1 Installation in Windows {#tutorial_windows_install}
2 =======================
4 The description here was tested on Windows 7 SP1. Nevertheless, it should also work on any other
5 relatively modern version of Windows OS. If you encounter errors after following the steps described
6 below, feel free to contact us via our [OpenCV Q&A forum](http://answers.opencv.org). We'll do our
9 @note To use the OpenCV library you have two options: @ref tutorial_windows_install_prebuilt or
10 @ref tutorial_windows_install_build. While the first one is easier to complete, it only works if you are coding
11 with the latest Microsoft Visual Studio IDE and do not take advantage of the most advanced
12 technologies we integrate into our library. .. _Windows_Install_Prebuild:
14 Installation by Using the Pre-built Libraries {#tutorial_windows_install_prebuilt}
15 =============================================
17 -# Launch a web browser of choice and go to our [page on
18 Sourceforge](http://sourceforge.net/projects/opencvlibrary/files/opencv-win/).
19 -# Choose a build you want to use and download it.
20 -# Make sure you have admin rights. Unpack the self-extracting archive.
21 -# You can check the installation at the chosen path as you can see below.
23 ![](images/OpenCV_Install_Directory.png)
25 -# To finalize the installation go to the @ref tutorial_windows_install_path section.
27 Installation by Using git-bash (version>=2.14.1) and cmake (version >=3.9.1){#tutorial_windows_gitbash_build}
28 ===============================================================
30 -# You must download [cmake (version >=3.9.1)](https://cmake.org) and install it. You must add cmake to PATH variable during installation
32 -# You must install [git-bash (version>=2.14.1)](https://git-for-windows.github.io/). Don't add git to PATH variable during installation
34 -# Run git-bash. You observe a command line window.
35 Suppose you want to build opencv and opencv_contrib in c:/lib
37 -# In git command line enter following command (if folder does not exist) :
43 -# save this script with name installOCV.sh in c:/lib
47 CMAKE_CONFIG_GENERATOR="Visual Studio 14 2015 Win64"
48 if [ ! -d "$myRepo/opencv" ]; then
49 echo "clonning opencv"
50 git clone https://github.com/opencv/opencv.git
60 if [ ! -d "$myRepo/opencv_contrib" ]; then
61 echo "clonning opencv_contrib"
62 git clone https://github.com/opencv/opencv_contrib.git
64 mkdir Build/opencv_contrib
71 pushd Build/$RepoSource
72 CMAKE_OPTIONS='-DBUILD_PERF_TESTS:BOOL=OFF -DBUILD_TESTS:BOOL=OFF -DBUILD_DOCS:BOOL=OFF -DWITH_CUDA:BOOL=OFF -DBUILD_EXAMPLES:BOOL=OFF -DINSTALL_CREATE_DISTRIB=ON'
73 cmake -G"$CMAKE_CONFIG_GENERATOR" $CMAKE_OPTIONS -DOPENCV_EXTRA_MODULES_PATH="$myRepo"/opencv_contrib/modules -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="$myRepo"/install/"$RepoSource" "$myRepo/$RepoSource"
74 echo "************************* $Source_DIR -->debug"
75 cmake --build . --config debug
76 echo "************************* $Source_DIR -->release"
77 cmake --build . --config release
78 cmake --build . --target install --config release
79 cmake --build . --target install --config debug
82 In this script I suppose you use VS 2015 in 64 bits
84 CMAKE_CONFIG_GENERATOR="Visual Studio 14 2015 Win64"
86 and opencv will be installed in c:/lib/install
88 -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="$myRepo"/install/"$RepoSource" "$myRepo/$RepoSource"
90 with no Perf tests, no tests, no doc, no CUDA and no example
92 CMAKE_OPTIONS='-DBUILD_PERF_TESTS:BOOL=OFF -DBUILD_TESTS:BOOL=OFF -DBUILD_DOCS:BOOL=OFF -DWITH_CUDA:BOOL=OFF -DBUILD_EXAMPLES:BOOL=OFF'
94 -# In git command line enter following command :
98 -# Drink a coffee or two... opencv is ready : That's all!
99 -# Next time you run this script, opencv and opencv_contrib will be updated and rebuild
102 Installation by Making Your Own Libraries from the Source Files {#tutorial_windows_install_build}
103 ===============================================================
105 You may find the content of this tutorial also inside the following videos:
106 [Part 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnovZ1cTlMs) and [Part 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGNWMcfWwPU), hosted on YouTube.
108 @youtube{NnovZ1cTlMs}
109 @youtube{qGNWMcfWwPU}
113 These videos above are long-obsolete and contain inaccurate information. Be careful, since
114 solutions described in those videos are no longer supported and may even break your install.
116 If you are building your own libraries you can take the source files from our [Git
117 repository](https://github.com/opencv/opencv.git).
119 Building the OpenCV library from scratch requires a couple of tools installed beforehand:
121 - An IDE of choice (preferably), or just a CC++ compiler that will actually make the binary files.
122 Here we will use the [Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us).
123 However, you can use any other IDE that has a valid CC++ compiler.
124 - [CMake](http://www.cmake.org/cmake/resources/software.html), which is a neat tool to make the project files (for your chosen IDE) from the OpenCV
125 source files. It will also allow an easy configuration of the OpenCV build files, in order to
126 make binary files that fits exactly to your needs.
127 - Git to acquire the OpenCV source files. A good tool for this is [TortoiseGit](http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/wiki/Download). Alternatively,
128 you can just download an archived version of the source files from our [page on
129 Sourceforge](http://sourceforge.net/projects/opencvlibrary/files/opencv-win/)
131 OpenCV may come in multiple flavors. There is a "core" section that will work on its own.
132 Nevertheless, there is a couple of tools, libraries made by 3rd parties that offer services of which
133 the OpenCV may take advantage. These will improve its capabilities in many ways. In order to use any
134 of them, you need to download and install them on your system.
136 - The [Python libraries](http://www.python.org/downloads/) are required to build the *Python interface* of OpenCV. For now use the
137 version `2.7.{x}`. This is also a must if you want to build the *OpenCV documentation*.
138 - [Numpy](http://numpy.scipy.org/) is a scientific computing package for Python. Required for the *Python interface*.
139 - [Intel Threading Building Blocks (*TBB*)](http://threadingbuildingblocks.org/file.php?fid=77) is used inside OpenCV for parallel code
140 snippets. Using this will make sure that the OpenCV library will take advantage of all the cores
141 you have in your system's CPU.
142 - [Intel Integrated Performance Primitives (*IPP*)](http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-ipp/) may be used to improve the performance
143 of color conversion, Haar training and DFT functions of the OpenCV library. Watch out, since
144 this is not a free service.
145 - [Intel IPP Asynchronous C/C++](http://software.intel.com/en-us/intel-ipp-preview) is currently focused delivering Intel Graphics
146 support for advanced image processing and computer vision functions.
147 - OpenCV offers a somewhat fancier and more useful graphical user interface, than the default one
148 by using the [Qt framework](http://qt.nokia.com/downloads). For a quick overview of what this has to offer, look into the
149 documentations *highgui* module, under the *Qt New Functions* section. Version 4.6 or later of
150 the framework is required.
151 - [Eigen](http://eigen.tuxfamily.org/index.php?title=Main_Page#Download) is a C++ template library for linear algebra.
152 - The latest [CUDA Toolkit](http://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-downloads) will allow you to use the power lying inside your GPU. This will
153 drastically improve performance for some algorithms (e.g the HOG descriptor). Getting more and
154 more of our algorithms to work on the GPUs is a constant effort of the OpenCV team.
155 - [OpenEXR](http://www.openexr.com/downloads.html) source files are required for the library to work with this high dynamic range (HDR)
157 - The OpenNI Framework contains a set of open source APIs that provide support for natural interaction with devices via methods such as voice command recognition, hand gestures, and body
158 motion tracking. Prebuilt binaries can be found [here](http://structure.io/openni). The source code of [OpenNI](https://github.com/OpenNI/OpenNI) and [OpenNI2](https://github.com/OpenNI/OpenNI2) are also available on Github.
159 - [Doxygen](http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen/) is a documentation generator and is the tool that will actually create the
160 *OpenCV documentation*.
162 Now we will describe the steps to follow for a full build (using all the above frameworks, tools and
163 libraries). If you do not need the support for some of these, you can just freely skip this section.
165 ### Building the library
167 -# Make sure you have a working IDE with a valid compiler. In case of the Microsoft Visual Studio
168 just install it and make sure it starts up.
169 -# Install [CMake](http://www.cmake.org/cmake/resources/software.html). Simply follow the wizard, no need to add it to the path. The default install
171 -# Download and install an up-to-date version of msysgit from its [official
172 site](http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/downloads/list). There is also the portable version,
173 which you need only to unpack to get access to the console version of Git. Supposing that for
174 some of us it could be quite enough.
175 -# Install [TortoiseGit](http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/wiki/Download). Choose the 32 or 64 bit version according to the type of OS you work in.
176 While installing, locate your msysgit (if it does not do that automatically). Follow the
177 wizard -- the default options are OK for the most part.
178 -# Choose a directory in your file system, where you will download the OpenCV libraries to. I
179 recommend creating a new one that has short path and no special characters in it, for example
180 `D:/OpenCV`. For this tutorial, I will suggest you do so. If you use your own path and know, what
181 you are doing -- it is OK.
182 -# Clone the repository to the selected directory. After clicking *Clone* button, a window will
183 appear where you can select from what repository you want to download source files
184 (<https://github.com/opencv/opencv.git>) and to what directory (`D:/OpenCV`).
185 -# Push the OK button and be patient as the repository is quite a heavy download. It will take
186 some time depending on your Internet connection.
188 -# In this section, I will cover installing the 3rd party libraries.
189 -# Download the [Python libraries](http://www.python.org/downloads/) and install it with the default options. You will need a
190 couple other python extensions. Luckily installing all these may be automated by a nice tool
191 called [Setuptools](http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools#downloads). Download and install
194 -# The easiest way to install Numpy is to just download its binaries from the [sourceforge page](http://sourceforge.net/projects/numpy/files/NumPy/).
195 Make sure your download and install
196 exactly the binary for your python version (so for version `2.7`).
198 -# For the [Intel Threading Building Blocks (*TBB*)](http://threadingbuildingblocks.org/file.php?fid=77)
199 download the source files and extract
200 it inside a directory on your system. For example let there be `D:/OpenCV/dep`. For installing
201 the [Intel Integrated Performance Primitives (*IPP*)](http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-ipp/)
202 the story is the same. For
203 extracting the archives, I recommend using the [7-Zip](http://www.7-zip.org/) application.
205 ![](images/IntelTBB.png)
207 -# For the [Intel IPP Asynchronous C/C++](http://software.intel.com/en-us/intel-ipp-preview) download the source files and set environment
208 variable **IPP_ASYNC_ROOT**. It should point to
209 `<your Program Files(x86) directory>/Intel/IPP Preview */ipp directory`. Here \* denotes the
210 particular preview name.
211 -# In case of the [Eigen](http://eigen.tuxfamily.org/index.php?title=Main_Page#Download) library it is again a case of download and extract to the
212 `D:/OpenCV/dep` directory.
213 -# Same as above with [OpenEXR](http://www.openexr.com/downloads.html).
214 -# For the [OpenNI Framework](http://www.openni.org/) you need to install both the [development
215 build](http://www.openni.org/downloadfiles/opennimodules/openni-binaries/21-stable) and the
217 Module](http://www.openni.org/downloadfiles/opennimodules/openni-compliant-hardware-binaries/32-stable).
218 -# For the CUDA you need again two modules: the latest [CUDA Toolkit](http://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-downloads) and the *CUDA Tools SDK*.
219 Download and install both of them with a *complete* option by using the 32 or 64 bit setups
220 according to your OS.
221 -# In case of the Qt framework you need to build yourself the binary files (unless you use the
222 Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 with 32 bit compiler). To do this go to the [Qt
223 Downloads](http://qt.nokia.com/downloads) page. Download the source files (not the
226 ![](images/qtDownloadThisPackage.png)
228 Extract it into a nice and short named directory like `D:/OpenCV/dep/qt/` . Then you need to
229 build it. Start up a *Visual* *Studio* *Command* *Prompt* (*2010*) by using the start menu
230 search (or navigate through the start menu
231 All Programs --\> Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 --\> Visual Studio Tools --\> Visual Studio Command Prompt (2010)).
233 ![](images/visualstudiocommandprompt.jpg)
235 Now navigate to the extracted folder and enter inside it by using this console window. You
236 should have a folder containing files like *Install*, *Make* and so on. Use the *dir* command
237 to list files inside your current directory. Once arrived at this directory enter the
240 configure.exe -release -no-webkit -no-phonon -no-phonon-backend -no-script -no-scripttools
241 -no-qt3support -no-multimedia -no-ltcg
243 Completing this will take around 10-20 minutes. Then enter the next command that will take a
244 lot longer (can easily take even more than a full hour):
248 After this set the Qt environment variables using the following command on Windows 7:
250 setx -m QTDIR D:/OpenCV/dep/qt/qt-everywhere-opensource-src-4.7.3
252 Also, add the built binary files path to the system path by using the [PathEditor](http://www.redfernplace.com/software-projects/patheditor/). In our
253 case this is `D:/OpenCV/dep/qt/qt-everywhere-opensource-src-4.7.3/bin`.
256 If you plan on doing Qt application development you can also install at this point the *Qt
257 Visual Studio Add-in*. After this you can make and build Qt applications without using the *Qt
258 Creator*. Everything is nicely integrated into Visual Studio.
260 -# Now start the *CMake (cmake-gui)*. You may again enter it in the start menu search or get it
261 from the All Programs --\> CMake 2.8 --\> CMake (cmake-gui). First, select the directory for the
262 source files of the OpenCV library (1). Then, specify a directory where you will build the
263 binary files for OpenCV (2).
265 ![](images/CMakeSelectBin.jpg)
267 Press the Configure button to specify the compiler (and *IDE*) you want to use. Note that in
268 case you can choose between different compilers for making either 64 bit or 32 bit libraries.
269 Select the one you use in your application development.
271 ![](images/CMake_Configure_Windows.jpg)
273 CMake will start out and based on your system variables will try to automatically locate as many
274 packages as possible. You can modify the packages to use for the build in the WITH --\> WITH_X
275 menu points (where *X* is the package abbreviation). Here are a list of current packages you can
278 ![](images/CMakeBuildWithWindowsGUI.jpg)
280 Select all the packages you want to use and press again the *Configure* button. For an easier
281 overview of the build options make sure the *Grouped* option under the binary directory
282 selection is turned on. For some of the packages CMake may not find all of the required files or
283 directories. In case of these, CMake will throw an error in its output window (located at the
284 bottom of the GUI) and set its field values to not found constants. For example:
286 ![](images/CMakePackageNotFoundWindows.jpg)
288 ![](images/CMakeOutputPackageNotFound.jpg)
290 For these you need to manually set the queried directories or files path. After this press again
291 the *Configure* button to see if the value entered by you was accepted or not. Do this until all
292 entries are good and you cannot see errors in the field/value or the output part of the GUI. Now
293 I want to emphasize an option that you will definitely love:
294 ENABLE --\> ENABLE_SOLUTION_FOLDERS. OpenCV will create many-many projects and turning this
295 option will make sure that they are categorized inside directories in the *Solution Explorer*.
296 It is a must have feature, if you ask me.
298 ![](images/CMakeBuildOptionsOpenCV.jpg)
300 Furthermore, you need to select what part of OpenCV you want to build.
302 - *BUILD_DOCS* -\> It creates two projects for building the documentation of OpenCV (there
303 will be a separate project for building the HTML and the PDF files). Note that these are not
304 built together with the solution. You need to make an explicit build project command on
306 - *BUILD_EXAMPLES* -\> OpenCV comes with many example applications from which you may learn
307 most of the libraries capabilities. This will also come handy to easily try out if OpenCV is
308 fully functional on your computer.
309 - *BUILD_PACKAGE* -\> Prior to version 2.3 with this you could build a project that will
310 build an OpenCV installer. With this, you can easily install your OpenCV flavor on other
311 systems. For the latest source files of OpenCV, it generates a new project that simply
312 creates a zip archive with OpenCV sources.
313 - *BUILD_SHARED_LIBS* -\> With this you can control to build DLL files (when turned on) or
314 static library files (\*.lib) otherwise.
315 - *BUILD_TESTS* -\> Each module of OpenCV has a test project assigned to it. Building these
316 test projects is also a good way to try out, that the modules work just as expected on your
318 - *BUILD_PERF_TESTS* -\> There are also performance tests for many OpenCV functions. If
319 you are concerned about performance, build them and run.
320 - *BUILD_opencv_python* -\> Self-explanatory. Create the binaries to use OpenCV from the
323 Press again the *Configure* button and ensure no errors are reported. If this is the case, you
324 can tell CMake to create the project files by pushing the *Generate* button. Go to the build
325 directory and open the created **OpenCV** solution. Depending on just how much of the above
326 options you have selected the solution may contain quite a lot of projects so be tolerant on the
327 IDE at the startup. Now you need to build both the *Release* and the *Debug* binaries. Use the
328 drop-down menu on your IDE to change to another of these after building for one of them.
330 ![](images/ChangeBuildVisualStudio.jpg)
332 In the end, you can observe the built binary files inside the bin directory:
334 ![](images/OpenCVBuildResultWindows.jpg)
336 For the documentation, you need to explicitly issue the build commands on the *doxygen* project for
337 the HTML documentation. It will call *Doxygen* to do
338 all the hard work. You can find the generated documentation inside the `build/doc/doxygen/html`.
340 To collect the header and the binary files, that you will use during your own projects, into a
341 separate directory (similarly to how the pre-built binaries ship) you need to explicitly build
342 the *Install* project.
344 ![](images/WindowsBuildInstall.png)
346 This will create an *Install* directory inside the *Build* one collecting all the built binaries
347 into a single place. Use this only after you built both the *Release* and *Debug* versions.
349 To test your build just go into the `Build/bin/Debug` or `Build/bin/Release` directory and start
350 a couple of applications like the *contours.exe*. If they run, you are done. Otherwise,
351 something definitely went awfully wrong. In this case you should contact us at our [Q&A forum](http://answers.opencv.org/).
352 If everything is okay, the *contours.exe* output should resemble the following image (if
353 built with Qt support):
355 ![](images/WindowsQtContoursOutput.png)
358 If you use the GPU module (CUDA libraries), make sure you also upgrade to the latest drivers of
359 your GPU. Error messages containing invalid entries in (or cannot find) the nvcuda.dll are
360 caused mostly by old video card drivers. For testing the GPU (if built) run the
361 *performance_gpu.exe* sample application.
363 Set the OpenCV environment variable and add it to the systems path {#tutorial_windows_install_path}
364 =================================================================
366 First we set an environment variable to make easier our work. This will hold the build directory of
367 our OpenCV library that we use in our projects. Start up a command window and enter:
369 setx -m OPENCV_DIR D:\OpenCV\Build\x86\vc11 (suggested for Visual Studio 2012 - 32 bit Windows)
370 setx -m OPENCV_DIR D:\OpenCV\Build\x64\vc11 (suggested for Visual Studio 2012 - 64 bit Windows)
372 setx -m OPENCV_DIR D:\OpenCV\Build\x86\vc12 (suggested for Visual Studio 2013 - 32 bit Windows)
373 setx -m OPENCV_DIR D:\OpenCV\Build\x64\vc12 (suggested for Visual Studio 2013 - 64 bit Windows)
375 setx -m OPENCV_DIR D:\OpenCV\Build\x64\vc14 (suggested for Visual Studio 2015 - 64 bit Windows)
377 Here the directory is where you have your OpenCV binaries (*extracted* or *built*). You can have
378 different platform (e.g. x64 instead of x86) or compiler type, so substitute appropriate value.
379 Inside this, you should have two folders called *lib* and *bin*. The -m should be added if you wish
380 to make the settings computer wise, instead of user wise.
382 If you built static libraries then you are done. Otherwise, you need to add the *bin* folders path
383 to the systems path. This is because you will use the OpenCV library in form of *"Dynamic-link
384 libraries"* (also known as **DLL**). Inside these are stored all the algorithms and information the
385 OpenCV library contains. The operating system will load them only on demand, during runtime.
386 However, to do this the operating system needs to know where they are. The systems **PATH** contains
387 a list of folders where DLLs can be found. Add the OpenCV library path to this and the OS will know
388 where to look if he ever needs the OpenCV binaries. Otherwise, you will need to copy the used DLLs
389 right beside the applications executable file (*exe*) for the OS to find it, which is highly
390 unpleasant if you work on many projects. To do this start up again the [PathEditor](http://www.redfernplace.com/software-projects/patheditor/) and add the
391 following new entry (right click in the application to bring up the menu):
396 ![](images/PathEditorOpenCVInsertNew.png)
398 ![](images/PathEditorOpenCVSetPath.png)
400 Save it to the registry and you are done. If you ever change the location of your build directories
401 or want to try out your application with a different build, all you will need to do is to update the
402 OPENCV_DIR variable via the *setx* command inside a command window.
404 Now you can continue reading the tutorials with the @ref tutorial_windows_visual_studio_Opencv section.
405 There you will find out how to use the OpenCV library in your own projects with the help of the
406 Microsoft Visual Studio IDE.