Running Emacs on Windows

From Soma-notes
  • First, get the latest version of Emacs. Note that you'll be downloading a zip file.
  • Unpack this zip file, put its contents in a directory called "Emacs" in your 32-bit Program Files directory. In this directory will be multiple directories, including a bin directory with all of the main executables. If you are running a 64-bit version of Windows installed in C:, Emacs binaries should thus be in C:\Program Files (x86)\Emacs\bin. Call this directory EMACSBIN.
  • Add EMACSBIN to your user account's PATH (or the global PATH) environment variables by going to System (right click on the Win8.1 start button on the desktop)->Advanced System Settings->Environment Variables.
  • Set your HOME environment variable to your home directory, e.g. C:\Users\<your username> using the same interface. (Just add to user variables.)
  • Your .emacs for customizations will be created in HOME. You can now type emacs at any command prompt. If you don't want your prompt to block, instead type runemacs.
  • To get Jade syntax highlighting, add jade mode to your emacs.