Emacs in Microsoft Windows FAQ

Where is emacs's init file?

You have to create it.

Emacs looks for specific directory for it.

By default, emacs looks at the following directories.

On Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista:

• %HOMEPATH%\AppData\Roaming\.emacs
• %HOMEPATH%\AppData\Roaming\.emacs.d\init.el

The init file may be byte-compiled, ending in “.elc”. If a .emacs.elc or .emacs.d\init.elc file exist, emacs will load those instead.

If you have the environment variable named “HOME”, then it's at:

• %HOME%/.emacs.d/init.el
• %HOME%/.emacs

“HOME” should not be confused with “HOMEPATH”.

• HOMEPATH is standard Microsoft Windows environment variable.
• HOME is standard unix/linux environment variable. (doesn't exist in Windows by default.)

(info "(emacs) Find Init")

How to list environment variables?

in powershell prompt, type gci env:

in cmd.exe prompt, type set

To launch powershell terminal or cmd.exe, press the ❖ Window key, then type their name.

[see Windows Environment Variables Tutorial]

How to find out if emacs init is loaded?

Put the following code in your init file:

(set-background-color "honeydew")

Where to download a ready-to-use emacs for Windows?

See: Download Emacs for Windows, Mac, Linux.

How to start emacs?

For Windows users, after download, unzip it. Go to the folder, in the “bin” dir, then click on file runemacs.exe to launch.

To run emacs inside Windows Console, start like this:

C:\Users\joe\apps\emacs-24.1\bin\emacs.exe --no-window-system

How to start emacs with default dir at home dir?

Create a Windows shortcut, then set the “Start in” field.

To create a file shortcut:

1. Hold Alt then drag that runemacs.exe icon to desktop.
2. In the newly created alias icon, right click to open file properties. Then, in the “Start in” field, enter %home%.
3. In the “Target” field, you can add your own init files. For example, here's mine: %home%\apps\emacs-24.1\bin\runemacs.exe -q --load=%home%\ErgoEmacs_dev\init.el --load=%home%\.emacs. Here, i suppress loading init files by -q, but load ErgoEmacs init files, then load my personal init files.

When i type Ctrl+Space, Windows switches me to other language input. What to do?

You can disable the Windows shortcut that switches you among input methods of different languages.

On Microsoft Windows 10:

1. go to Control Panel
2. Under icon “Clock, Language, and Region”, click link “change input methods”
3. Click “Advanced settings” on the left panel.
4. Change language bar hot keys.

Here's the exact instruction for Windows Vista.

1. Go to 〖Start ▸ Control Panel〗.
2. Choose Classic View on the left.
3. Double click on the “Regional and Language Options” icon, then go to “Keyboards and Languages” tab, click on “Change Keyboards…”.
4. Then, go to “Advanced Key Settings” tab, then, it should list Key sequences on the right column.
5. Select a input choice that has shortcut key, then click the button “Change Key Sequence”.

When i type 【Ctrl+Alt+s】, HP System info came up. How to disable that?

See: Disable Ctrl+Alt+S of HP Support Information.

How to run Bash shell or PowerShell inside emacs?

By default, the command named shell will run “cmd.exe” inside emacs.

You can use eshell.

[see Emacs: eshell]

For powershell, install the powershell package. [see Emacs: How to Install Packages Using ELPA, MELPA]

Where to get language modes for Visual Basic, “cmd.exe”, PowerShell?

Search MELPA. See Emacs: How to Install Packages Using ELPA, MELPA.

There are several packages for cmd.exe batch file, written by different people. You may want to try them in the order listed here:

• http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/dos.el, by Arni Magnusson. 2003 to 2011.
• emacswiki batch-mode.el, by Agnar Renolen, 2002; Matthew Fidler, 2009.
• sourceforge.net dosbat, by Glen Peterson. 2003.
• ftp.gnu.org bat-mode.el, by Peter Breton. 1996.

See also: How to Install Emacs Package Manually.