at 15:16

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 24 '10 at 15:09

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Install Vim... or check http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/math/alee/emacs/emacs.html for a guide

answered Mar 24 '10 at 15:09

Hugh Mann

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score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 23 '17 at 12:32

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I personally prefer Emacs W32 http://www.ourcomments.org/Emacs/EmacsW32.html (Link is broken, you can view the archived version, or view the Reddit discussion for alternatives).

It has some nice tie-ins with Windows and will also hook into Cygwin.

edited Jan 23 '17 at 12:32

icc97

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answered Apr 02 '10 at 21:44

Mica

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 11 '16 at 13:41

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There is now a Chocolatey Emacs package (currently v24.5.0.20150611). If you've installed Chocolatey, open a DOS prompt as an Administrator:

C:\> choco install -y emacs

Then you can just run emacs whenever you want from the DOS prompt. Emacs binaries get installed to the chocolatey bin directory (C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin), which should already be in your path if you can run choco.

Cygwin is not required.

answered Aug 11 '16 at 13:41

icc97

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*Cygwin is not required.* but it better to have installed. Especially because it nowadays comes with `emacs-w32`. – gavenkoa Jan 23 '17 at 00:53
@gavenkoa I just find that Cygwin adds an extra layer. If it's only available in Cygwin then great use it. However if you've got a natively compiled version it makes sense to use that. – icc97 Jan 23 '17 at 10:53

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 17 '10 at 20:31

If you set the environment variable CYGWIN=tty before launching Cygwin (e.g. from Windows' System Properties->Advanced->Environment Variables) your probem will be fixed and you will be able to kill (more?) Cygwin programs with Ctrl-C. However, it will break console IO for some Windows programs under Cygwin (and ability to kill them with Ctrl-C). I haven't found a way to solve both problems simultaneously.

What is the best way to run emacs under Windows?

5 Answers5