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@setfilename ../../info/efaq-w32.info
@settitle GNU Emacs FAQ For MS Windows
@include docstyle.texi
@setchapternewpage odd
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@documentdescription
Answers to Frequently asked Questions about using Emacs on Microsoft Windows.
@end documentdescription

@include emacsver.texi

@copying
Copyright @copyright{} 2008, 2010--2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

@quotation
This list of frequently asked questions about GNU Emacs on MS Windows
with answers (``FAQ'') may be translated into other languages,
transformed into other formats (e.g., Texinfo, Info, WWW), and updated
with new information.

The same conditions apply to any derivative of the FAQ as apply to the FAQ
itself.  Every copy of the FAQ must include this notice or an approved
translation, information on who is currently maintaining the FAQ and how to
contact them (including their e-mail address), and information on where the
latest version of the FAQ is archived (including FTP information).

The FAQ may be copied and redistributed under these conditions, except that
the FAQ may not be embedded in a larger literary work unless that work
itself allows free copying and redistribution.
@end quotation
@end copying

@dircategory Emacs
@direntry
* Emacs W32 FAQ: (efaq-w32).	FAQs about Emacs on MS Windows.
@end direntry

@c The @titlepage stuff only appears in the printed version
@titlepage
@sp 10
@center @titlefont{GNU Emacs FAQ for MS Windows}

@c The following two commands start the copyright page.
@page
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
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@end titlepage

@footnotestyle end

@node Top
@top GNU Emacs FAQ for MS Windows

This is the FAQ for using GNU Emacs on MS Windows, as distributed with
Emacs @value{EMACSVER}.

This FAQ is maintained by the developers and users of Emacs on MS Windows.
If you find any errors, or have any suggestions, please send them to
the @url{https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows,
help-emacs-windows} mailing list.

At time of writing, the latest version of GNU Emacs is version @value{EMACSVER}.

@c Links to ftp.gnu.org are given as http links, since Windows ftp clients
@c are notoriously bad at handling firewalls etc.

@ifnottex
@insertcopying
@end ifnottex

@contents

@menu
* Introduction::
* Getting Emacs::
* Installing Emacs::
* Display Settings::
* Fonts and text translation::
* Printing::
* Sub-processes::
* Network access::
* Text and Utility modes::
* Developing with Emacs::
* Other useful ports::
* Further information::
* Indexes::
@end menu

@c ------------------------------------------------------------
@node Introduction
@chapter Introduction
@cindex scope of FAQ

This FAQ covers questions that are specific to running GNU Emacs on Windows.
For more general information, see the other Emacs manuals.
@xref{Further information}.

@menu
* Why Emacs on Windows::
* Which versions of Windows::
* Other versions of Emacs::
@end menu

@node Why Emacs on Windows
@section Why support GNU Emacs on Windows?
@cindex Why Windows

It is not our goal to ``help Windows users'' by making text editing
on Windows more convenient.  We aim to replace proprietary software,
not to enhance it.  So why support GNU Emacs on Windows?

We hope that the experience of using GNU Emacs on Windows will give
programmers a taste of freedom, and that this will later inspire them
to move to a free operating system such as GNU/Linux.  That is the
main valid reason to support free applications on nonfree operating
systems.

@node Which versions of Windows
@section Which versions of Windows are supported?
@cindex Windows, versions
@cindex supported versions of Windows

Emacs @value{EMACSVER} is known to run on all versions of Windows 9X
from Windows 98 onward, and all versions of the NT family starting
from NT 4.0; this includes all the modern versions from Windows XP and
on.  The Windows port is built using the Win32 API and supports most
features of the X version, including variable width fonts, images and
tooltips.  Emacs on Windows can be compiled as either a 64-bit or a
32-bit executable.

@node Other versions of Emacs
@section What other versions of Emacs run on Windows?
@cindex other ports of Emacs

@xref{Cygwin}.

@cindex DOS port
@cindex Windows 3.11 port
Emacs can also be compiled for MSDOS@.  When run on recent MS Windows,
it supports long file names, and uses the Windows clipboard.
See the @file{msdos} directory in the Emacs sources for building
instructions (requires DJGPP).

@c ------------------------------------------------------------
@node Getting Emacs
@chapter Getting Emacs

@menu
* Downloading::
* Compiling::
* Debugging::
@end menu

@node Downloading
@section Where can I download Emacs?

@cindex getting Emacs
@cindex where to get sources
@cindex Emacs source code
@cindex source for Emacs
You can download Emacs releases from
@uref{https://ftpmirror.gnu.org/emacs/, ftp.gnu.org mirrors}.  They
are distributed as compressed tar files, digitally signed by the
maintainer who made the release.

@cindex precompiled binaries
@cindex where to get Emacs binaries
Pre-compiled binaries for MS Windows may be made available on a
best-effort basis in the @file{windows} subdirectory of the above ftp
site (as zip files digitally signed by the person who built them).
See the @file{README} file in that directory for more information.
Building Emacs from source yourself should be straightforward,
following the instructions in the @file{nt} directory, so we
encourage you to give it a try.  @xref{Compiling}.

@cindex latest development version of Emacs
@cindex Emacs Development
The development version of Emacs is available from
@uref{https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/emacs, Savannah}, the GNU
development site.

@node Compiling
@section How can I compile Emacs myself?
@cindex compiling Emacs

To compile Emacs on a 64-bit version of Windows 7 or newer, we
recommend to use the MinGW-w64 port of GCC and Binutils with the MSYS2
suite of tools.  For the details, see the file @file{nt/INSTALL.W64}
in the Emacs source distribution.

If you need to build or run Emacs on MS Windows before Windows 7, you
have to use the MinGW port of GCC and the MSYS suite of tools.  The
file @file{nt/INSTALL} in Emacs source distribution contains the
details.

Support for displaying images, as well as XML/HTML rendering and TLS
networking requires external libraries, the headers and import
libraries for which will need to be installed where your compiler can
find them.  Again, the details, including URLs of sites where you can
download these libraries are in @file{nt/INSTALL.W64} or
@file{nt/INSTALL}.  @xref{Other useful ports}, for auxiliary tools you
may wish to install and use in conjunction with Emacs.

After unpacking the source, or checking out of the repository, be sure
to read the instructions in @file{nt/README} and the respective
install file.

@node Debugging
@section How do I use a debugger on Emacs?
@cindex debugging Emacs
@cindex bugs in Emacs, how to debug
@cindex Emacs debugging

By default, Emacs is compiled with debugging on, and optimizations enabled.
The optimizations may interfere with some types of debugging; the debugger
may not show clearly where it is, or may not be able to inspect certain
variables.  If this is the case, reconfigure with @kbd{CFLAGS='-O0 -g3'}

The file @file{etc/DEBUG} contains general debugging hints, as well as
specific notes about debugging Emacs.

@cindex debugging Emacs with GDB
GDB is the GNU debugger, which can be used to debug Emacs when it has
been compiled with GCC@.  The best results will be obtained if you
start gdb from the @file{src} directory as @kbd{gdb ./emacs.exe}.
This will load the init file @file{.gdbinit}@footnote{
Latest versions of GDB might refuse to load the init file for security
reasons, unless you customize GDB; alternatively, use an explicit
@kbd{source ./gdbinit} command after entering GDB.
} in that directory, to define some extra commands for working with
lisp while debugging, and set up breakpoints to catch abnormal aborts.

A Windows port of GDB is installed with MinGW64-w64 and MSYS2
(@samp{mingw-w64-<arch>-toolchain} group) or can be found on MinGW
download sites and on some others.

@c ------------------------------------------------------------
@node Installing Emacs
@chapter Installing Emacs

@menu
* Unpacking::
* Installing binaries::
* Image support::
* Init file::
* Location of init file::
* Troubleshooting init file::
* Associate files with Emacs::
* Find-file and the Desktop::
* Make Windows more like X::
* Make Emacs like a Windows app::
* Window operations::
* Uninstall::
* Does not run::
* Virus::
* Anti-virus::
@end menu

@node Unpacking
@section How do I unpack the distributions?
@cindex unpacking Emacs distribution
@cindex extracting Emacs distribution
@cindex unzipping Emacs distribution
@cindex untarring Emacs distribution
@cindex zip files, how to unpack Emacs binaries
@cindex tar.gz files, how to unpack Emacs sources

The binary distributions are distributed as zip files, which are handled
natively by Windows XP and later.  For earlier versions, there are many
tools that can handle the zip format, from InfoZip's command line unzip
tool, to 7zip's multi-format graphical archive explorer.  (Although
popular, WinZip has caused problems with line-ends in the past, and is not
Free software, so we do not recommend it.)

Source distributions are distributed as @file{.tar.gz} or
@file{.tar.xz} files.  7zip and similar multi-format graphical tools
can handle these, or you can get Windows ports of the command line
gzip and tar tools from multiple sources, or use @command{bsdtar}.
@xref{Other useful ports}.

The command to unpack a source distribution from the command line is:

@example
tar xzf emacs-@value{EMACSVER}.tar.gz
@end example

If this does not work with the versions of tar and gzip that you have,
you may need to try a two step process:

@example
gzip -dc emacs-@value{EMACSVER}.tar.gz | tar xf -
@end example

You may see many messages from tar complaining about being unable to change
the modification time on directories, and from gzip complaining about a
broken pipe.  These messages are usually harmless, caused by incomplete ports
that are not fully aware of the limitations of Windows.

And here's an example of using @command{bsdtar} (from the
@samp{libarchive} package) to unpack a @file{.tar.xz} archive:

@example
bsdtar -xf emacs-@value{EMACSVER}.tar.xz
@end example

Expect @command{bsdtar} to unpack the whole distribution without any
complaints.

Once you unpack the source distribution, look in the @file{nt}
directory for build instructions.

@node Installing binaries
@section How do I install Emacs after unpacking the binary zip?
@cindex installing Emacs
@pindex addpm
@cindex Start Menu, creating icons for Emacs

You can run Emacs without any extra steps, but if you want icons in your
Start Menu, or for Emacs to detect the image libraries that are already
installed on your system as part of GTK+, then you should run the program
@file{addpm.exe}, which is usually installed into the same @file{bin}
directory with @file{emacs.exe}.

@node Image support
@section How do I get image support?
@cindex images, installing libraries for
@cindex jpeg, installing image support in Emacs
@cindex png, installing image support in Emacs
@cindex gif, installing image support in Emacs
@cindex tiff, installing image support in Emacs
@cindex xpm, installing image support in Emacs
@cindex rsvg, installing image support in Emacs
@cindex toolbar, installing color icons in
@cindex color images, installing support for images in Emacs
@cindex monochrome images, getting color images in Emacs
@cindex black and white images, getting color images in Emacs

Emacs has built in support for XBM and PBM/PGM/PPM images.  This is
sufficient to see the monochrome splash screen and tool-bar icons.
Since v22.2, the official precompiled binaries for Windows have bundled
libXpm, which is required to display the color versions of those images.

Emacs is compiled to recognize JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, and RSVG images
also, but displaying these image types require external DLLs which are
not bundled with Emacs.  @xref{Other useful ports}.

@node Init file
@section What is my init file?
@cindex .emacs
@cindex init file
@cindex early init file

When Emacs starts up, it attempts to load and execute the contents of
a file commonly called @file{.emacs} (though it may have other names,
@pxref{Location of init file,,Where do I put my init file?}) which
contains any customizations you have made.  You can manually add lisp
code to your .emacs, or you can use the Customization interface
accessible from the @emph{Options} menu.  If the file does not exist,
Emacs will start with the default settings.

In addition, Emacs 27 and later attempts to load and execute the
contents of the @file{early-init.el} file.  As its name suggests, this
file, if it exists, is loaded and executed early on during the Emacs
startup sequence, before @code{.emacs}, and is intended to contain the
few initializations which must be performed before @file{.emacs} is
looked up and loaded.

@node Location of init file
@section Where do I put my init file?
@cindex HOME directory
@cindex .emacs.d
@cindex _emacs
@cindex init.el
@cindex early-init.el
@cindex registry, setting the HOME directory in

On Windows, the @file{.emacs} init file may be called @file{_emacs} for
backward compatibility with DOS and FAT filesystems where filenames
could not start with a dot.  Some users prefer to continue using such
a name due to historical problems various Windows tools had in the
past with file names that begin with a dot.  The init file may also be
called @file{.emacs.d/init.el}.  The @file{early-init.el} file and many
of the other files that are created by Lisp packages are stored in the
@file{.emacs.d} directory too, which keeps all your Emacs related files
in one place.

All the files mentioned above should go in your @env{HOME} directory.
The @env{HOME} directory is determined by following the steps below:

@enumerate
@item
If the environment variable @env{HOME} is set, use the directory it indicates.
@item
If the registry entry @code{HKCU\SOFTWARE\GNU\Emacs\HOME} is set, use the
directory it indicates.
@item
If the registry entry @code{HKLM\SOFTWARE\GNU\Emacs\HOME} is set, use the
directory it indicates.  Not recommended, as it results in users sharing
the same HOME directory.
@item
If @file{C:\.emacs} exists, then use @file{C:/}.  This is for
backward compatibility, as previous versions defaulted to @file{C:/}
if @env{HOME} was not set.
@item
Use the user's AppData directory, usually a directory called
@file{AppData} under the user's profile directory, the location
of which varies according to Windows version and whether the computer is
part of a domain.
@end enumerate

Within Emacs, @kbd{~} at the beginning of a file name is expanded to your
@env{HOME} directory, so you can always find your @file{.emacs} file
by typing the command @kbd{C-x C-f ~/.emacs}.

@node Troubleshooting init file
@section Troubleshooting init file problems
@cindex troubleshooting init problems
@cindex debugging init problems
@cindex checking that HOME is set correctly

If you've set @env{HOME} to a directory using one of the above
methods, and Emacs still doesn't load your init file, the first
thing you should do is check to see what Emacs thinks @env{HOME} is set
to.  You can do this by evaluating the following expression in the
@file{*scratch*} buffer using @kbd{C-x C-e}:

@example
(getenv "HOME")
@end example

Look carefully at what is printed in the echo area, and make sure the
value is valid.  For example, if the value has trailing whitespace,
Emacs won't be able to find the directory.  Also, be sure that the
value isn't a relative drive letter (e.g., @file{d:} without a
backslash or a forward slash after the colon); if it is, then
@env{HOME} is going to be whatever the current directory on that drive
is, which is likely not what you want to happen.

@node Associate files with Emacs
@section How do I associate files with Emacs?
@cindex Explorer, associating Emacs with files in
@cindex emacsclient, associating files with
@cindex file associations
@cindex associating files with Emacs
@cindex ALTERNATE_EDITOR
@findex server-start

The recommended way to associate files is to associate them with
@command{emacsclientw.exe}.  In order for this to work when Emacs is
not yet started, you will also need to set the environment variable
@env{ALTERNATE_EDITOR} to @command{runemacs.exe}.  To open files
in a running instance of Emacs, you will need to add the following
to your init file:
@example
(server-start)
@end example

@menu
* Using with Explorer::
@end menu

@node Using with Explorer
@subsection For use with Internet Explorer
@cindex Internet Explorer, view source in Emacs
@cindex mailto URLs, associating with Emacs
@cindex news URLs, associating with Emacs
@cindex URLs, associating mail and news URLs with Emacs

You can use Emacs as the editor for composing mail for
@indicateurl{mailto:} links, reading Usenet for @indicateurl{news:}
links, and viewing source.  The following registry entries control
this:

@itemize @w{}
@item
Mail
@itemize
@item @strong{Key:} HKCR\mailto\shell\open\command\(Default)
@item @strong{Value:} emacsclientw -e "(message-mail (substring \"%1\" 7))"
@end itemize

@item
News
@itemize
@item @strong{Key:} HKCR\news\shell\open\command\(Default)
@item @strong{Value:} emacsclientw -e "(gnus-fetch-group (substring \"%1\" 5)"
@end itemize

@item
View Source
@itemize
@item @strong{Key:} HKCR\htmlfile\shell\edit\command\(Default)
@item @strong{Value:} emacsclientw "%1"
@end itemize

@end itemize

Thanks to Jason Rumney and Sigbjorn Finne for these tips.

@node Find-file and the Desktop
@section How do I use find-file to open files that are on the Desktop?
@cindex Desktop, finding where it is
@cindex finding the Desktop
@cindex locating files on the Desktop

The location of the Desktop varies between different versions of
Windows, and in a corporate environment can be moved around by the
network administrator.  On latest Windows versions, you can use the
value of the @env{USERPROFILE} environment variable to find where the
desktop might be:

@example
@kbd{C-x C-f $USERPROFILE/Desktop}
@end example

If this doesn't work, then you probably have to forgo the keyboard
just this once, and either drag a file onto the Emacs frame from the
desktop, or use the file dialog (displayed when you use the toolbar or
menu by default).  Once you have a file from the Desktop inside Emacs,
@kbd{C-x C-f} will quickly reveal where your desktop is kept.

@node Make Windows more like X
@section How can I modify Windows to act more like X?
@cindex X, making Windows behave like

@menu
* Focus follows mouse::
* Swap CapsLock and Control::
@end menu

@node Focus follows mouse
@subsection How do I make the active window follow the mouse?
@vindex focus-follows-mouse
@cindex point to focus
@cindex mouse over to focus

Customize the variables @code{focus-follows-mouse} and
@code{mouse-autoselect-window}.  The former can be used to mislead
Emacs into giving focus to other frames when the mouse is over them,
even though Windows has a click to focus policy by default (there is
software available to change that though).  The latter can be used to
make Emacs use a focus-follow-mouse policy within its own frames.

You can also change the Windows click-to-focus policy by changing
settings in the Registry.  The details vary according to your Windows
version; look on the Internet for instructions to enable ``active
window tracking'' for your version of Windows.

@node Swap CapsLock and Control
@subsection How do I swap CapsLock and Control?
@cindex scan codes, modifying
@cindex key layout, customizing
@cindex caps-lock, swapping with control key
@cindex control key, swapping with caps-lock
@cindex windows key, use as alt
@cindex alt key, using windows keys as additional

This cannot be done within Emacs, but you can modify the scan code
mappings in the registry or define a new keyboard layout to swap the
keys on a system wide basis.

@menu
* Swap Caps NT::
* Swap Caps 98::
@end menu

@node Swap Caps NT
@subsubsection Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista?

@itemize
@item
From Chris McMahon.  To make CapsLock a Control key (leaving your
original control keys as they were), use this registry file:
@example
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,1d,00,3a,00,00,00,00,00
@end example
To swap CapsLock and the left Control key, use:
@example
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,1d,00,3a,00,3a,00,1d,00,00,00,00,00
@end example
Save these as files with a @file{.reg} extension, and double-click on
them in Explorer, or ``run'' them from a command prompt to have them
update your registry (you may need to reboot).
@item
Shane Holder gives some background on how "Scancode Map" is used
by the system:
@ignore
https://ftp.gnu.org/old-gnu/emacs/windows/docs/ntemacs/contrib/caps-ctrl-registry.txt
From: Shane Holder <holder@@mordor.rsn.hp.com>
To: ntemacs-users@@cs.washington.edu
Date: 04 Dec 1996 14:36:21 -0600
Message-ID: <fawg21mm4hm.fsf@@mordor.rsn.hp.com>
Subject: Re: Re[2]: problem with caps/ctrl swap on NT 4.0
@end ignore
@smallexample
It's a binary value that lets you map keystrokes in the low-level keyboard
drivers in NT@.  As a result you don't have to worry about applications
bypassing mappings that you've done at a higher level (i.e., it just works).

Here's the format of the value:

	DWORD:	0x00000000	header
	DWORD:	0x00000000	header
	DWORD:	length (in DWORDs) of remaining data, including terminating DWORD
	DWORD:	mapping 1
	...
	DWORD:	mapping n
	DWORD:	0x00000000	terminating null DWORD

Each mapping DWORD  has two parts: the input scancode, and an output
scancode.  To map scancode 0x1d (left control) to scancode 0x3a (caps
lock), you want a value of 0x003a001d.  Note that this does not swap the
keys.  Using just this mapping value, both the left control and the caps
lock key will behave as caps-lock.  To swap, you also need to map 0x3a to
0x1d, using 0x001d003a.

This registry value is system wide, and can't be made user-specific.  It
also only takes affect on reboot.
@end smallexample
@item
Ulfar Erlingsson has provided a registry file that sets the CapsLock key
to be a Control key and the Windows key to be an Alt key:
@example
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,1d,00,3a,00,38,00,5b,e0,00,00,00,00
@end example
@end itemize

@node Swap Caps 98
@subsubsection Windows 98/ME

Microsoft has a tool called keyremap that is part of their Kernel Toys add-ons
for Windows 95.  The tool has also been confirmed to work on Windows 98.

@node Make Emacs like a Windows app
@section How can I modify Emacs to act more like a Windows app?
@cindex Windows, making Emacs act more like
@cindex UI, making Emacs more like other Windows apps

Many beginning users find Emacs difficult to use because its user
interface is different in many ways.  Emacs predates most UI
standards, and experienced Emacs users are used to the way things are,
so changing the defaults is difficult.  Most of the ``standard''
behavior can be approximated in Emacs after some configuring though.

@menu
* Highlight selection::
* CUA::
@end menu

@node Highlight selection
@subsection Highlighting the selection
@cindex transient-mark-mode
@cindex selection, highlighting
@cindex region, highlighting
@cindex highlighting the selected region
@cindex marked region, highlighting
@cindex point and mark, highlighting the region between
@cindex delete-selection-mode
@cindex overwriting the selected region

Emacs has a concept of a mark and point that is similar to selections
in other programs.  But the mark in Emacs is used for more than just
defining the selected region, it lives on while you continue to edit
and move around the buffer so it can also be a kind of bookmark.  The
history of marks is saved so you can pop previous marks back to the
top of the stack to go back to somewhere you were some time ago.
Because of this dual purpose, the region between mark and point is not
highlighted by default unless you select a region by clicking and
dragging the mouse.

The minor mode @code{transient-mark-mode} changes the behavior of
the mark in two ways.  First, it distinguishes between an active mark
that has just been defined or reactivated, and an inactive mark.  When
the mark is active, some commands that normally act on lines, words,
buffers, etc., will instead act on the region.  An inactive mark needs
to be reactivated to operate on it, unless @code{mark-even-if-inactive}
is set.  Secondly, @code{transient-mark-mode} also highlights the
region when it is active, providing the same visual clue that you get
in other programs.  This mode is turned on by default in latest
versions of Emacs.

In addition to seeing the highlighting, new Emacs users often expect
editing commands to replace the region when it is active.  This behavior
can be obtained with @code{delete-selection-mode}, but see the following
question also.

@node CUA
@subsection Standard Windows key bindings
@findex cua-mode
@cindex CUA key bindings
@cindex shift key, selecting with
@cindex standard Windows key bindings
@cindex paste with C-v
@cindex cut with C-x
@cindex copy with C-c
@cindex C-c to copy
@cindex C-x to cut
@cindex C-v to paste

The key bindings of Emacs predate modern GUIs, and the keys that were
chosen by later GUIs for cut and copy were given important functions
as extended keymaps in Emacs.  CUA mode attempts to let both bindings
co-exist by defining C-x and C-c as @code{kill-region} and
@code{copy-region-as-kill} when the region is active, and letting
them have their normal Emacs bindings when the region is not active.
Many people find this to be an acceptable compromise.  CUA mode also
defines a number of other keys (C-v, Shift selection), and can be turned
on from the @emph{Options} menu.

@node Window operations
@section Window operations
@cindex maximize frames from lisp
@cindex minimize frames from lisp
@cindex WM_SYSCOMMAND, sending system commands from lisp
@cindex system menu, simulating from lisp

The function @code{w32-send-sys-command} can be used to simulate
choosing commands from the system menu (in the top left corner of the
Window) and a few other system wide functions.  It takes an integer
argument, the value of which should be a valid @code{WM_SYSCOMMAND}
message as documented in Microsoft's API documentation.

@node Uninstall
@section How do I uninstall Emacs?
@cindex uninstall Emacs
@cindex remove Emacs
@cindex clean Emacs registry settings
@cindex registry, cleaning the Emacs settings
@cindex Start Menu, removing Emacs from
@cindex upgrading Emacs
@cindex delete Emacs directory

Emacs does not come with an uninstall program.  No files are installed
outside of the directories you find in the binary zip archive, so
deleting those directories is sufficient to clean away the files.  If
you ran @command{addpm}, you'll need to delete the Start Menu group
too.  The registry entries inserted by @command{addpm} will not cause
any problems if you leave them there, but for the sake of
completeness, you can use @command{regedit} to remove the keys under
@code{HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE} or @code{HKEY_CURRENT_USER}:
@code{SOFTWARE\GNU\Emacs}, and the key
@code{HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App
Paths\emacs.exe} if it exists.

@node Does not run
@section When I run Emacs nothing happens
@cindex troubleshooting installation problems
@cindex window not appearing, Emacs
@cindex failure to run, Emacs
@cindex 8.3 filenames, problems caused

Emacs could have failed to run for a number of reasons.  The most
common symptom is that, when Emacs is started, the cursor changes for
a second but nothing happens.  If this happens to you, it is quite
likely that the distribution was unpacked incorrectly.

Check for the following to see if there was a problem during unpacking:
@enumerate
@item
Be sure to disable the CR/LF translation or the executables will be
unusable.  Older versions of WinZipNT would enable this translation by
default.  If you are using WinZipNT, disable it.
@item
Check that filenames were not truncated to 8.3.  For example, there
should be a file CONTRIBUTE in the top level directory; if this has
been truncated to CONTRIBU or CONTRI~1, your distribution has been
corrupted while unpacking and Emacs will not start.
@end enumerate

If it is still not working, send mail to the
@email{help-gnu-emacs@@gnu.org} mailing list, describing what you've
done, and what you are seeing.  (The more information you send the more
likely it is that you'll receive a helpful response.)

@node Virus
@section Does Emacs contain a virus?
@cindex virus reported in Emacs
@cindex anti-virus software reporting a virus in Emacs

There have been reports in the past that some virus scanners claim
that the Emacs distribution has a virus.  This is extremely unlikely if
you have downloaded Emacs from the GNU FTP site or one of its mirrors
and the GPG signature for it is valid and listed in the GNU keyring,
unless perhaps it is a new release made in the last few days, in which
case you should exercise more caution and report the problem.  Past
problems seem to have been caused by virus checkers running into a
buffer size limit when unpacking large tar.gz files for scanning, and
reporting the failure as an ``unknown virus''.

@node Anti-virus
@section What known problems are there with anti-virus software?
@cindex anti-virus software, bad interaction with
@cindex virus software, bad interaction with
@cindex firewall, bad interaction with
@cindex scan all files, anti-virus option causing problems
@cindex auto protect, anti-virus option causing problems
@cindex shell, interacting badly with anti-virus
@cindex subprocesses, interacting badly with anti-virus

Anti-virus and firewall software can block Emacs from starting subprocesses
and opening network connections.  Most such products have an Advanced
mode where they will prompt you rather than silently blocking.  In some cases
the ``scan all files'' or ``auto protect'' option of anti-virus programs
has caused failures running shell related commands within Emacs.
@xref{Sub-processes,,Why is nothing happening when I enter shell commands?}.

@c ------------------------------------------------------------
@node Display Settings
@chapter Display Settings

@menu
* Console window size::
* Mouse trouble::
* Cut and paste NUL::
* Garbled clipboard::
* Beep sound::
@end menu

@node Console window size
@section Emacs in console mode goes beyond the window size
@cindex console, window size
@cindex telnet, display size problems running emacs over
@cindex -nw, window size
@vindex w32-use-full-screen-buffer

The variable @code{w32-use-full-screen-buffer} controls whether Emacs uses
the window size or buffer size to determine the number of lines on screen.
Normally the window size is correct, but when running Emacs over some
telnet servers, the buffer size needs to be used.  Emacs tries to guess
the correct value at startup, but if it guesses wrong, you can customize
that variable yourself.

@node Mouse trouble
@section What do I do if I have problems with my mouse buttons?
@cindex mouse buttons, problems with
@cindex 2 button mouse
@cindex two button mouse
@cindex third mouse button, simulating
@cindex middle mouse button, simulating
@cindex simulating three button mouse with two buttons
@cindex swap right and middle mouse buttons
@cindex exchange mouse-2 and mouse-3 buttons
@vindex w32-mouse-button-tolerance
@vindex w32-num-mouse-buttons
@vindex w32-swap-mouse-buttons

Emacs assigns bindings assuming a three button mouse.  On Windows, if
a two button mouse is detected, a hack is enabled which lets you
simulate the third button by pressing both mouse buttons
simultaneously.  @code{w32-mouse-button-tolerance} defines the timeout
for what is considered ``simultaneous''.  You can check how many
buttons Emacs thinks your mouse has with @kbd{C-h v}
@code{w32-num-mouse-buttons}.

If you find yourself needing the mouse-3 bindings more often than mouse-2,
you can swap the buttons with the following code in your init file:
@example
(setq w32-swap-mouse-buttons t)
@end example

@node Cut and paste NUL
@section How do I cut and paste text with NUL characters?
@cindex clipboard, NUL characters

If you attempt to cut and paste text with NUL characters embedded in it,
then the text will be truncated at the first NUL character.  This is a
limitation of the Windows clipboard, and does not affect killing and yanking
from the kill-ring within Emacs.

@node Garbled clipboard
@section How can I fix garbled text yanked from the clipboard?
@cindex clipboard, corruption of
@cindex garbage on the clipboard
@cindex clipboard encoding
@cindex encoding, clipboard
@findex set-selection-coding-system

You can try @code{set-selection-coding-system}, but generally such
corruption is a thing of the past, as Emacs uses Unicode for the clipboard
by default now.

@node Beep sound
@section How do I change the sound of the Emacs beep?
@cindex beep, changing the sound
@cindex sound, changing the beep
@findex set-message-beep

You can use the function @code{set-message-beep} to change the sound
that Emacs uses for its beep.  This affects both console and GUI frames.
The doc string contains a list of the system sounds you can use.

@c ------------------------------------------------------------
@node Fonts and text translation
@chapter Fonts and text translation

@menu
* Font names::
* Bold and italic::
* Multilingual fonts::
* Font menu::
* Line ends::
* UTF-8 encoding::
@end menu

@node Font names
@section Font names
@cindex XLFD font names
@cindex font XLFD name format
@cindex fontconfig font names in Emacs 23
@cindex font dialog, using to find font names
@findex x-select-font
@findex x-list-fonts

Fonts in Emacs 22 and earlier are named using the X Logical Font
Description (XLFD) format.  Emacs on Windows ignores many of the
fields, and populates them with * when listing fonts.  Former
maintainer Andrew Innes wrote
@uref{https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs/discuss/x-font-details,
this explanation} of what each field in the font string means and how
Emacs treated them back in 19.34.  Since then, multilingual support and
a redisplay overhaul to support variable width fonts have changed things
slightly; more character sets are recognized (and the old pseudo character
sets are deprecated), and the resolution fields are used to calculate the
difference between point and pixel sizes, but normally you should leave
these at the system default.  The foundry field is also populated with
an indication of whether the font is outline (.TTF, .ATM) or raster (.FON)
based when fonts are listed, which may let you differentiate between two
fonts with the same name and different technologies.

Starting with Emacs 23, the preferred font name format is the simpler
and more flexible fontconfig format.  XLFD names will continue to be
supported for backward compatibility.

@example
XLFD: -*-Courier New-normal-r-*-*-13-*-*-*-c-*-iso8859-1
Fontconfig: Courier New-13
@end example

To find the XFLD name for a font, you can execute the following in the
@file{*scratch*} buffer by pressing C-j at the end of the line:
@example
(x-select-font nil t)
@end example

To see a complete list of fonts, execute the following Lisp snippet by
typing it into the @file{*scratch*} buffer and pressing @w{@kbd{C-x
C-e}} at the end of the second line:

@example
(dolist (font (x-list-fonts "*"))
  (insert (format "%s\n" font)))
@end example

The command line options and frame-parameters for changing the default font
in Emacs are documented in the manual.  Fonts can also be used when defining
faces, though family and size are generally specified individually there.
In addition, Emacs on Windows reads the registry to find X Resources.  This
is also documented in the manual.

@node Bold and italic
@section How can I get bold and italic fonts to work?
@cindex italic fonts
@cindex synthesized italic and bold fonts
@cindex bold fonts, synthesized
@findex set-face-font
@vindex w32-enable-synthesized-fonts

Emacs will only use the italic (and bold) versions of a font automatically
if it has the same width as the normal version.  Many fonts have italic
and bold versions that are slightly wider.  It will also only use real
bold and italic fonts by default, where other applications may use
synthesized variations that are derived from the normal font.  To enable
more italic and bold fonts to be displayed, you can enable synthesized fonts
and manually set the font for italic, bold and bold-italic as follows:

@example
(setq w32-enable-synthesized-fonts t)
(set-face-font 'italic "-*-Courier New-normal-i-*-*-11-*-*-*-c-*-iso8859-1")
(set-face-font 'bold-italic "-*-Courier New-bold-i-*-*-11-*-*-*-c-*-iso8859-1")
@end example

The @code{w32-enable-synthesized-fonts} variable is obsolete starting
from Emacs 24.4, as Emacs no longer has this limitation.

@node Multilingual fonts
@section Multilingual font support
@cindex multilingual display, fonts
@cindex MULE, fonts

@menu
* Language display::
* Non-latin display::
* International fonts::
* Third-party multibyte::
* Localized fonts::
@end menu

@node Language display
@subsection Is it possible to display all the supported languages?
@cindex HELLO file, displaying all
@cindex language support, fonts
@cindex GNU intlfonts, for displaying all languages
@cindex intlfonts, for displaying all languages

To display all the languages that Emacs is capable of displaying, you will
require the BDF fonts from the GNU intlfonts package.
@xref{Fonts and text translation,,How do I use bdf fonts with Emacs?}.

For many languages, native truetype fonts are sufficient, and in Emacs
23 the need for BDF fonts will disappear for almost all languages.  At
the time of writing, all supported characters are able to be displayed
with appropriate truetype or opentype fonts.

@node Non-latin display
@subsection How do I get Emacs to display non-latin characters?
@cindex fontsets, defining
@cindex language support, forcing Emacs to use specific fonts
@cindex MULE, fontsets
@cindex multilingual display, fontsets
@findex create-fontset-from-ascii-font
@findex create-fontset-from-fontset-spec

Recent versions of Emacs display a large range of characters out of
the box, but if you are having problems with a particular character
set which you know you have fonts for, you can try defining a
new fontset with @code{create-fontset-from-ascii-font} or
@code{create-fontset-from-fontset-spec}.

@example
(create-fontset-from-fontset-spec
 "-*-Courier New-normal-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-c-*-fontset-most,
 latin-iso8859-2:-*-Courier New-normal-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-c-*-iso8859-2,
 latin-iso8859-3:-*-Courier New-normal-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-c-*-iso8859-3,
 latin-iso8859-4:-*-Courier New-normal-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-c-*-iso8859-4,
 cyrillic-iso8859-5:-*-Courier New-normal-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-c-*-iso8859-5,
 greek-iso8859-7:-*-Courier New-normal-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-c-*-iso8859-7,
 latin-iso8859-9:-*-Courier New-normal-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-c-*-iso8859-9,
 japanese-jisx0208:-*-MS Gothic-normal-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-c-*-jisx0208-sjis,
 katakana-jisx0201:-*-MS Gothic-normal-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-c-*-jisx0208-sjis,
 latin-jisx0201:-*-MS Gothic-normal-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-c-*-jisx0208-sjis,
 japanese-jisx0208-1978:-*-MS Gothic-normal-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-c-*-jisx0208-sjis,
 korean-ksc5601:-*-Gulim-normal-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-c-*-ksc5601-*,
 chinese-gb2312:-*-MS Song-normal-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-c-*-gb2312-*,
 chinese-big5-1:-*-MingLiU-normal-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-c-*-big5-*,
 chinese-big5-2:-*-MingLiU-normal-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-c-*-big5-*" t)
@end example

Alternatively, you can augment the default fontset with information of
which fonts to use for certain ranges of characters or for specific
scripts/character sets.  @xref{Modifying Fontsets,, Modifying
Fontsets, emacs, The GNU Emacs Manual}, for details and some useful
examples.

@node International fonts
@subsection Where can I find fonts for other languages?
@cindex language support, finding fonts
@cindex fonts, where to find
@cindex MULE, finding fonts
@cindex multilingual display, finding fonts
@cindex GNU intlfonts, where to get
@cindex intlfonts, where to get

In addition to the wide range of fonts that come with the language
support packages of various components of Windows itself, GNU/Linux
distributions these days come with a number of Free truetype fonts
that cover a wide range of languages.  The GNU Unifont project
contains glyphs for most of the Unicode codespace, and can be
downloaded from @uref{https://ftpmirror.gnu.org/unifont, ftp.gnu.org
mirrors}.

@node Third-party multibyte
@subsection How do I use third party programs to display multibyte characters?
@cindex multilingual display, third party programs on Windows 9x/ME
@cindex language support, third party programs on Windows 9x/ME
@vindex w32-enable-unicode-output

You probably only need to do this on the non-Unicode versions of Windows
(98 and ME), and even then, various Windows and Internet Explorer
updates have made third party software unnecessary in most cases.
If you are having trouble displaying text, try defining a fontset
with the font for the languages that the third party software handles
set to what that software expects (which may not be an appropriate font
for that language, but the third party software is intercepting it
and using a different font behind the scenes).
@xref{Non-latin display}.

@node Localized fonts
@subsection Can I use a font with a name in my language?
@cindex fonts, localized font names
@vindex locale-coding-system

Normally Emacs should initialize @code{locale-coding-system} appropriately
based on your locale, which will let Emacs use font names in your local
language successfully.

@c This feature disappeared in Emacs 23, and was resurrected in 25.1.
@node Font menu
@section How can I have Emacs use a font menu like on X?
@cindex fonts, displaying a menu
@cindex fontsets, displaying a menu
@cindex font dialog, using a menu instead
@vindex w32-use-w32-font-dialog

Place the following in your init file:

@example
(setq w32-use-w32-font-dialog nil)
@end example

@menu
* Add fonts to menu::
@end menu

@c This variable had no effect between v23 and v25.1, where
@c w32-use-w32-font-dialog support was resurrected, see above.
@node Add fonts to menu
@subsection How can I add my font to the font menu?
@cindex font menu, adding fonts
@vindex w32-fixed-font-alist

If you have set w32-use-w32-font-dialog to @code{nil}, you can add fonts to
the font menu by changing @code{w32-fixed-font-alist}.  For example:

@example
(setq w32-fixed-font-alist
   (append w32-fixed-font-alist
      '(("Monotype.com"
         ("8" "-*-Monotype.com-normal-r-*-*-11-*-*-*-c-iso8859-1")
         ("9" "-*-Monotype.com-normal-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-c-iso8859-1")
         ("10" "-*-Monotype.com-normal-r-*-*-13-*-*-*-c-iso8859-1")
         ("11" "-*-Monotype.com-normal-r-*-*-15-*-*-*-c-iso8859-1")))))
@end example

@node Line ends
@section How can I control CR/LF translation?
@cindex DOS line ends
@cindex Unix line ends
@cindex Mac line ends

There are a number of methods by which you can control automatic CR/LF
translation in Emacs, a situation that reflects the fact that the
default support was not very robust in the past.  For a discussion of
this issue, take a look at
@uref{https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs/todo/translate,
this collection of email messages} on the topic.

@menu
* Automatic line ends::
* Line ends by file system::
@end menu

@node Automatic line ends
@subsection Automatic CR/LF translation
@cindex line ends, automatic detection

For existing files, Emacs scans the file to determine the line ending
convention as part of the same scan it does to determine the file
encoding.  Embedded Ctrl-M (ASCII 13) characters and inconsistent line
ends can confuse the automatic scanning, and Emacs will present the
file in Unix (LF) mode with the Ctrl-M characters displayed as @samp{^M}.
It does this to be safe, as no data loss will occur if the file is really
binary and the Ctrl-M characters are significant.

@node Line ends by file system
@subsection CR/LF translation by file system
@cindex line ends, determining by filesystem
@cindex binary files, determining by filesystem
@vindex w32-untranslated-filesystem-list
@findex w32-add-untranslated-filesystem
@findex w32-remove-untranslated-filesystem

The variable @code{w32-untranslated-filesystem-list} defines whole
directory trees that should not have CR/LF autodetection performed on
them.  The list can be manipulated with the functions
@code{w32-add-untranslated-filesystem} and
@code{w32-remove-untranslated-filesystem}.  With auto-detection in
recent versions of Emacs, this is seldom useful for existing files,
but can still be used to influence the choice of line ends for newly
created files.

@node UTF-8 encoding
@section Can I use UTF-8 as default encoding on MS-Windows?
@cindex UTF-8 as default encoding on Windows
@cindex codepage 65001 support in Emacs

Recent versions of MS-Windows (Windows 10 since build 1803, and Windows
11 or later versions) allow to use UTF-8 (a.k.a.@: ``codepage 65001'')
as the default system codepage.  As of this writing, this is still an
experimental feature, even in Windows 11, and is disabled by default.
On Windows 11 you can enable it as follows:

@enumerate
@item
Open Settings.

@item
Select ``Time & Language'', then ``Language & region''.

@item
Click on ``Administrative language settings''.

@item
On the dialog that pops up click ``Change system locale...''

@item
In the ``Region Settings'' dialog that pops up, check the check-box
labeled ``Beta: Use Unicode UTF-8 for worldwide language support'', then
confirm by clicking ``OK'' to both dialogs.
@end enumerate

@cindex UCRT runtime library
@cindex MSVCRT runtime library
Emacs supports this feature starting from version 30.2, but only when
running on the versions of Windows that provide this feature, and only
if the Emacs executable was linked against the @samp{UCRT} library as
the Windows C runtime, not against the older @samp{MSVCRT}.  This is
because the C functions that deal with non-ASCII characters, as
implemented by @samp{MSVCRT}, don't support UTF-8 as the multibyte
encoding of non-ASCII characters.  (Which runtime to link against is
determined by the person who built your Emacs binary.  Note that using
Emacs linked against @samp{UCRT} needs all of the libraries loaded by
Emacs dynamically, such as GnuTLS, image libraries like @samp{rsvg},
Tree-sitter, and all the others, to be also linked against @samp{UCRT},
otherwise subtle problems could happen when dealing with non-ASCII
characters and strings.)

If you have an Emacs linked against @samp{UCRT}, and you turned on the
UTF-8 support in Windows as described above, you can customize Emacs to
use UTF-8 as your default encoding, e.g., by adding

@lisp
 (prefer-coding-system 'utf-8)
@end lisp

@noindent
to your init file, or by using the @samp{UTF-8} language environment
(@pxref{Language Environments,,, emacs, The GNU Emacs Manual}) in your
Emacs sessions.

Please be aware that, since this feature of Windows is still in beta,
there could be some subtle issues with it.  So we do not yet recommend
to turn this on, unless you feel adventurous.

@c ------------------------------------------------------------
@node Printing
@chapter Printing
@cindex printing

A lot of effort has gone into making it easier to print from Emacs on
MS Windows, but this has still been insufficient to keep up with
changes in printing technology from text and postscript based printers
connected via ports that can be accessed directly, to graphical
printers that are only accessible via USB@.  For details, see
@uref{https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/PrintingFromEmacs, Emacs
Wiki}, @uref{https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/PrintWithWebBrowser}, and
@uref{https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/PrintFromWindowsExplorer}.

@c ------------------------------------------------------------
@node Sub-processes
@chapter Subprocesses
@cindex subprocesses

@menu
* Quoting issues::
* Subprocess hang::
* Subprocess buffering::
* Subprocesses and floppy drive::
* Killing subprocesses::
* Subprocess EOF::
* Using shell::
* Cygwin paths::
* Dired ls::
* Shell echo::
* Shell completion forward slash::
* Incorrect DOS version::
* Shell commands do nothing::
@end menu

@node Quoting issues
@section Quoting issues
@cindex quoting arguments to subprocesses
@cindex sub-processes, quoting arguments to
@cindex cygwin, quoting arguments

The quoting rules for native Windows shells and Cygwin shells have
some subtle differences.  When Emacs spawns subprocesses, it tries to
determine whether the process is a Cygwin program and changes its
quoting mechanism appropriately.

@node Subprocess hang
@section Programs reading input hang
@cindex subprocesses, hanging when reading input
@cindex full-screen console programs, as subprocesses
@cindex ftp, client hanging
@findex ftp

Programs that explicitly use a handle to the console (@file{CON} or
@file{CON:}) instead of stdin and stdout cannot be used as
subprocesses to Emacs, and they will also not work in shell-mode.  The
default ftp client on Windows is an example of such a program - this
ftp program is mostly fine for use with @code{ange-ftp} or
@code{tramp}, but not for @kbd{M-x ftp} (@pxref{Network access,,How do
I use FTP within Emacs}).  There is no convenient way for either Emacs
or any shell used in @code{shell-mode} to redirect the input and
output of such processes from the console to input and output pipes.
The only workaround is to use a different implementation of the
program that does not use the console directly.  Microsoft's new
PowerShell appears to be another such program, so that cannot be used
as a replacement shell for Emacs.

@node Subprocess buffering
@section Buffering in shells and subprocesses
@cindex subprocesses, buffering output
@cindex output not displaying, subprocesses
@cindex SQL subprocess hanging
@cindex cvs hanging when login needed
@cindex ssh, password prompt not appearing when using with cvs
@findex sql-mode
@findex shell-mode
@cindex setbuf, using in subprocesses to prevent buffering
@cindex setvbuf, using in subprocesses to prevent buffering

You may notice that some programs, when run in a shell in
@code{shell-mode},
have their output buffered (e.g., people have found this happening to
them with @code{sql-mode}).  When the program has a lot of output, it
overflows the buffering and gets printed to the shell buffer; however,
if the program only outputs a small amount of text, it will remain
buffered and won't appear in the shell buffer.  The same can happen
in other subprocesses that themselves run other programs as
subprocesses, for example when using @command{cvs} from Emacs, which
is itself configured to use @command{ssh}, password prompts fail to
appear when expected, and @command{cvs} appears to hang.

Although it may at first seem like the shell is buffering the output
from the program, it is actually the program that is buffering
output.  The C runtime typically decides how to buffer output based
upon whether stdout is bound to a handle to a console window or
not.  If bound to a console window, output is buffered line by line; if
bound to a block device, such as a file, output is buffered block by
block.

In a shell buffer, stdout is a pipe handle and so is buffered in
blocks.  If you would like the buffering behavior of your program to
behave differently, the program itself is going to have to be changed;
you can use @code{setbuf} and @code{setvbuf} to manipulate
the buffering semantics.

Some programs handle this by having an explicit flag to control their
buffering behavior, typically @option{-i} for interactive, or by a
special environment variable.  Other programs manage to detect that
they are running under Emacs, by using @samp{getenv("emacs")}
internally.  Look in the program's documentation for the way around
this issue.

@menu
* Perl script buffering::
@end menu

@node Perl script buffering
@subsection Perl script buffering
@cindex perl, avoiding buffering when used as a subprocess of Emacs

A handy solution for Perl scripts to the above problem is to use:

@example
# Turn all buffering off.
select((select(STDOUT), $| = 1)[0]);
select((select(STDERR), $| = 1)[0]);
select((select(STDIN), $| = 1)[0]);
@end example

@node Subprocesses and floppy drive
@section 16-bit subprocesses accessing the floppy drive
@cindex floppy drive, access when subprocesses started
@cindex subprocess starting causes floppy drive access

If you are finding the 16 bit DOS subprocesses cause your A: drive to
be accessed, hanging Emacs until the read times out if there is no
floppy in the drive, check to see if your virus software is causing
the problem.

@node Killing subprocesses
@section Killing subprocesses on Windows 98/Me
@cindex subprocess, killing on Windows 98/ME
@cindex killing subprocesses, Windows 98/ME
@cindex shutdown, complaints about cmdproxy.exe running

Emacs cannot guarantee that a subprocess gets killed on Windows 95 and
its descendants, and it is a difficult limitation to work around.  To
avoid problems on these systems, you should let subprocesses run to
completion including explicitly exiting shells before killing the
associated buffer.

If you find that while shutting down, Windows complains that there is
a running @command{cmdproxy.exe} even though you carefully exited all
shells and none were showing in Task Manager before the shutdown, this
could be due to buggy interaction with your virus scanner.

@node Subprocess EOF
@section Sending EOF to subprocesses
@cindex EOF, sending to subprocesses
@cindex shell terminates when EOF sent to subprocess
@findex process-send-eof

When an EOF is sent to a subprocess running in an interactive shell
with @code{process-send-eof}, the shell terminates unexpectedly as
if its input was closed.  This affects the use of @kbd{C-c C-d} in
shell buffers.  See
@uref{https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs/todo/shell-ctrl-d,
this discussion} for more details.

@node Using shell
@section How do I use a shell in Emacs?
@cindex interactive shell, using
@cindex shell within emacs, using
@findex shell
@findex  shell-command
@vindex shell-file-name
@vindex explicit-shell-file-name

You can start an interactive shell in Emacs by typing @kbd{M-x shell}.
By default, this will start the standard Windows shell @file{cmd.exe}.
Emacs uses the @env{SHELL} environment variable to determine which
program to use as the shell.  To instruct Emacs to use a non-default
shell, you can either set this environment variable, or customize
@code{explicit-shell-file-name}.  You can also customize
@code{shell-file-name} to change the shell that will be used by
subprocesses that are started with @code{shell-command} and
related non-interactive shell commands.

@menu
* Bash::
@end menu

@node Bash
@subsection bash
@cindex cygwin bash as shell within Emacs
@cindex shell, using cygwin bash within Emacs
@cindex bash, using cygwin shell within Emacs
@vindex comint-scroll-show-maximum-output
@vindex comint-completion-addsuffix
@vindex comint-eol-on-send
@vindex w32-quote-process-args
@vindex shell-mode-hook

Cygwin bash is a popular shell for use with Emacs.  To use bash as the
default shell in Emacs, you can place the following in your init file:

@example
(defun my-shell-setup ()
  "For Cygwin bash under Emacs 20"
  (setq comint-scroll-show-maximum-output 'this)
  (make-variable-buffer-local 'comint-completion-addsuffix))
  (setq comint-completion-addsuffix t)
  ;; (setq comint-process-echoes t) ;; reported that this is no longer needed
  (setq comint-eol-on-send t)
  (setq w32-quote-process-args ?\")

(add-hook 'shell-mode-hook 'my-shell-setup)
@end example

WARNING: Some versions of bash set and use the environment variable
PID@.  For some as yet unknown reason, if @env{PID} is set and Emacs
passes it on to bash subshells, bash dies (Emacs can inherit the
@env{PID} variable if it's started from a bash shell).  If you clear
the @env{PID} variable in your init file, you should be able to
continue to use bash as your subshell:
@example
    (setenv "PID" nil)
@end example

@node Cygwin paths
@section How do I use Cygwin style paths in Emacs?
@cindex cygwin paths, using within Emacs
@cindex mount points, cygwin
@cindex cygwin mount points, using within Emacs

The package
@uref{https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/cygwin-mount.el,
cygwin-mount.el} teaches Emacs about Cygwin mount points.

@node Dired ls
@section How do I make dired use my ls program?
@cindex dired, using an external ls program
@cindex dired, interpreting symlinks the same way as cygwin
@cindex symlinks in dired, interpreting the same way as cygwin
@cindex cygwin symlinks in dired
@vindex ls-lisp-use-insert-directory-program
@vindex insert-directory-program

Dired uses an internal lisp implementation of @command{ls} by default
on Windows.  For consistent display of symbolic links and other
information with other programs (eg Cygwin) and performance reasons,
you may want to use a Windows port of @command{ls} instead.

@example
(setq ls-lisp-use-insert-directory-program t)      ;; use external ls
(setq insert-directory-program "c:/cygwin/bin/ls") ;; ls program name
@end example

@node Shell echo
@section How do I prevent shell commands from being echoed?
@cindex echo, suppressing for shell input
@cindex shell commands, suppressing echo
@vindex comint-process-echoes
@vindex comint-mode-hook
@vindex explicit-cmd.exe-args
@vindex explicit-cmdproxy.exe-args
@vindex explicit-bash.exe-args
@vindex explicit-bash-args
@cindex shell specific arguments

Some shells echo the commands that you send to them, and the echoed
commands appear in the output buffer.  In particular, the default
shells, @command{command.com} and @command{cmd.exe}, have this behavior.

To prevent echoed commands from being printed, you can place the
following in your init file:

@example
    (defun my-comint-init ()
      (setq comint-process-echoes t))
    (add-hook 'comint-mode-hook 'my-comint-init)
@end example

If @code{shell-mode} still is not stripping echoed commands, then
you'll have to explicitly tell the shell to not echo commands.  You can
do this by setting the @code{explicit-@var{SHELL}-args} variable
appropriately; where @var{SHELL} is the value of your @env{SHELL}
environment variable (do a @kbd{M-: (getenv "SHELL")} to see what it
is currently set to).  Assuming that you are on NT and that your
@env{SHELL} environment variable is set to @command{cmd.exe},
then placing the following in your init file will tell
@command{cmd.exe} to not echo commands:

@example
    (setq explicit-cmd.exe-args '("/q"))
@end example

The comint package will use the value of this variable as an argument
to @command{cmd.exe} every time it starts up a new shell; the
@option{/q} is the argument to @command{cmd.exe} that stops the
echoing (invoking @samp{cmd /?} in a shell will show you all of the
command line arguments to @command{cmd.exe}).

Note that this variable is case sensitive; if the value of your
@env{SHELL} environment variable is @command{CMD.EXE} instead, then
this variable needs to be named @code{explicit-CMD.EXE-args} instead.

@node Shell completion forward slash
@section How can I make shell completion use forward slashes?
@cindex completion, using forward slashes in shell buffers
@cindex forward slashes for completion in shell buffers
@vindex comint-completion-addsuffix

The character appended to directory names when completing in a shell
buffer is controlled by the variable @code{comint-completion-addsuffix}.
See its documentation (with @kbd{C-h v}) for details.

@node Incorrect DOS version
@section Why do I get incorrect DOS version messages?
@cindex nmake, Incorrect DOS version messages
@cindex shell, Incorrect DOS version messages
@cindex COMSPEC, effect on subprocesses of subprocesses

This might happen if, for example, you invoke @command{nmake} in a
shell and it tries to create sub-shells.  The problem happens because
when the shell is initially created, the first argument to the shell
is not the directory in which the shell program resides.  When this
happens, @command{command.com} fabricates a value for its
@env{COMSPEC} environment variable that is incorrect.  Then, when
other programs go to use @env{COMSPEC} to find the shell, they are
given the wrong value.

The fix for this is to either prevent any arguments from being sent to
the shell when it starts up (in which case @command{command.com} will
use a default, and correct, value for @env{COMSPEC}), or to have the
first argument be the directory in which the shell executable resides.

@node Shell commands do nothing
@section Why is nothing happening when I enter shell commands?
@cindex shell commands not working
@cindex anti-virus software, bad interaction with
@cindex virus software, bad interaction with
@cindex firewall, bad interaction with
@cindex scan all files, anti-virus option causing problems
@cindex auto protect, anti-virus option causing problems
@cindex shell, interacting badly with anti-virus

Some anti-virus software has been reported to cause problems with
shells in the past.  Try turning off options such as ``Scan all
files''.  @xref{Installing Emacs,,What known problems are there with anti-virus software?}.

@c ------------------------------------------------------------
@node Network access
@chapter Network access

@menu
* Mail::
* Attachments with Gnus::
* Using FTP::
* Tramp ssh::
* telnet::
@end menu

@node Mail
@section How do I use mail in Emacs?

Emacs comes with several options for reading and writing mail.  These
are documented in the manual, and the choice of which method to use
depends on personal taste.  There are some issues specific to Windows
however, related to the fact that Windows machines do not have the
mail infrastructure that is commonly installed on other platforms, so
mail will not work without some configuration.

@menu
* Outgoing mail::
* Incoming mail with Rmail::
* Incoming mail with Gnus::
* Incoming mail other::
@end menu

@node Outgoing mail
@subsection Outgoing mail
@cindex mail, outgoing
@cindex smtp server
@vindex user-full-name
@vindex user-mail-address
@vindex smtpmail-default-smtp-server
@vindex smtpmail-smtp-server
@vindex send-mail-command
@vindex message-send-mail-function
@findex smtpmail-send-it
@vindex smtpmail-debug-info

For outgoing mail, you will need to use @file{smtpmail.el} which
allows Emacs to talk directly to SMTP mail servers.  This is included
with Emacs, and can be set up as follows:

@example
(setq user-full-name "@var{Your full name}")
(setq user-mail-address "@var{Your@@email.address}")
(setq smtpmail-default-smtp-server "@var{domain.name.of.your.smtp.server}")

(setq send-mail-command 'smtpmail-send-it) ; For mail-mode (Rmail)
(setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it) ; For message-mode (Gnus)
@end example

Note that if you want to change the name of the SMTP server after
smtpmail is loaded, then you'll need to change
@code{smtpmail-smtp-server}.

If you are experiencing problems with sending large messages, check
the value of the variable @code{smtpmail-debug-info}.  If it is
non-@code{nil}, you should set it to @code{nil}:

@node Incoming mail with Rmail
@subsection Incoming mail with Rmail and POP3
@cindex mail, incoming with rmail
@cindex pop3, using rmail
@cindex rmail, mail client
@cindex movemail, using pop3
@cindex MAILHOST
@vindex rmail-primary-inbox-list
@vindex rmail-remote-password-required

For incoming mail using the Rmail package and a POP3 server, you will
need the following configuration:

@example
(setenv "MAILHOST" "@var{domain.name.of.your.pop3.server}")
(setq rmail-primary-inbox-list '("po:@var{your logon id}"))
(setq rmail-remote-password-required t)
@end example

@node Incoming mail with Gnus
@subsection Incoming mail with Gnus
@cindex mail, incoming with Gnus
@cindex pop3, using Gnus
@cindex imap, using Gnus
@cindex gnus, mail and news client

Although Gnus started life as a Usenet news reader, it also makes a
good mail reader, particularly if you subscribe to a lot of mailing
lists, or you want to use IMAP rather than POP3, which is not
supported by Rmail.  @xref{Top,The Gnus manual,,gnus, The Gnus manual}.

@node Incoming mail other
@subsection Other incoming mail options
@cindex mail, other options
@cindex wanderlust, mail and news client
@cindex vm, mail client
@cindex mh-e, mail client

Other options for reading mail in Emacs include VM, MH-E and Wanderlust.
MH-E is included with Emacs.  The others require lisp or executable code
that does not come with Emacs, so you should seek help where you
obtained the packages from if you want to use them.

@node Attachments with Gnus
@section How do I open attachments in Gnus?
@cindex gnus, attachments
@cindex attachments, in gnus
@cindex mail, attachments in gnus
@cindex .mailcap
@cindex MIME, configuration for Gnus

In your @env{HOME} directory create a file called @file{.mailcap},
with contents like the following:
@example
application/zip; "C:/Program Files/7-Zip/7zFM.exe"
video/*; "C:/Program Files/VideoLAN/VLC/vlc.exe"
@end example

@strong{Warning:} Associating MIME types with @command{start} or other
generic Windows commands to open arbitrary files might seem like a
good idea, but it leaves your system as open to attack as Outlook
Express was at its worst.  Especially dangerous is associating
application/* or */* in this way.

@node Using FTP
@section How do I use FTP within Emacs?
@cindex ftp, using within Emacs
@cindex ange-ftp
@cindex tramp, ftp
@cindex remote hosts via ftp
@vindex ange-ftp-ftp-program-name

Windows built in FTP client can be used with ange-ftp.  Ange-ftp is
the Emacs package that provides FTP connectivity to tramp, a
multi-protocol remote file access package for Emacs that is enabled by
default.

The Windows FTP client does have problems with some firewalls, due to
lack of passive mode support, so you may want to try an alternative
ftp client instead.  Make sure that the client you are trying is in
your @env{PATH} before the default Windows client, or rename the
default Windows client to avoid it getting in the way.  Alternatively
you can customize @code{ange-ftp-ftp-program-name} to the full path to
the version you are trying.  @xref{Other useful ports}.

@node Tramp ssh
@section How do I use Tramp to work in Emacs via SSH?
@cindex tramp, ssh
@cindex ssh, accessing remote hosts within Emacs
@cindex remote hosts via ssh
@cindex openssh
@cindex PuTTY
@cindex plink
@vindex tramp-default-method
@vindex tramp-default-method-alist

Tramp can use a number of protocols to connect to remote machines to
read files and even run commands on those files remotely.  A popular
one is ssh.  As well as Cygwin versions of openssh, you can use
PuTTY's command line plink program as the ssh client.  The relevant
methods to use in @code{tramp-default-method} or
@code{tramp-default-method-alist} for these options are:
@itemize @w{}
@item
openssh
@itemize
@item @code{scp} Uses scp for copying, ssh for shell operations.
@item @code{ssh} Uses ssh with encoding on stdin/stdout for file transfer.
@end itemize

@item
PuTTY
@itemize
@item @code{pscp} Uses pscp for copying, plink for shell operations.
@item @code{plink} Uses plink with encoding on stdin/stdout for file transfer.
@end itemize
@end itemize

@node telnet
@section How do I use telnet with Emacs?
@cindex telnet, in Emacs
@findex telnet
@cindex telnet client, that works with Emacs

To use telnet-mode on Windows, you need a telnet client that uses
stdin and stdout for input and output.  The default Windows client is
a Windows application, and will not work as a subprocess.  Several
options exist, but information that was formerly in this FAQ is out of
date now, so no concrete pointers are available.

@c ------------------------------------------------------------
@node Text and Utility modes
@chapter Text and Utility modes

@menu
* TeX::
* Spell check::
* Encryption::
* Mouse wheel::
* Grep::
@end menu

@node TeX
@section How do I use TeX with Emacs?
@cindex tex
@cindex typesetting

You will need an implementation of TeX for Windows.
A number of implementations are listed on the
@uref{https://www.tug.org/interest.html#free, TeX Users Group} website.

@node Spell check
@section How do I perform spell checks?
@cindex spell checking
@cindex ispell
@cindex aspell
@cindex flyspell
@vindex ispell-program-name
@findex flyspell-mode

Emacs has support for spell checking on demand (@code{ispell}) and as
your type (@code{flyspell}).  Both packages depend on a copy of
@command{ispell} 3.2 or a compatible spell-checking program.
GNU Aspell is a popular choice these days, outdated Windows installers
are available from the @uref{http://aspell.net/win32/, official site}.
Another possibility is Hunspell, which is available from
@uref{https://sourceforge.net/projects/ezwinports/files/?source=navbar,
the ezwinports site}.  If you're using the MSYS2 distribution, you can
install a recent version of either GNU Aspell or Hunspell through the
package manager Pacman.  @xref{Other useful ports}.

Once installed, you will need to configure @code{ispell-program-name}
to tell ispell and flyspell to use @command{aspell} or
@command{hunspell} as a replacement for ispell.  You can include the
full path to the @file{aspell}/@file{hunspell} binary, which means you
do not need to add its installation directory to the @env{PATH}.

@node Encryption
@section Emacs and encryption
@cindex encryption
@cindex gpg, Windows binaries
@cindex pgp encryption, with GNU Privacy Guard
@cindex signatures on Emacs distribution, checking
@cindex Emacs distribution, checking digital signatures

GNU Privacy Guard is a Free replacement for PGP, with Windows binaries
available.  See @uref{https://www.gnupg.org/}.

@node Mouse wheel
@section Why doesn't my wheel mouse work in Emacs?
@cindex mouse wheel
@cindex wheel mouse
@cindex middle button, on wheel mouse
@cindex scrolling, with mouse wheel

Some wheel mice ship with default settings that do not send the
standard wheel events to programs, but instead try to simulate scroll
bar events.  Usually this is configurable from the hardware specific
pages on the mouse control panel.  The middle button is often mapped
in the same settings to have some functionality other than sending
middle mouse button events.  In some cases, uninstalling the
manufacturer's drivers and telling Windows to use the generic USB or
PS/2 drivers is the only way to make the mouse work properly.

@node Grep
@section How do I use grep with Emacs?
@cindex searching through files with grep
@cindex grep
@cindex findstr
@findex grep

The best way to use @kbd{M-x grep} with Emacs is to download a port of
GNU @command{grep}. @xref{Other useful ports}.

If you want a quick solution without installing extra tools, a poor
substitute that works for simple text searches is to specify the built
in Windows command @command{findstr} as the command to run at the
@kbd{M-x grep} prompt.  Normally you will want to use the @option{/n}
argument to @command{findstr}, to have it print the line numbers for
each hit.

@menu
* Recursive grep::
@end menu

@node Recursive grep
@subsection How do I do a recursive grep?
@cindex recursive searching with grep
@cindex grep, recursive through subdirectories
@cindex findstr, recursive
@cindex find, using with grep
@cindex find, the POSIX command
@findex rgrep
@findex grep-find
@findex find-grep-dired
@vindex find-program
@vindex grep-find-command

The Emacs commands @code{rgrep}, @code{grep-find}
and @code{find-grep-dired} are all different interfaces for
grepping recursively into subdirectories.  By default, they use the
command @command{find} to determine which files to work on, and either
run @command{grep} directly from find, or use @command{xargs} to batch
up files and reduce the number of invocations of @command{grep}.

Windows also comes with a @command{find} command, but it is not in any
way compatible with the POSIX @command{find} that Emacs tries to use.
Emacs expects a @command{find} compatible with GNU findutils.
@xref{Other useful ports}.  After you have installed it, you will need
to make sure that Emacs finds this version, not the standard Windows
@command{find} command.  You can do this by either renaming the
Windows command, changing your @env{PATH} to ensure that the directory
containing the findutils @file{bin} directory comes before the Windows
system directory, or set the variable @code{find-program} to the full
path to the findutils @command{find} command.

An alternative if you have a recent version of grep is to customize
@code{grep-find-command} to use @samp{grep -r} instead of both find
and grep.  Another alternative if you don't need the full capabilities
of grep is to use @samp{findstr /n /r}; add the @samp{/s} option if
you want a recursive search.

@c ------------------------------------------------------------
@node Developing with Emacs
@chapter Developing with Emacs

We recommend using the GNU Compiler Collection for developing C/C++
code from Emacs.  The MinGW development toolchain provides Windows
ports of GCC and other compilers.

The rest of this chapter describes other alternatives which you may
need to use.

@menu
* MSVC::
* Borland C++ Builder::
* Version control::
* Perldb::
@end menu

@node MSVC
@section How do I use Emacs with Microsoft Visual C++

There are two ways you can use Emacs in conjunction with MSVC@.  You
can use Emacs as the editor, and do everything else in the DevStudio
IDE@.  Or you can use Emacs as an IDE, calling the MSVC command line
tools to build your project.

@menu
* DevStudio::
* MSVC command line::
@end menu

@node DevStudio
@subsection Emacs as the text editor for DevStudio
@cindex DevStudio, using Emacs as editor in
@cindex MSVC++, using Emacs as editor with
@cindex Visual Studio, using Emacs as editor in
@cindex VisEmacs, add in for MS Developer Studio

Christopher Payne wrote a Visual Studio add-in that makes Emacs the
default text editor, this has now been taken over by Jeff Paquette.
See the following two URLs for details:
@itemize
@item @uref{https://sourceforge.net/projects/visemacs/} for the latest version.
@item @uref{http://www.smathers.net/VisEmacs.htm} for notes on usage.
@end itemize

@node MSVC command line
@subsection Using MSVC command line tools from Emacs
@cindex MSVC++, compiling within Emacs
@findex compile

This is an app note on how to use Microsoft Visual C++ with Emacs.  The
experiments done below were done with Emacs 19.34.1 on Windows 95,
using Visual C++ 4.0 Standard Edition.  Your mileage may vary.

This writeup assumes minimal knowledge of Emacs hacking on the part of
the reader.

@menu
* VC++ environment::
* Default compile command::
* Reverting buffers::
* Edit MSVC::
@end menu

@node VC++ environment
@subsubsection VC++ Environment Variables
@cindex vcvars32.bat
@cindex MSVC++, environment variables

There is a batch file in your VC++ installation's bin directory called
@file{vcvars32.bat}, which sets up the environment variables needed to
run the VC++ command line tools.  Arrange for those same environment
variables to be set in your Emacs session.  You can do this on Windows
9x by calling the @file{vcvars32.bat} script from @file{autoexec.bat}.
On other versions of Windows you can set the environment variables
globally using the System control panel.

For all versions of Windows you can alternatively set the variables
just inside Emacs by using @code{setenv} calls in your init file.
@xref{Installing Emacs,,Where do I put my init file?}.

You should now be able to compile from Emacs.  Load a source file from
a VC++ project.  Type @kbd{M-x compile}.  Replace the proposed command line
with:
@example
nmake -f @var{ProjectName}.mak
@end example

You will find that this defaults to a debug build.  You can change it
to a release build with:
@example
nmake -f @var{ProjectName}.mak CFG="@var{ProjectName} - Win32 Release"
@end example

@node Default compile command
@subsubsection Setting the default compile command
@cindex compile, setting default command
@cindex nmake, as default compile command
@vindex compile-command

Now set the default value for the compile command line.  Add the
following to your init file:

@example
;; Set up for Visual C++ compiling
(setq compile-command "nmake -f ")
@end example

If you work on the same project long term, you can add the project
makefile to the string.

David Biesack suggests that perhaps it's
easy to write a @file{Makefile} in the project directory which does

@example
PROJECT=MyProject
all: debug
debug: FORCE
        nmake /f $(PROJECT).mak CFG="$(PROJECT) - Win32 Debug"
release: FORCE
        nmake /f $(PROJECT).mak CFG="$(PROJECT) - Win32 Release"
FORCE:
@end example

and then you can simply change compile-command to @command{nmake}.

Caleb T. Deupree reports that on VC++
5.0 and up, "You can also set an option in Options/Build to export a
makefile every time the project is saved, which you can then use to
compile with @samp{nmake -f project.mak}."  VC++ 4.0 builds the make file
every time, and there is no option.

@node Reverting buffers
@subsubsection Reverting Buffers
@cindex DevStudio, keeping source in sync
@cindex Visual Studio, keeping source in sync
@cindex MSVC++, keeping source in sync
@findex auto-revert-mode
@findex global-auto-revert-mode

It is recommended that you use @code{auto-revert-mode} in buffers
that you have open in both Emacs and MSVC++ at the same time.  Then if
you mistakenly edit the file in MSVC++, Emacs will pick up your
changes immediately, rather than after you have written lots more code
and attempt to save.

@node Edit MSVC
@subsubsection Edit with Emacs function for MSVC
@cindex DevStudio, load in Emacs command
@cindex Visual Studio, load in Emacs command
@cindex MSVC++, load in Emacs command
@cindex emacsclient, calling from Visual Studio

You can also set up VC++ to import a file into Emacs for you, all
ready for editing.  In VC++, go to the @code{Tools} pull-down menu, and
click on @code{Customize...}.  In the @code{Tools} tab, click on
@code{Add}.  Use @code{Browse} to locate the
@file{emacsclientw.exe} file in your Emacs bin directory, and
select it.  For arguments, use @option{+$(CurLine)}
@option{"$(FilePath)"} and for the directory use the @code{$(WkspDir)}
(the quotes around FilePath handle paths with spaces in them).  Set the
Menu Text to say "Em&acs".  The @option{+$(CurLine)} will set point in
Emacs to the same line as the cursor position in VC++.  The ampersand
in the word @code{Em&acs} allows you to select emacs from the keyboard.
(E is already used for the OLE control test container.)

You should now be able to go to any source file in your project.  Then,
use the pull-down menu @code{Tools->Emacs}.  The active file in your
VC++ IDE should now be front and center in Emacs, all ready to edit as
you wish.  If you use keystrokes to work the menus, try @kbd{Alt-T A} to
move the file into Emacs.  Binding this tool to a keystroke will be
left as an exercise for the student.

If you have the option of saving files before running tools, make sure
this option is set.  (I don't see it on VC++ 4.0.)

@node Borland C++ Builder
@section Emacs and Borland C++ Builder
@cindex Borland C++, integration with Emacs

Jonathan Arnold has written an
@uref{https://www.buddydog.org/C++Builder/c++builder.html, EmacsEdit
``expert''} for interfacing C++ Builder and Emacs.

@node Version control
@section Is there a version of my VC software I can use with Emacs?
@cindex version control, integration with Emacs
@cindex revision control, integration with Emacs
@cindex source control,  integration with Emacs
@cindex cvs, version control integration with Emacs
@cindex rcs, version control integration with Emacs
@cindex svn, version control integration with Emacs
@cindex git, version control integration with Emacs
@cindex bzr, version control integration with Emacs
@cindex arch, version control integration with Emacs
@cindex mercurial, version control integration with Emacs
@cindex hg, version control integration with Emacs
@cindex monotone, version control integration with Emacs

If you are using a graphical revision control tool already, check if
it comes with command-line tools.  Many such GUI tools are just
wrappers for the same command line tools that Emacs requires for its
VC integration.  Most of the supported VC systems have well supported
Free native Windows binaries.  For those that don't Cygwin may be an option.
@xref{Other useful ports}.

@node Perldb
@section How do I use the Perl debugger with Emacs?
@cindex perl, debugging within Emacs
@cindex perldb, using with Emacs

From Jay Rogers:

Some versions of the perl debugger itself need to be patched to work
with emacs.  They are perl versions 5.001 and less, and version
5.004_01.  To fix, locate and change the code similar to the following
code in lib/perl5db.pl
@example
        if (-e "/dev/tty") @{
            $console = "/dev/tty";
            $rcfile=".perldb";
        @}
        elsif (-e "con") @{
            $console = "";                 <---- change "con" to ""
            $rcfile="perldb.ini";
        @}
        else @{
            $console = "sys\$command";
            $rcfile="perldb.ini";
        @}
@end example

Doug Campbell also has some
@uref{https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs/discuss/perldb,
suggestions} for improving the interaction of perldb and Emacs.

@c ------------------------------------------------------------
@node Other useful ports
@chapter Other useful ports
@cindex useful tools
@cindex subprocesses, useful tools

@menu
* Cygwin::
* MinGW-w64::
* EZWinPorts::
* MinGW::
* GnuWin32::
* GTK::
* Read man pages::
@end menu

@node Cygwin
@section Cygwin
@cindex cygwin environment
@cindex cygwin, library conflicts
@cindex library conflicts with cygwin
@cindex interoperability with cygwin
@cindex subprocesses, cygwin tools
@vindex exec-path

@uref{https://www.cygwin.com/}.

Cygwin is a popular complete POSIX emulation environment for Windows.
Most of its tools can be used with Emacs, and it covers a wide range
of ported software.  The main shell used by Cygwin is GNU
@command{bash}, but other shells are also available.  Some Cygwin
tools may not interoperate well with Emacs or other native Windows
tools, due to the total immersion aspect of Cygwin, including its
non-native filesystem mapping.

If you choose to use Cygwin, then its tools will probably be all that
you need, but you will need to get image libraries from elsewhere, as
the Cygwin ones are not compatible with non-Cygwin software.  In fact,
if Cygwin is on your PATH when you run Emacs, and Emacs does not find
other versions of the image libraries first, then the Cygwin ones can
cause problems.  Cygwin developers recommend that you do not put
Cygwin on your system @env{PATH} for this reason.  Instead you can
make the Cygwin tools available within Emacs by setting @code{exec-path}
in your init file.

@node MinGW-w64
@section MinGW-w64 and MSYS2
@cindex mingw-w64 tools
@cindex msys2 environment
@cindex subprocesses, mingw-w64 and msys2

@uref{https://www.msys2.org/}

MinGW-w64 is a set of development tools that produce native Windows
executables, not dependent on Cygwin's POSIX emulation DLLs.
MinGW-w64 has forked the original MinGW in 2007 in order to provide
support for 64 bits and new APIs.

MSYS2 is software distribution and a building platform for Windows.
MSYS2 is an independent rewrite of MSYS, based on modern Cygwin and
MinGW-w64 with the aim of better interoperability with native Windows
software.  It plays the same role MSYS does in MinGW.  Being a
distribution, MSYS2 provides tools to build software as well as more
than 2600 precompiled packages ready for use.

@node EZWinPorts
@section EZWinPorts
@cindex ezwinports

The @uref{https://sourceforge.net/projects/ezwinports/, EZWinPorts
project} provides many useful ports of recent versions of GNU and Unix
software.  This includes all the optional libraries used by Emacs
(image libraries, libxml2, GnuTLS), RCS, Texinfo, a clone of
@command{man} command, Grep, xz, bzip2, bsdtar, ID Utils, Findutils,
Hunspell, Gawk, GNU Make, Groff, GDB.

@node MinGW
@section MinGW and MSYS
@cindex mingw tools
@cindex msys environment
@cindex subprocesses, mingw and msys

@uref{https://osdn.net/projects/mingw/}

MinGW is another set of development tools that produce native Windows
executables, not dependent on Cygwin's POSIX emulation DLLs.

MSYS is a POSIX shell and minimal set of tools that are commonly used in
configure scripts.  Like Cygwin, this environment uses a non-native
filesystem mapping to appear more POSIX like to the scripts that it
runs.  This is intended to complement the MinGW tools to make it easier
to port software to Windows.

@node GnuWin32
@section GnuWin32
@cindex gnuwin32 tools
@cindex subprocesses, gnuwin32
@cindex image libraries, gnuwin32
@cindex image libraries, development

@uref{https://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/}

GnuWin32 provides precompiled native Windows ports of a wide selection
of Free software and libraries.  Unfortunately, the ports are
outdated.  Tools available here that are useful for Emacs include:

@itemize
@item Arc - used by @code{archive-mode} to edit .arc files.
@item Bzip2 - used by Emacs to automatically decompress .bz2 files.
@item CompFace - used by @code{gnus} to display XFace headers in messages.
@item CoreUtils - GNU file, shell and text utilities (also in MSYS)
@item DiffUtils - for @code{ediff} and producing patches
@item FindUtils - for @code{grep-find} and other file searches.
@item GifLib - library to support GIF images.
@item Grep - for searching through files with @code{grep}.
@item Gzip - used by Emacs to automatically decompress .gz files.
@item Jpeg - library to support JPEG images (also in GTK+).
@item Lha - used by @code{archive-mode} to edit .lzh files.
@item LibPng - library to support PNG images (also in GTK+).
@item LibTiff - library to support TIFF images (also in GTK+).
@item Make - used by @code{compile} for building projects (also in MinGW)
@item OpenSSL - used by @code{gnus} to talk to servers over SSL.
@item Patch - used by @code{ediff-patch-file} and others to apply patches.
@item Tar - used by @code{tar-mode} to edit tar files.
@item TexInfo - used to build Emacs's manuals.
@item Unzip - used by @code{archive-mode} for extracting zip files.
@item Xpm - library to support XPM images (bundled with Emacs binaries)
@item Zip - used by @code{archive-mode} for editing zip files.
@item Zlib - required by LibPng (also in GTK+).
@end itemize

@node GTK
@section GTK+
@cindex GTK+ image libraries
@cindex image libraries, GTK+
@cindex addpm, using GTK+ image libraries

GTK+ is a potential source for some of the image libraries that Emacs
requires.  GTK+ is installed along with other ports of GUI software,
such as the GIMP image editor, and Pidgin instant messenger client.
If GTK+ is installed when you run @command{addpm}, Emacs will use the
image libraries that it provides, even if they are not on the
@env{PATH}.  GTK+ ships with JPEG, PNG and TIFF support.

@node Read man pages
@section How do I read man pages?
@cindex man pages
@findex woman
@findex man

Man pages for Emacs and other ported programs that you have can be
read using Emacs's built-in manual reader @code{woman}.  This
requires no external programs, but if you do have a port of
@command{man}, there is also an Emacs wrapper @code{man} that
which may be slightly faster.  A Windows version of @command{man} is
available from the EZWinPorts site (@pxref{EZWinPorts}).

@c ------------------------------------------------------------
@node Further information
@chapter Further information

@menu
* More information::
* Mailing lists::
@end menu

@node More information
@section Where can I get more information about Emacs?
@cindex other sources of information
@cindex faqs, general
@cindex faqs, old
@cindex help, manuals and other sources
@cindex manuals
@cindex wiki

If you have general questions about Emacs, the best places to start
looking are @ref{Top,,, emacs, The GNU Emacs Manual}, and
@ref{Top,,, efaq, the standard Emacs FAQ}.
In Emacs, you can browse the manual using Info by typing @kbd{C-h r},
and you can view the FAQ by typing @kbd{C-h C-f}.  Other resources include:

@itemize
@item @uref{https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/, The Emacs website}
@item @uref{https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/, Other Emacs manuals}
@item @uref{https://www.emacswiki.org/, Emacs Wiki}
@end itemize

@node Mailing lists
@section What mailing lists are there for discussing Emacs on Windows?
@cindex mailing lists
@cindex help, mailing lists

The official mailing list for Windows specific help and discussion is
@url{https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows,
help-emacs-windows}.  See that link for information on how to subscribe
or unsubscribe.  The
@uref{https://lists.gnu.org/r/help-emacs-windows/, list archives}
are available online.

@c ------------------------------------------------------------
@node Indexes
@unnumbered Indexes

@unnumberedsec Function and Variable Index

@printindex fn

@unnumberedsec Concept Index

@printindex cp

@bye
