Selecting the Windows Installer from the download options menu also presents the same msi

installer option. Clicking Save File will download the installer to your hard drive which on a

Windows system is usually to the Downloads Folder.

Also in the menu you have the option to download Widows Portable (.zip) which is a

compressed ZIP file.

Alternative download options in the menu are for macOS, Linux and Steam operating systems.

Installation on a Windows Operating System

Installing with the Installer(.msi) Option

Double click on the file name in the Downloads folder, follow the prompts and Blender will be

automatically installed to the Program Files folder on your computer and a shortcut icon will be

placed on your Desktop.

Installing with the ZIP Option

With a ZIP file you have to unzip the file. You first create a New Folder on your computer's

hard drive (see Chapter 15 – 15.2) then use a program like 7-Zip or Win-Zip to unzip

(decompress) the zip file into the new folder.

When the file is unzipped into the new folder and the folder opened, you will see blender.exe as

one of the entries. You double click on this to run Blender or you create a shortcut which places a

shortcut icon on your desktop.

When using either installation option you double click the blender.exe file to run the program.

Shortcuts on the Desktop are shortcuts to the blender.exe file.

Note: By having one version of Blender installed via the Installer(.msi) option and another version

using the ZIP method you can have more than one Blender version installed on your computer at

the same time. This is useful for version comparison or for development purposes.

XVI