• Go to ezwinports, https://sourceforge.net/projects/ezwinports/files/

  • Download make-4.2.1-without-guile-w32-bin.zip (get the version without guile)

  • Extract zip
  • Copy the contents to C:\ProgramFiles\Git\mingw64\ merging the folders, but do NOT overwrite/replace any exisiting files.
Answer from Vallabha Vamaravelli on Stack Overflow
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GitHub
github.com › dmlc › xgboost › issues › 1132
mingw32-make: command not found · Issue #1132 · dmlc/xgboost
April 21, 2016 - I received the following message. Could you help me out? Thanks! $ make -j4 sh.exe": mingw32-make: command not found
Author   dmlc
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QT Centre
qtcentre.org › threads › 21835-Could-not-find-make-command-mingw32-make-exe-in-the-build-environment
Could not find make command: mingw32-make.exe in the build environment
June 18, 2009 - Deleted the following files / directories: /debug /release Makefile Makefile.Debug Makefile.Release Regards, Pembar ... Just a shot in the dark, but maybe the *.pro.user file is hiding the path containing mingw32-make.exe? Try renaming it or deleting it so QtCreator creates a new default .user ...
Discussions

Error installing CmdStan (Windows 10; Command 'mingw32-make.exe' not found @win/processx.c:983)
I’m following the install ... CmdStan binaries... Error in rethrow_call(c_processx_exec, command, c(command, args), stdin, : Command 'mingw32-make.exe' not found @win/processx....... More on discourse.mc-stan.org
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July 5, 2020
[R]Command 'mingw32-make.exe' not found @win/processx.c:994
Summary: Please provide a short couple sentence summary. Description: Describe the issue as clearly as possible. Reproducible Steps: Please report steps to reproduce the issue. If it's not poss... More on github.com
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November 9, 2020
Can't compile using mingw.
Check if your PATH is set correctly. More on reddit.com
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September 19, 2018
cmd - Windows 7 - 'make' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file - Stack Overflow
I have Windows 7 and tried to use the 'make' command but 'make' is not recognized as an internal or external command. I did Start -> cmd -> run -> make, which outputs: 'make' is not More on stackoverflow.com
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GitHub
github.com › stan-dev › cmdstan › issues › 946
[R]Command 'mingw32-make.exe' not found @win/processx.c:994 · Issue #946 · stan-dev/cmdstan
November 9, 2020 - [R]Command 'mingw32-make.exe' not found @win/processx.c:994#946 · Copy link · ctt123ctt · opened · on Nov 9, 2020 · Issue body actions · Please provide a short couple sentence summary. Describe the issue as clearly as possible. Please report steps to reproduce the issue.
Author   stan-dev
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/askprogramming › can't compile using mingw.
r/AskProgramming on Reddit: Can't compile using mingw.
September 19, 2018 -

Hi,

I've recently started programming in university and we're using vscode with the mingw compiler for Windows (I'm using Linux in class so I didn't run into this problem until now) but I've ran into an issue with the compiling.
https://i.imgur.com/2I4M2Ul.png

mingw32−make : The term 'mingw32−make' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is
 correct and try again.
At line:1 char:1
+ mingw32−make
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (mingw32−make:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException    

Can anyone help me fix this?
I've changed the path in the windows environmental thing and mingw is installed where it is supposed to be as far as I know.

Top answer
1 of 12
53

In Windows10, I solved this issue by adding C:\MinGW\bin to Path and then called it using MinGW32-make not make.

2 of 12
43

This is an old question, but none of the answers here provide enough context for a beginner to choose which one to pick.

What is make?

make is a traditional Unix utility which reads a Makefile to decide what programs to run to reach a particular goal. Typically, that goal is to build a piece of software from a set of source files and libraries; but make is general enough to be used for various other tasks, too, like assembling a PDF from a collection of TeX source files, or retrieving the newest versions of each of a list of web pages.

Besides encapsulating the steps to reach an individual target, make reduces processing time by avoiding to re-execute steps which are already complete. It does this by comparing time stamps between dependencies; if A depends on B but A already exists and is newer than B, there is no need to make A. Of course, in order for this to work properly, the Makefile needs to document all such dependencies.

A: B
    commands to produce A from B

Notice that the indentation needs to consist of a literal tab character. This is a common beginner mistake.

Common Versions of make

The original make was rather pedestrian. Its lineage continues to this day into BSD make, from which nmake is derived. Roughly speaking, this version provides the make functionality defined by POSIX, with a few minor enhancements and variations.

GNU make, by contrast, significantly extends the formalism, to the point where a GNU Makefile is unlikely to work with other versions (or occasionally even older versions of GNU make). There is a convention to call such files GNUmakefile instead of Makefile, but this convention is widely ignored, especially on platforms like Linux where GNU make is the de facto standard make.

Telltale signs that a Makefile uses GNU make conventions are the use of := instead of = for variable assignments (though this is not exclusively a GNU feature) and a plethora of functions like $(shell ...), $(foreach ...), $(patsubst ...) etc.

So Which Do I Need?

Well, it really depends on what you are hoping to accomplish.

If the software you are hoping to build has a vcproj file or similar, you probably want to use that instead, and not try to use make at all.

In the general case, MinGW make is a Windows port of GNU make for Windows, It should generally cope with any Makefile you throw at it.

If you know the software was written to use nmake and you already have it installed, or it is easy for you to obtain, maybe go with that.

You should understand that if the software was not written for, or explicitly ported to, Windows, it is unlikely to compile without significant modifications. In this scenario, getting make to run is the least of your problems, and you will need a good understanding of the differences between the original platform and Windows to have a chance of pulling it off yourself.

In some more detail, if the Makefile contains Unix commands like grep or curl or yacc then your system needs to have those commands installed, too. But quite apart from that, C or C++ (or more generally, source code in any language) which was written for a different platform might simply not work - at all, or as expected (which is often worse) - on Windows.

Find elsewhere
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GitHub
github.com › daid › LegacyCura › issues › 1317
64 bit ubuntu 15.04: mingw32-make: command not found · Issue #1317 · daid/LegacyCura
July 21, 2015 - I'm having issues compiling Cura under ubuntu 15.04 64bit. I run: ./package.sh debian_amd64 and get: ./package.sh: line 177: mingw32-make: command not found. Any ideas?
Author   daid
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Google Groups
groups.google.com › g › wx-users › c › -D6zjhdROqg › m › oorqD1xGBAAJ
Missing mingw32-make
... Either email addresses are ... the install.txt file, after typing > cd %WXWIN%\build\msw > mingw32-make -f makefile.gcc Make sure you have a clean path to the compiler and tools....
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnprogramming › mingw compiler not running?
r/learnprogramming on Reddit: MinGW compiler not running?
August 18, 2021 -

I'm stuck on the installation process of CodeLite (IDE) and MinGW (GCC). Fairly new to learning C++ and the code won't execute.

The code won't build & execute on CodeLite and I get the following errors -

  1. 'make' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file (CodeLite)

  2. No targets specified and no makefile found (when I search for the 'make' on Command prompt)

And when I try to build and execute on CodeLite -

3. This app can't run on your PC (MinGW error)

What should I do? I'm no computer whiz, I don't know why I keep getting these errors, I spent my whole day trying to solve this by searching on google but I couldn't-

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/raylib › mingw32-make.exe does not exist?
r/raylib on Reddit: mingw32-make.exe does not exist?
January 23, 2022 -

Decided to give Raylib a try today and am having issues with it. I downloaded the mingw-64 version, copied the project folder to a directory, opened VSCode. When I try to run the application it tells me "The terminal process failed to launch: Path to shell executable "D:\myApp\CPP\mingw32-make.exe" does not exist."

My copy of Raylib did not install with a mingw folder at all. In C:\raylib I just have npp, raylib, and w64devkit

There is a mingw32-make.exe inside of the w64devkit/bin folder. I tried copying it to my project folder and now I just get a "cannot create process" error.

Any ideas on what I could be doing wrong?

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Stan Forums
discourse.mc-stan.org › interfaces
Mingw32-make build "Could not find files for the given pattern(s)." - Interfaces - The Stan Forums
October 18, 2022 - R version 4.2.1 (2022-06-23 ucrt) Platform: x86_64-w64-mingw32/x64 (64-bit) Running under: Windows 10 x64 (build 19044) I’m trying to install stan following the instructions here. I downloaded the RTools42 installer and ran it. (At some point I also tried RTools40, but it didn’t work for me, so uninstalled it again.)
Top answer
1 of 3
2

At your windows command prompt type: doskey make=mingw32.make.exe

Now, every time you type "make" and press enter, if the program "mingw32.make.exe" is in your PATH, it will run as if you typed "mingw32.make.exe".

EDIT: If you would like to not have to keep re-creating this "alias" every time you open a new command prompt window, then you should create a .bat file (as suggested) and then create a shortcut on your desktop (or somewhere) that opens a new command prompt window using that .bat file. Launch your command prompt using that shortcut.

How:

First, you would need to create a .bat file, name it "aliases.bat" as a file. Then you can place this text in it: doskey make=mingw32.make.exe

  1. After creating the file, use an Explorer window to "right-click" the aliases.bat file and click "Create shortcut" to create a new shortcut that points to "aliases.bat".

  2. Now, right-click that new shortcut and edit the "Target:" property. a. Change the text (for example): C:\Users\user\Desktop\aliases.cmd b. To the text: cmd /k C:\Users\user\Desktop\aliases.cmd c. Click "OK" to close the properties window.

  3. Now, just double-click the new shortcut file that you just created. a. A new command prompt window should open and you should see:

        C:\Users\user\Desktop>doskey make=mingw32.make.exe
        C:\Users\user\Desktop>
    
  4. Type "make" and press enter. If mingw32.make.exe is in your PATH, it will run. Otherwise, you will see an error like this:

'mingw32.make.exe' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

  1. The error means you need to add the folder name that contains mingw32.make.exe in it to the $PATH parameter in your "aliases.bat" file like so at the top of the file: set PATH=c:\some\folder\name;$PATH

If you are at a bash shell prompt, then the command for an alias is not 'doskey' instead, it is called 'alias'. So, just type an alias at the bash prompt every time you open a new shell window, or add an alias to your .bashrc or .bash_profile file:

alias make='mingw32.make.exe'

If this does not work, find out where mingw32.make.exe is kept using 'which' command:

which mingw32.make.exe

Whatever that prints out, copy-n-paste the whole path into the alias between the single quotes, rather than just 'mingw32.make.exe'

Hope that helps. BTW: You can create many convenient aliases (or doskeys) to save a lot of typing.

2 of 3
2

The reason you can use the command g++ is because there is a file in MinGW\bin called g++ (there is also the mingw32-g++.exe as you mentioned). There is however not a file called make.exe, only one called mingw32.make.exe. You can make a .bat file of your own called make.bat in which you run the mingw32.make.exe file. If you put that .bat file in a directory found in your path, you can use the command make.

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NerdyElectronics
nerdyelectronics.com › home › embedded systems › install mingw on windows for make
MinGW Install: Download, PATH Setup & mingw32-make Rename
April 3, 2026 - Getting 'make' is not recognized on Windows? Download MinGW, rename mingw32-make to make, add C:MinGWbin to PATH, and test with make --version.