| FreePCB User Guide | Version 1.2

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3. Installing FreePCB

Eventually, FreePCB will come with a nice installer, but for now you have to do it manually. Here are the instructions

- Download the latest version of the software from www.freepcb.com. It may be in the form of a zipped archive file, with a name like freepcb_1000_src.zip, or a self-installing archive such as freepcb_1000_src.exe.
- Before unzipping the file, create a new folder on your hard drive such as C:\FreePCB.
- Unzip the archive into your new folder. Your folder should now contain subfolders as shown:
  - The subfolder bin contains the FreePCB.exe executable, the default configuration file default.cfg, and a few other files.
  - The subfolder doc contains documentation (mainly this User Guide).
  - The subfolder lib contains the core footprint libraries.
  - The subfolder lib_contrib contains footprint libraries contributed by other users.
  - The subfolder lib_extra contains less commonly used footprint libraries.
  - The subfolder projects contains folders for each PCB project.
  - The subfolder src contains the source code for FreePCB.
- You may want to make a shortcut for starting FreePCB from your desktop. Open the C:\FreePCB\bin folder in Windows explorer, and drag the file FreePCB.exe onto the desktop with the RIGHT mouse button. You should be prompted with a list of options including creating a shortcut.
- Now you can start FreePCB by double-clicking on the desktop icon.

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