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Precompiled packages (MS-Windows)

Note:
Post-process with the native ParaView, for better performance and easy configuration. Do not bother with the paraFoam script.

The packages do not contain visualization (eg, ParaView/runTimePostProcessing) or external-solver (eg, PETSc) modules:
see the corresponding FAQ

MS-Windows

MS-Windows

There are three different ways to run OpenFOAM on MS-Windows (10 or newer). These are listed in the likely order of preference:

WSL/WSL2 : Windows Subsystem for Linux
Many OpenFOAM users like WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) since it provides maximum flexibility for the user to compile new applications, use dynamic code compilation, and install additional programs.
Additionally, the OpenFOAM Linux packages are kept more up-to-date than cross-compiled or docker variants.
Native Windows : Cross-compiled Windows binaries (mingw).
Provides a quick means of using OpenFOAM on windows, but does not currently include an OpenFOAM development environment (ie, cannot compile code, no dynamic code)
Docker container : docker-windows
Equivalent to the WSL approach, except that the entire OpenFOAM installation is managed as a container.

Windows Subsystem for Linux

Install WSL/WSL2 : The WSL information from Microsoft provides extensive information about installing and configuring WSL.
Install Linux : You should choose a Linux distribution such as Ubuntu or openSUSE that receives regular OpenFOAM updates.
Install OpenFOAM : Follow the regular installation/update instructions for Ubuntu or openSUSE.

Note OpenFOAM requires a case sensitive file system to build. If you attempt to build OpenFOAM from a location outside of the WSL/WSL2 partition (for example a mounted drive, /mnt/c/Users/some/path) this will cause issues. To avoid such problems, there are two possible solutions:

Build OpenFOAM within the WSL/WSL2 partition. This partition is case sensitive.
or Create a case sensitive folder within the Windows Partition and build OpenFOAM there. The procedure for this approach is outlined below:
1. Create a new folder within Windows (eg, ../Documents/OpenFOAM). Folder must be empty to perform the next step!
2. Enable case sensitivity for this folder using the fsutil.exe utility. This is accomplished by running the command fsutil.exe file setCaseSensitiveInfo <path/to/folder> enable in PowerShell (see case sensitivity for Windows)
3. From inside the WSL/WSL2 environment/terminal, unpack the OpenFOAM-vXXXX.tgz/ThirdParty-vXXXX.tgz files or clone the repositories within this folder. Build OpenFOAM.

Graphical applications (X11) within WSL

To enable graphical applications such as ParaView, Gedit, GNUPlot etc. to be launched directly from WSL2, the following steps may be followed:

Download and install VcXsrv. Make sure to disable "active access control" (set checkmark) as well as "native OpenGL" (unset checkmark) under "Extra Settings" in the installation wizard.
Define a display variable in your file. For example, by adding the line
```
export DISPLAY=$(awk '/nameserver /{ print $2; exit }' /etc/resolv.conf 2>/dev/null):0
```
to your ~/.bashrc file
Run VcXsrv via XLaunch (installed with VcXsrv) or make sure an instance of VcXsrv is running (check for icon in taskbar).
Launch graphical applications from the WSL terminal. For example,
```
gedit &
```

Native-windows

Download the package of the latest OpenFOAM version by simply clicking the link below (Please ensure that you have at least 300MB of available storage space on your hard disk):

Link to OpenFOAM-windows-mingw.exe

The package is an executable. Run this executable to open the installation wizard, and simply follow the wizard's installation instructions specific to your system. (Please ensure that you have enough available storage space on your hard disk).

You may also need to install Microsoft MPI (MS-MPI) executable. Similary, download the following package (i.e. msmpisetup.exe), and follow its installation wizard:

Link to Microsoft MPI v10.0

Upon completion of the above steps, an icon will be created on your desktop. Double-click this icon to launch a terminal window. Running this icon will load the OpenFOAM environment. Verify the contents of OpenFOAM in a terminal as follows ($ is the command prompt, indicating that the terminal is ready to accept a command.):

$ ls -p
OpenFOAM/

$ cd $WM_PROJECT_DIR

$ ls -p
bin/  COPYING  etc/  etc-mingw  META-INFO  platforms/  README.md  ThirdParty/  tutorials/

Docker

Install Docker: Follow the Docker for windows information.
Follow general OpenFOAM + Docker information.

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