Installing C/C++ on Windows 7 and Windows 8

I guess this is my first tips and tricks post on my blog. As the title says, today, I'll show you how you can literally install and run Turbo C++ on Windows 7. Basically, the architecture of Windows 7 won't allow you to install the earlier versions of Turbo C++ directly and may even cause problems while running the program. Sometimes, if you manage to run it, still, you can't switch to the full screen mode and type in the classic console mode. So, today, I'll show you how you can install Turbo C++ on your Windows 7 PC and run it any way you'd like to.

I created this blog post especially for my friends in my school, who're having trouble getting C/C++ to work on their PCs. And those who searched for C and ended up here, don't go back, this itself is what you'll find out there. Although it's Borland Turbo C++, it'll also support C just like the rest of the C++ compilers do, so this is also the basic C compiler used for C programming.

Basically, there are two options for you. The first option is the simplest -- downloading Turbo C++ 4.5 and installing it directly and running it. Turbo C++ 4.5 from Borland is the latest build of C++ that'll be compatible with all the current Windows versions and has a GUI instead of the CLI. It is the tireless method, and you can download Turbo C++ 4.5 files from here. However, I found that this didn't work on Windows 8 but you can try. Once you've downloaded the files, just extract them and run install.exe from the extracted files. Continue with the procedure and install C/C++. Once installed, you can directly run Turbo C++ form the installed directory.

But the Turbo C++ 4.5 is too easy, that it's not always the taste for the aspiring programmers. They choose to do it the hard and the classic way, using the earlier version of C++. Turbo C++ 4.5 is too easy and sometimes, you may won't need some of the codes to run the program. But most places use the earlier version of C++ (mostly Turbo C++ 3.0) which gives you the best C++ experience. It is highly recommended that you practice your skills with the Turbo C++ 3.0 and once you gain some knowledge, shift to Turbo C++ 4.5 to make faster and better programmes. Here, I'll give step-by-step instruction on how to download Turbo C++ 3.0 and install it on your Windows 7 PC (x86/x64). For this, you'll need an additonal tool called DOSBox.

Installing Turbo C/C++ 3.0 using DOSBox

1. Download and install DOSBox.

2. Download the Turbo C++ 3.0 files from here.

3. After downloading, extract the files to a place on your hard disk. To make it quicker, put it in any of your drives directly in a folder 'setup' or any name you like. (For the  time being, we'll use setup folder).

4. Run DOSBox. Type mount c driveletter:\ and press enter. (driveletter is the name of the drive where you extracted the files.)

5. Type c:\ and hit enter to make the drive active.

7. Now, since we extracted the installation files to a folder setup to a drive, type cd setup and hit enter. Type install.exe and hit enter.

8. Now, the installation screen pops up. Follow the instructions (simply press enter and continue) and finish the setup.

9. After closing the setup, you'll be back to the DOSBox console. Now, by default, C++ will be installed to a folder TC in C drive. If you are currently active on a drive other than where you installed C++, just steps 4 and 5 and give the driveletter the letter of the drive where you have TC folder installed.

10. Once you're on the drive and make it active, type cd tc\bin and hit enter. Now type tc.exe and hit enter.

11.Vola! You can now enjoy the classic C++ experience using DOSBox.

Note:-

• If you want to run full-screen, just hit alt-enter and it'll switch to fullscreen mode. Hit alt+enter again to revert back to windowed mode.
• By default, Ctrl+F9 will cause DOSBox to exit. So, if you try to run a program using Ctrl+F9, DOSBox will exit and wont run the program. To change this, just go to DOSBox and press Ctrl+F1 to activate the keymapper. Select the shutdown button and click delete to remove the shortcut. You can also change the shortcut if you like. Once finished, click save and exit. Now, you can run the program smoothly without having DOSBox terminated.

To run the program using DOSBox, simply open DOSBox and type mount c driveletter:\ and then type cd tc\bin and lastly, enter tc.exe to run the program. There you have it -- The classic C/C++ experience on your desktop using DOSBox. Happy programming! :-)

If you are having any trouble with the steps, do comment below and I'll assist you ASAP. Please give your feedbacks and let me know if there's any error in the procedure.

1 Feb 2013: Updated dead Turbo C++ 4.5 link with new one.