RStudio | Maikel P.H. Verouden, Ph.D.

Custom RStudio installation on a WURclient computer

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents

Motivation

A WURclient desktop or laptop at Wageningen University & Research is not a standard Windows 11 computer. WURclients use Windows 11 Enterprise, which has been modified by Facilities and Services Information Technology (FB-IT) among others with respect to installation rights for security reasons.

Classic WURclient desktops and laptops at Wageningen University & Research can install RStudio from the Software Center created by the IT department, which is launched by clicking on Start and selecting the “Software Center” tile. Modern WURclient desktops and laptops use the “WURAppStore” instead. The available version of RStudio in Software Center/WURAppStore is RStudio 2025.05.1.513, referring to release RStudio version 2025.05.1 Build 513.

This version of RStudio was placed in ‘Software Center’ for educational purposes. Only once per year a new version of R (including R Commander and additional packages for several courses) and RStudio is released in Software Center.

Many users, however, prefer to use the latest version of RStudio, because of new features offered in the newer version of the software. At the moment of writing this post the latest version of RStudio was v1.4.1717 named: ‘Juliet Rose’ (released on 2021-06-01). The post has been updated, with the exception of the screenshots, to RStudio 2026.04.0 Build 526 named: “Globemaster Allium”.

This post will show how to custom install RStudio on a WURclient desktop or laptop computer without using Software Center.

The installation instructions in this post are not to be used on privately owned desktops or laptops! For a privately owned desktop or laptop see the post: RStudio installation on Windows 10/11.

Prerequisites

To be able to perform a custom installation of RStudio you need to have POWER USER RIGHTS on the WURclient desktop or laptop.

To see whether you possess these rights, right-click any icon (except Recycle Bin or WUR HELP) on the desktop. When the opened menu contains the option ‘WUR - Run with administrative rights’ (sixth or seventh from the top), it means you have power user rights on that particular desktop or laptop.

R installed on a WURclient using a custom installation

To be able to install RStudio you will need to have R installed first. If you haven’t done so already, please first perform a custom installation of R on your WURclient computer (use the link above to go to that specific post).

Uninstall a previously installed RStudio version

Before performing a new custom installation of RStudio it is recommended to uninstall a previously installed version.

Here two procedures are described, follow the one that fits your needs:

In case you have no version of RStudio installed on your WURclient desktop or laptop you can proceed to the section Custom RStudio installation.

Installed from Software Center

If you previously installed RStudio from Software Center, then to remove R reopen the Software Center by clicking on Start and next click on the Software Center tile. If for some reason you lack this tile in your start menu, just type ‘Software Center’ and it will appear in a search results window in your Windows task bar.

In the left column of Software Center navigate to ‘Installation Status’. Select the installed RStudio version and click on the green button bearing the text ‘Uninstall’. This will start the removal of the software. You will be informed by the Software Center, when the software has been uninstalled.

If you have not installed another version of RStudio, either via Software Center or via a custom installation, your computer should now be lacking a functioning RStudio installation. Continue with the section Custom RStudio installation to perform a new custom installation of RStudio.

When you do still have a working RStudio installation on your WURclient computer, return to Uninstall a previously installed RStudio version and follow the procedure applicable to your situation.

Installed previously as a custom installation

Let’s assume you previously installed RStudio version 1.3.959 on a WURclient computer (either a desktop or laptop) by following the steps for a custom installation of RStudio as described in this post. For a newer version of RStudio the steps are the same.

To uninstall RStudio perform the following steps:

Open a File Explorer and navigate to the folder C:\MyPrograms\RStudio. Right-click the file Uninstall.exe and select ‘WUR - Run with administrative rights’ as displayed in Figure 1 below.

Uninstall Custom RStudio Installation from File Explorer.

The uninstaller will start as shown below in Figure 2. Click the ‘Uninstall’ to proceed.

RStudio for Windows Uninstall Announcement.

Once the uninstallation has completed, a message of success will be display as shown below in Figure 3. Click the ‘Close’ button to finish.

RStudio for Windows Uninstalled Successfully.

When you do still have a working RStudio installation on your WURclient computer, return to Uninstall a previously installed RStudio version and follow the procedure applicable to your situation.

Custom RStudio installation

Download

At the time this post was written, the latest stable release of RStudio was version 1.4.1717. The post has been updated to the current stable release 2026.04.0 Build 526.

Download RStudio using the following link: RStudio 2026.04.0 Build 526 (ca. 319.84 MB)

For newer versions of RStudio the steps described after the download are the same, but starting with a newer version of the RStudio executable file.

Installation

To install RStudio perform the following steps:

Right-click the downloaded file RStudio-2026.04.0-526.exe and select ‘WUR - Run with administrative rights’. This file will most likely reside in your Downloads folder of your user account.
After the installler has started, a Welcome window will appear as displayed below in Figure 4. Click the ‘Next’ button to proceed.

Welcome screen RStudio Setup.

Now the RStudio Setup will allow you to select the installation location by selecting a destination folder. Change the Destination Folder to C:\MyPrograms\Rstudio, , as shown in Figure 5 below. Click the ‘Next’ button to continue.

RStudio Installation Location Selection.

Next the RStudio Setup allows choosing a Start Menu folder, as displayed below in Figure 6, where the RStudio shortcut to start the program will be put. Click on ‘Install’ to start the installation of RStudio.

Setting the RStudio Start Menu Folder.

Once the installation of RStudio has finished, the window will look like the one shown below in Figure 7. Click the ‘Finish’ button to close the setup.

RStudio Installation Completion.

Congratulations, 😆, you now have RStudio 2026.04.0 Build 526 installed on your WURclient desk- or laptop computer!

Setting the default RStudio working directory

In the default R GUI the working directory at start up is:

\\\\WURNET.NL/Homes/user001/My Documents

where user001 display your own WUR username, as described in the section Changing the R GUI working directory of the post Custom R installation on a WURclient computer.

In RStudio the default working directory of the R Console and Files tab can be set in the Global Options… item under Tools in the top menu:

a new window will open by default in the General part,
go to R Sessions and select your “Default working directory (when not in a project):” by setting the desired folder using the Browse button.

When restarting RStudio you will notice, that both the R console and the Files tab open in the selected default working directory.

Resetting RStudio desktop’s state

RStudio Desktop stores its internal state in a hidden directory. If this directory does not exist, RStudio will create it on start up. This directory includes information about open documents, log files, and other state information. Removing (or renaming) this directory will reset RStudio’s state.

It is recommended to rename this directory to create a backup version instead of completely deleting it. This allows saving your settings, in case needed to revert back to them. Additionally, if experiencing a crash or RStudio failed to start, this directory may contain vital information for determining the source of the error.

Starting with RStudio 1.3, user preferences are stored in a separate folder from internal state. This allows for performing a state reset without losing settings, and also allows for preferences to be sync’ed between machines (in e.g., AppData\Roaming on Windows) while internal state is machine specific.

Some versions of RStudio Desktop store additional preferences (such as the size and location of the window and the rendering mode) in a separate location. To fully reset state, this must also be deleted or renamed, as described below in “Resetting Other Preferences”.

When using RStudio Projects, it is also recommended to reset the project-specific state if experiencing issues - this can done by navigating to the Project’s folder in the file browser, and renaming the .Rproj.user directory there.

Before resetting the internal state or other preferences make sure that no instance of RStudio is currently running. Use the task manager in Windows to close any running instance of RStudio.

Accessing the RStudio-Desktop Directory (Internal State)

Open a File Explorer window into the RStudio-Desktop directory by typing the following command into Start -> Run:

%localappdata%\RStudio

For older versions of RStudio (v1.3 and older), the state is stored here:

%localappdata%\RStudio-Desktop

Rename the directory Rstudio or RStudio-Desktop, e.g. to old_Rstudio. The environment variable %localappdata generally resolves into the folder C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local, where <username> reflects the username of the current user.

Resetting other preferences

Open an Explorer window into the RStudio preferences directory by typing the following command into Start -> Run:

%appdata%\RStudio

Rename the directory RStudio, e.g. to old_Rstudio. The environment variable %appdata generally resolves into the folder C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming, where <username> reflects the username of the current user.

RStudio installation on macOS

Mon, 13 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

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.

Some of these courses (e.g., MAT20306 Advanced Statistics, MAT27803 R for Statistics, and MAT32806 Statistics for Data Scientists) mainly use RStudio. Also other courses (e.g., HNH45306, and BIF21306) taught at Wageningen University & Research use R through RStudio as well. Therefore, students will need to be able to install RStudio.

This post will show how to install RStudio on a desktop or laptop computer running macOS as operating system.

In the text some symbol combinations are used for shortcuts, the following table explains the meaning of these symbols in relation to specific keys on your keyboard. To use the shortcuts press the keyboard keys simultaneously, e.g. ⇧⌘A means ⇧+⌘+A.

Icon	Keyboard Meaning	Icon	Keyboard Meaning
⌘	command	⇪	caps lock
⌥	option (or alt)	↩	carriage return (return/enter)
⌃	control	⌫	delete/backspace
fn	function	⌦	forward delete (fn + ⌫)
⇧	shift (either left or right)	⎋	escape

Download

At the time this post was written the latest stable release of RStudio was version 1.2.5033. It has been updated to the current stable release 2026.04.0 Build 526 (nicknamed “Globemaster Allium”), which will work on macOS Sonoma (version 14.x) or later.

Download RStudio using the following link: RStudio 2026.04.0 Build 526 (ca. 694.56 MB)

If you are on a 32 bit system, you can use an older version of RStudio.

RStudio Installation

The screenshots in the installation steps described below have not been updated. However, the procedure is correct even for newer versions of RStudio. Just bear in mind, that what you see during your installation may differ from the screenshots shown.

Prior requirement for the RStudio installation on macOS:

R installed and configured on macOS

To be able to install RStudio you will need to have R installed and configured first. If you haven’t done so already, please read the (re-)install and configure R on macOS (use the link above to go to that specific post) before continuing with this post.

To install RStudio on macOS perform the following steps:

Open the downloaded RStudio disk image. This file will most likely reside in Finder > Downloads (shortcut: ⌥⌘L). The file can more easily be found by switching into List view (shortcut: ⌘2). To switch to Icon view use the shortcut: ⌘1. The Rstudio disk image will look like the image displayed below in Figure 1 (version number will differ and reflect the current version).

Icon RStudio Disk Image Application

Opening the RStudio disk image will cause a window labeled ‘RStudio-xxxx.xx.x-xxx’ to appear (xxxx.xx.x-xxx represents the version number used), containing the RStudio application (see Figure 2).

RStudio Application Inside Disk Image

Drag the RStudio application and drop it on the Applications folder shown in the same window.
Close the ‘RStudio-xxxx.xx.x-xxx’ window by clicking on the red ball in the top left corner of the window.
The opened disk image is still mounted as a volume on your desktop and will look like the image shown below in Figure 3. Click this icon on your desktop once to select it and press ⌘E (shortcut for eject) to close it. Now you can discard the downloaded RStudio-xxxx.xx.x-xxx.dmg file from Finder > Downloads (shortcut: ⌥⌘L) by clicking it once to select and using the shortcut ⌦ (press: fn + ⌫) to put it in the trashbin. To completely remove the installer disk image remove it from your trashbin.

Mounted RStudio Volume

Congratulations, 😆, you now have successfully installed RStudio on your mac! The icon in your Applications (shortcut: ⇧⌘A) or Launcher will look the same as the R application icon you dragged and dropped in step 3. of the installation steps described above.

Resetting RStudio desktop’s state

Before resetting the internal state or other preferences make sure that no instance of RStudio is currently running. Use ⌘⌥⎋ (Command + Option + Escape) and, if needed, force quit an unresponsive RStudio instance.

Accessing the RStudio-Desktop Directory (Internal State)

A backup can easily created by running the following command from the terminal:

mv ~/.local/share/rstudio ~/.local/share/rstudio-backup

Alternatively, open a Finder window into the rstudio directory by typing the following command at the Terminal:

open ~/.local/share/rstudio

In RStudio 1.3 and prior, the folder ~/.rstudio-desktop is used instead of ~/.local/share/rstudio.

Resetting other preferences

To create a backup, run the following command from the terminal:

defaults read com.rstudio.desktop > ~/backup-rstudio-prefs

To delete these settings, run the following command from the terminal:

defaults delete com.rstudio.desktop

Use caution; this cannot be undone unless you have created the backup file, and deleting anything other than com.rstudio.desktop could create serious problems with your system.

RStudio installation on Windows 10/11

Mon, 13 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents

Motivation

This post will show how to install RStudio on a privately owned desktop or laptop computer running Windows 10/11 as operating system.

The installation instructions in this post are not to be used on WURclient desktops or laptops! For a WURclient desktop or laptop see the post: Custom RStudio installation on a WURclient computer.

Two ways to install R are offered here:

WUR AppStore. This is the RECOMMENDED way!
Manual installation for those who, for whatever reason, do not want to use the WUR AppStore.

Installation

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 program and courses. Not only during, but also for self-study after, the computer practical’s and courses.

Prior requirement for the installation of RStudio via the WUR AppStore:

R installed on Windows 10/11 via the WUR AppStore

The WUR AppStore currently contains RStudio version 2025.05.1 Build 513 named “RStudio 2025.05.1.513”.

2. Manual Installation

Download

At the time this post was written, the latest stable release of RStudio was version 1.2.5033. The post has been updated to the current stable release version 2026.04.0 Build 526 (named “Globemaster Allium”).

Download RStudio using the following link: RStudio 2026.04.0 Build 526 (ca. 319.84 MB)

For newer versions of RStudio the steps described after the download are the same, but starting with a newer version of the RStudio executable file.

RStudio Installation

Prior requirement for the installation of RStudio:

R installed on Windows 10/11 via Manual Installation

To be able to install RStudio you will need to have R installed first. If you haven’t done so already, please first install R on your Windows 10/11 computer (use the link above to go to that specific post).

To install RStudio on Windows 10/11 perform the following steps:

Open the downloaded file RStudio-2026.04.0-526.exe. This file will most likely reside in the Downloads folder of your user account.
Allow to install the software on your computer.
After the installler has started, a Welcome window will appear as displayed below in Figure 1. Click the ‘Next’ button to proceed.

Welcome screen RStudio Setup.

Now the RStudio Setup will allow you to select the installation location by selecting a destination folder, as shown in Figure 2 below. Leave the default specified folder or, if you know what you are doing, select an alternative installation destination folder, then click the ‘Next’ button to continue.

RStudio Installation Location Selection.

Next the RStudio Setup allows choosing a Start Menu folder, as displayed below in Figure 3, where the RStudio shortcut to start the program will be put. Click on ‘Install’ to start the installation of RStudio.

Setting the RStudio Start Menu Folder.

Once the installation of RStudio has finished, the window will look like the one shown below in Figure 4. Click the ‘Finish’ button to close the setup.

RStudio Installation Completion.

Congratulations, 😆, you now have RStudio 2026.04.0 Build 526 installed on your private Windows desktop or laptop computer!

Resetting RStudio desktop’s state

Before resetting the internal state or other preferences make sure that no instance of RStudio is currently running. Use the task manager in Windows to close any running instance of RStudio.

Accessing the RStudio-Desktop Directory (Internal State)

Open a File Explorer window into the RStudio-Desktop directory by typing the following command into Start -> Run:

%localappdata%\RStudio

For older versions of RStudio (v1.3 and older), the state is stored here:

%localappdata%\RStudio-Desktop

Resetting other preferences

Open an Explorer window into the RStudio preferences directory by typing the following command into Start -> Run:

%appdata%\RStudio

Rename the directoryRStudio, e.g. to old_Rstudio. The environment variable %appdata generally resolves into the folder C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming, where <username> reflects the username of the current user.