Installing R and RStudio

Quick instructions for installing R and RStudio

Jeff Doser
Last updated on 2 min read

Obtaining and installing R

It’s simple to install R on computers running Microsoft Windows, macOS, or Linux. For other operating systems, users can compile the source code directly.1 Following is a step-by-step guide to installing R for Microsoft Windows.2 macOS and Linux users would follow similar steps.

  1. Go to http://www.r-project.org/
  2. Click on the CRAN link on the left side of the page
  3. Choose one of the mirrors3
  4. Click on Download R for Windows
  5. Click on base
  6. Click on Download R 4.0.2 for Windows
  7. Install R as you would install any other Windows program

Obtaining and installing RStudio

You must install R prior to installing RStudio. RStudio is also simple to install:

  1. Go to http://www.rstudio.com
  2. Click on the link RStudio under the Products tab
  3. Click on the RStudio Desktop box
  4. Choose the DOWNLOAD RSTUDIO DESKTOP link in the Open Source Edition column
  5. On the ensuing page, click on the Installer version for your operating system, and once downloaded, install as you would any other program
  1. Windows, macOS, and Linux users also can compile the source code directly, but for most it’s a better idea to install R from already compiled binary distributions. ^
  2. New versions of R are released regularly, so the version number in Step 6 might be different from what is listed below. ^
  3. As the name implies, all mirrors provide the exact same software. The https://cloud.r-project.org/ mirror is usually fast; otherwise choose a mirror close to your geographic location. ^
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Jeff Doser
Postdoctoral Research Associate