# Installing Solana CLI in an Easy Way

Setting up the Solana CLI manually on Windows by grabbing the binaries straight from GitHub is a great way to have full control over your development environment. It sounds like you had a few autocorrect typos in your request, but you are looking exactly for the right thing: going to the Solana Labs GitHub, downloading the pre-built binary, and manually adding it to your Windows PATH.

Here is a straightforward guide to get you set up.

*(A quick factual note before we begin: The core Solana Labs client recently transitioned to a new developer team called Anza, and the software is now called "Agave". You can still find the releases on the Solana Labs GitHub, but going forward, the most up-to-date versions will be on the Anza Agave GitHub repo. The steps below apply perfectly to both!)*

### How to Manually Install the Solana CLI on Windows

## **Step 1: Download the Pre-built Binary**

1.  Navigate to the official releases page. You can either go to the [Solana Labs GitHub Releases](https://github.com/solana-labs/solana/releases)
    
2.  Look for the **Latest** stable release (for example, `v1.18.26` or `v2.0.0`).
    
3.  Scroll down to the **Assets** section at the bottom of the release notes.
    
4.  Download the Windows binary archive. It will be named something like: `solana-release-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.tar.bz2`.
    
    ![](https://cloudmate-test.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/covers/65d204e2728da825eb42aafc/005164fa-1999-4bb2-860b-cc291dbdc02c.png align="center")
    

## **Step 2: Extract the Files**

Windows doesn't always natively handle `.tar.bz2` files, so you may need a free extraction tool like **7-Zip** or **WinRAR**.

1.  Open your extraction tool and extract the downloaded file.
    
    ![](https://cloudmate-test.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/covers/65d204e2728da825eb42aafc/5c52cd85-aa01-4c9d-97d1-aa5bfba5ff42.png align="center")
    
2.  Move the extracted folder (it should be named `solana-release`) to a permanent, secure location on your hard drive where it won't be deleted. A good spot is `C:\solana-release`.  
    
    ![](https://cloudmate-test.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/covers/65d204e2728da825eb42aafc/a2b121ff-452a-418a-bcfd-0986e552caca.png align="center")
    

Here are the Binaries Located

3.  Relocate the Binaries `C drive` and `C:\solana-cli\solana-release` in my case
    
    ![](https://cloudmate-test.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/covers/65d204e2728da825eb42aafc/f222d722-7b20-4de8-93fa-f42ff2940a63.png align="center")
    

## **Step 3: Manually Add the CLI to your Windows PATH**

To use Solana commands from any folder in your terminal, Windows needs to know exactly where those tools live.

1.  Click the Windows Start button, type **Environment Variables**, and select **Edit the system environment variables**.
    
2.  In the System Properties window that pops up, click the **Environment Variables...** button near the bottom right.
    
3.  In the new window, look under the **User variables** (or **System variables** if you want it applied to all users) and find the variable named **Path**.
    
4.  Select **Path** and click **Edit**.
    
5.  Click **New**, and paste the exact folder path to the `bin` directory inside your extracted Solana folder. If you followed Step 2 exactly, this will be: `C:\solana-release\bin`.
    
6.  Click **OK** on all three windows to save your changes.  
    
    ![](https://cloudmate-test.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/covers/65d204e2728da825eb42aafc/a54ab868-8601-467f-b657-e4f6a3bbf013.png align="center")
    

## **Step 4: Verify the Installation**

1.  Open a brand new **Command Prompt** or **PowerShell** window (if you had one open already, you must close and restart it so it can fetch the new PATH data).
    
2.  Type the following command and press Enter:
    

```plaintext
solana --version
# solana-cli 1.18.26 (src:d9f20e95; feat:3241752014, client:SolanaLabs)
```

If everything is configured correctly, it will output the version of the Solana CLI you just installed!

3.  `solana-keygen` for generating public-private keypair
    

![](https://cloudmate-test.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/covers/65d204e2728da825eb42aafc/f42ad807-1609-429e-b520-f438201960be.png align="center")

4.  `solana get config` to get config file content.
    
    ![](https://cloudmate-test.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/covers/65d204e2728da825eb42aafc/d59aa857-1916-4485-8d0e-15889607ad95.png align="center")
    
5.  A few more commands
    
    ![](https://cloudmate-test.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/covers/65d204e2728da825eb42aafc/48456254-ed12-478c-a036-4eebc910ab96.png align="center")
    
6.  After Airdropping on devnet through [https://faucet.solana.com/](https://faucet.solana.com/)
    

![](https://cloudmate-test.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/covers/65d204e2728da825eb42aafc/5b193d39-27db-45a4-8f29-259ed155eb68.png align="center")

Thanks for stopping by! If this helped you out, let me know. I'm actively exploring new ideas in AI and full-stack development, and I'd love to see what you're building too.

💼 [LinkedIn](https://linkedin.com/in/astro-adityaraj) • 🐙 [GitHub](https://github.com/astrobot-me/) • ✉️ [Portfolio](http://astrobot.tech/)

Ref:

[https://solana.com/docs/intro/installation/solana-cli-basics](https://solana.com/docs/intro/installation/solana-cli-basics)