Wageningen University & Research | WEC

On most computers, the installation of both R and RStudio using all default settings will work out just fine. Thus, if you use your own computer on which you have appropriate admin rights, you can install R first, and then RStudio, using the default settings.

However, if you:

  • do not have admin rights on your pc;
  • run into problems installing (or using) R when installed in the default way, or;
  • have a WUR computer;

then do not install R the default way, but follow the steps as outlined in the next section. Note that this only refers to R; RStudio can still be successfully installed in the default way.

Note that this installation description is tailored to Windows computers!

Preparation

To circumvent various issues that may hinder a smooth R experience, you can install R (and its packages) in a different location than the default Program Files location. To do so, create a folder called “R” directly on the C drive; thus: “C:/R” (note that you can also name it differently, but here we assume that “C:/R” is the folder where you will be installing R):

C:/
|-- R/

Install and configure

To install and configure R and RStudio, follow the following steps:

  • Run the downloaded R installer;
  • In the third window of the installation menu, where you are asked to “Select Destination Location”, do not keep the default location (which will install the software in “C:/Program Files/R/R-4.3.3”), but rather click Browse and navigate to the newly created “R” folder (thus “C:/R/”), press okay and next;
  • A few windows later, at “Select Additional Tasks”, you can uncheck “Create a desktop shortcut”;
  • If not already done, install RStudio: this can be done simply using all default settings in the installation menu;
  • Open RStudio and go to Tools >> Global Options >> under “R version” either verify that the latest 64-bit version of R (v4.3.3) is selected, or press “Change” and select the latest 64-bit version of R (v4.3.3). Note that if you change the R version via this option in RStudio, you will get a notification that it will only take effect after restarting RStudio;
  • Close RStudio and open it again; you should see a message in the console that R version 4.3.3 (2024-02-29 ucrt) – “Angel Food Cake” has been loaded. If so, you can continue with the tutorials (note that you may have to re-install the R packages again!).