R installation on Windows 10/11

Table of Contents

Motivation

Whether working or studying everybody uses various sorts and types of software on their computer. Students taking Statistical Courses, as taught by the Mathematical and Statistical Methods group at Wageningen University & Research, will most likely use R.

Two ways to install R are offered here:

1. WUR AppStore. This is the RECOMMENDED way, because it includes R and everything to run R Commander!
2. Manual installation for those who, for whatever reason, do not want to use the WUR AppStore.

1. WUR AppStore

The WUR AppStore is the place where you will be able to download, link to, or virtually access the software you need for your study programme and courses. Not only during the computer labs and courses, but also for self-study after those.

For more information see: What is the WUR AppStore

Windows 10/11 compatibility and WUR AppStore installation

• To safely use the study and course software, you need to connect your laptop to the WUR network with your WUR account. Windows 10 or 11 Education Edition or Professional Edition is needed on your laptop to be able to access the WUR AppStore. If you are using a Home Edition of Windows 10 or 11, you will be automatically upgraded to the Education Edition.
• If you have Windows 10 or 11, you can proceed to the manual: How to connect to the WUR AppStore.

Using the WUR AppStore

The use of the WUR AppStore is very well described by the WUR TEAM Study Anytime, Anyplace. The first article can be found here: How can I use the WUR AppStore

The WUR AppStore currently contains R 4.3.1 Rcmdr. Rcmdr indicates that, apart from running R v4.3.1 by using the default Graphical User Interface (a.k.a. RGUI), everything is included to run R Commander.

Support WUR AppStore

In case you need support installing or using the WUR AppStore you can contact the WUR Servicedesk IT either by telephone: +31 (0)317 488888 / mail: Servicedesk.IT AT wur.nl. You can also visit the Servicepoint IT, ground floor left of the Grand Café, in Forum (Building 102) on the WUR Campus.

2. Manual Installation

Download

At the time this post was written, the latest release of R was version 3.6.3. It has been updated to the latest release version 4.3.3 of R, named “Angel Food Cake”. As of version 4.2.0 the R software is only available as 64-bit, meaning that it will not install on a 32-bit version of Windows 10.

The installer for Windows 10/11 can be downloaded directly from this link: R 4.3.3 for Windows (ca. 79 MB, 64-bit).

For newer versions of R than 3.6.3 the steps described below are the same and still correct, but start with a newer version of the downloaded executable file of R. The screenshots in this post have not been updated. Therefore, what you see during your installation will differ with respect to the version number shown in the screenshots.

Installation

1. Open the downloaded file R-4.3.3-win.exe. This file will most likely reside in your Downloads folder of your user account.
2. Allow to install the software on your computer.
3. After the installer has started, a first selection window will appear as displayed below in Figure 1. Select the English language and click the ‘OK’ button to proceed.

4. Click on the ‘Next’ button to agree to the terms. After this a window will appear, allowing you to select or choose the destination folder, as shown in Figure 2, where R version 4.3.3 for Windows should be installed. If you are content with the default C:\Program Files\R\R-4.3.3 click on the ‘Next’ button to continu, otherwise use the ‘Browse…’ button to navigate to an alternative destination or type the destination path directly into the text field displayed (currently showing C:\Program Files\R\R-4.3.3).

5. After selecting the installation destination folder the component selector will appear, as displayed in Figure 3. Most desktop and laptop computers these days are using a 64-bit architecture, therefore select (using the pull down menu) the 64-bit User installation as displayed in the image shown below and click on the ‘Next’ button.

6. After selecting the components to install the startup options need to be set. Select, as shown in Figure 4 below, the customized startup by selecting the ‘Yes (customized startup)’ radio button followed by clicking on the ‘Next’ button.

7. The first startup option to set is the Display Mode, as shown below in Figure 5. Select the Single Document Interface by selecting the ‘SDI (separate windows)’ radio button as displayed and clicking on the ‘Next’ button.

8. Next select the help style startup option. Leave this at the default ‘HTML help’ value, as displayed in Figure 6, and click on the ‘Next’ button.

9. The one before last startup option is to set a ‘Start Menu’ folder name. Unless wishing to use a different name, leave the default value as displayed below in Figure 7. This will create a folder named ‘R’ in the ‘Start Menu’ of Windows, from which the R GUI (graphical user interface) can be started.

10. The last startup option to set allows for some customization of shortcut links. Preferably leave the default settings and continue by clicking on the ‘Next’ button. This will trigger the installation. At the end the image shown in Figure 8 will appear. To exit the setup click on the ‘Finish’ button.