Getting ready

To start this recipe, you will need to know your version of the Windows operating system, for example, whether it is Windows 7, 8, or 10. Also, you need to know specific architecture, such as 32-bit or 64-bit. Once you know the particulars of the operating system, you are ready to install base R by following the steps in the next section. Another thing that you need to check is whether R is already installed on your computer or not. You can easily check by inspecting the Start menu or task bar or desktop icon. Now, let's assume that you did not install R previously in your computer and this is the first time you are going to do so.

Once you get detailed information about your operating system, you will need to download the executable file for the Windows operating system. To find the latest version of R, you can visit the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN) at http://cran.r-project.org/. On this web page, you will get to know the latest release of R and other related information.

To download the latest release of R for Windows, perform the following steps:

1. Visit https://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/, which will show you the following screen:

1. On this web page, you will see base under the Subdirectories category. As a first-time user of R, you need to download the executable file from this link.
2. Once you click on base, you will end up on this page, https://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/base/ as shown in the following screenshot:

1. Now, click on Download R 3.x.x (This version number might differ because during preparation of this recipe, the version was 3.3.3) for Windows. The executable file will be downloaded into your local storage.