How to install IPFS from source in Windows

Install IPFS from Source in Windows.md

Install IPFS in Windows

Install Go

• Head to the download website
• Click the latest version and download the .msi file

Create Paths

• Create GOROOT system variable if it doesn't exist in C:\Go
• Create a PATH environment variable at C:\Go\bin
• Create a working environment system variable called GOPATH at a location where you want your Go projects install
  • If you check around github, this is referred to as $GOPATH in Mac/Linux or %GOPATH% in Windows
  • Don't be confused, it's just a convenient shortcut
    • For example: we'll create a new system variable called GOPATH at C:\OpenBazaar\Go
    • Here %GOPATH% is C:\OpenBazaar\Go
    • So %GOPATH%\src\github.com is the same as writing C:\OpenBazaar\Go\src\github.com
  • Check to see if this worked by opening a new terminal and typing echo %GOPATH%
    • The output should the path you set in the system variable (i.e. C:\OpenBazaar\Go in our example)
• Close and reopen the terminal to ensure the paths are set

Install Dependencies

• Install gx
  • Open the terminal and type go get -u github.com/whyrusleeping/gx
    • This will install gx in %GOPATH%\src\github.com\whyrusleeping/gx
• Install gx-go
  • Open the terminal and type go get -u github.com/whyrusleeping/gx-go
    • This will install gx-go in %GOPATH%\src\github.com\whyrusleeping/gx-go
• Close and reopen the terminal to ensure the paths are set

Install IPFS

• Download without installing ipfs

  • Open the terminal and type go get -d github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs
    • This will install ipfs in %GOPATH%\src\github.com\ipfs\go-ipfs\
  • Then type cd %GOPATH%\src\github.com\ipfs\go-ipfs
  • Install with gx with the following command gx --verbose install --global
  • Then type cd cmd/ipfs && go build
  • IPFS should now be installed, test to see if you get a response by typing ipfs in the terminal

• Add ipfs.exe to your environment variables path

  • %GOPATH%\src\github.com\ipfs\go-ipfs\cmd\ipfs (use the full file path, don't write in %GOPATH)

• Special thanks to lgierth