This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Darlene Antonelli, MA. Darlene Antonelli is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. Darlene has experience teaching college courses, writing technology-related articles, and working hands-on in the technology field. She earned an MA in Writing from Rowan University in 2012 and wrote her thesis on online communities and the personalities curated in such communities.
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cURL is short for Client URL and is a command-line or script used to transfer data.[1] This wikiHow will show you how to install cURL on Windows.
Steps
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1Go to https://curl.haxx.se/download.html in a web browser. cURL is used in command lines or scripts to transfer data. For example curl https://www.wikihow.com will return the HTTP response.
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2Click curl Download Wizard. You'll see this under the "Download Wizard" header.Advertisement
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3Click curl executable. This is usually the first listing in the menu.
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4Click the drop-down under "Select Operating System" and select Windows 32 or 64. If your CPU is a 32-bit processor, you'll need to download the 32-bit version; if your CPU is a 64-bit processor, you can download either, but the 64-bit version of cURL will take full advantage of your CPU's benefits.[2]
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5Click Select. This is next to the drop-down menu of available OS-compatible downloads.
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6Select what version you want (only available for certain downloads, like Win32). Some builds of cURL, like with Win32, have different versions. Click the drop-down to select a version.
- If "Generic" is available, choose that.
- Click Select to continue. You'll be directed to a page of recommended downloads.
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7Click the arrow in the first result. This is usually a link to a download from the official cURL website.
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8Click the build you want. You may have to choose between a 32-bit and 64-bit build again.
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9Save the downloaded file. When your file browser pops up, choose a location to save the file and click Save.
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10Extract the files from the zipped folder. A zipped file will download to the location you specified, and you'll need to unzip the folder to continue.
- Right-click on the folder and select 'Extract All, then specify a location where you want to unzip the files to.
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11Open the unzipped folder and files and find "curl.exe.". You'll find the root folder in the location you previously specified. And you'll probably find "curl.exe" in the bin folder.
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12Type "cmd" in the address bar of your file browser to launch a command window. You can also type "CMD" in the search area of the Start Menu.
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13Type "curl" into the command window and press ↵ Enter. If you opened the command window from the address bar of file browser while you were navigated in the "bin" folder, command prompt should already have the appropriate address entered.
- You should see command prompt return to you commands that you can try with curl.[3]
- You can use the curl command on your computer from that specific path. If you type "curl" in command prompt at a path different from where it's located (in the "bin" folder of the unzipped folder), it will not work.
References
About This Article
1. Go to https://curl.haxx.se/download.html in a web browser.
2. Click curl Download Wizard.
3. Click curl executable.
4. Click the drop-down under "Select Operating System" and select Windows 32 or 64.
5. Click Select.
6. Select what version you want (only available for certain downloads, like Win32).
7. Click the arrow in the first result.
8. Click the build you want.
9. Save the downloaded file.
10. Extract the files from the zipped folder.
11. Open the unzipped folder and files and find "curl.exe."
12. Type "cmd" in the address bar of your file browser to launch a command window.
13. Type "curl" into the command window and press Enter.
