A.6: Install R

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This page presents a detailed guide about how to install R onto your computer (LDE). Additional install R help was provided in Chapter 1.1 – A quick look at R and R Commander. Instructions for RStudio are also provided (optional for BI311 students). A guide to install R Commander is provided in Install R Commander. Instructions for how to run R via a “cloud computing” (serverless) option are also provided, Use R in the Cloud. For help upgrading installed packages after upgrading new R version, see R packages.

Note:

Installation guides quickly become outdated. This page was created first in September 2019 and last updated 25 January 2024 and describes working installation protocols at that time. As of October 2023, R-4.3.2 was current version. Instructions for Win10 and Win11 are the same. Instructions for Intel-based macOS are the same; with Apple’s switch to ARM64 (M1, M2), changes have been made. Going forward, the instructions on this page, but not my videos — version numbers need to be updated in the videos, are likely to be the same for new R versions. Per usual caveat that my advice is offered for instructional purposes and in no way implies warranty against damage or guarantee of success.

Run R on your computer (i.e., local development environment or LDE)

Windows PCs, download the base application from https://cran.r-project.org, select Download R for Windows, and install the R software as you would any other software. All of you are likely to have the 64-bit version of Windows 11, so install the 64-bit version of R. Follow the instructions as they are presented. Screenshots of the install process are available at the end of this page (click here or scroll down to Win11 setup, Screenshots).
- Current versions of Microsoft Windows come in several flavors, the simplest distinction is between home and pro. R runs perfectly well on both.
  - Windows 10 is reaching end of life cycle.
  - Some inexpensive Microsoft Windows PCs are built on ARM64, not Intel or AMD64 CPU. Thus, installing R and or RStudio may prove problematic.
- You should install R with Administrator privileges. Highlight the install file, right-click the file, and select “Run as administrator” from the popup menu.
- When you first try to run R you may get a popup screen “Windows protected your PC,” locate and click on the “More info” link and select “Run anyway.”
  - This in no way will harm your computer — provided you have downloaded from official sites. R is a verified program. Microsoft has taken an aggressive line on developers and favors apps that are part of their app store.
  - It is advisable to confirm for yourself: check the md5sum against the fingerprint on the CRAN server
- When prompted, I recommend that you change the install directory to root folder, e.g., C:\R\R-4.3.2. This will allow for installation of packages to the common library as opposed to a personal library.
  - I recommend this change because of how Windows assigns home folders. During initial setup Windows 10 prompted you to choose a username and whether you wanted your work stored locally or in your OneDrive folder. A worse case scenario? You select a user name with spaces, e.g.,”Mike Dohm,” and you selected OneDrive. Both will cause challenges later for running and or installing packages for R.
  - I made a video for you. Video is about 26 minutes long; at 22 minute mark, video includes how to install R Commander (instructions provided Install R Commander).
    
    https://youtu.be/upjmBieh3bM
macOS PCs, first you must download and install XQuartz from https://www.xquartz.org. Best to restart your mac after installing XQuartz then proceed to install R.
After installing XQuartz, then return to https://cran.r-project.org, select Download for Mac(OS) X, and run the installer. Screenshots of the install process are available at the end of this page (click here or scroll down to Macos setup, Screenshots).
- As of August 2021, be advised that there are two distinct R versions for your MacBook or iMac.
  - For MacBook or iMac with Apple’s M1 or M2 ARM chip sets, download and install R-4.2.2-arm64.pkg.
    - If you recently purchased a new MacBook or iMac (2020 to present), then you probably have the M1 or M2 chipset (check by clicking the Apple icon, then selecting About this Mac or System Information (/Applications/Utilities/System Information.app)).
    - XQuartz version 2.8.5 works on macs with either the M1 or Intel chipsets.
  - For older MacBook or iMacs with Intel processors, download R-4.2.2.pkg.
Don’t forget to drag the When you first try to run R, you may get a popup screen which provides no option to start the app, and perhaps even a rather ominous option to move the app to Trash. Just close the warning message and right-click on the R app. A new screen pops up, which looks very much like the previous warning, but now you will see and option to open the app. Click on open to start R.
Like the message to Windows PC users, bypassing Apple’s Gatekeeper to run R in no way will harm your computer — provided you have downloaded from official sites — R is a verified program. Apple has taken an aggressive line on developers and favors apps that are part of their app store.
LINUX distros. If your PC platform is Linux, then you should be comfortable with installation and updating of software. R base is already included in Debian distributions (e.g., Mint, Ubuntu). See https://cloud.r-project.org/ for additional instructions.
- For Chromebook users, if you can install a Linux subsystem, then you can also install and run R. For instructions to install R see Levi’s excellent writeup at levente.littvay.hu/chromebook/.

Note:

To install up-to-date R and RStudio, your Chromebook needs to have Intel or AMD CPU; my ASUS Chromebook has an ARM64 processor (MediaTek mt8183), and Levi’s instructions don’t apply. As of January 2024 I am pushing the installation process a bit on my little Chromebook and have successfully created the Linux container (Debian 11, Bullseye) and installed base (and development) R version (4.0.4) included with the Linux distribution. In the next month I’ll update progress with installing an R environment on ARM64-based Chromebook.

Test R

For both macOS and Windows PCs, successful installation of R on your computer installs base R programming language and a simple graphical user interface. Test your install by running code in the terminal (one line at a time) or via script:

Windows:

Rgui.exe (Windows PC)
File → New script

Enter code in script editor, e.g.,

myX <- c(1,2,3,4)
myY <- c(5,10,15,20)
plot(myY,myX)

Run code: Ctrl+R

Screenshot of 3 windows on Windows PC, showing RGui.exe (1), script editor (2), and results of plot() (3). — Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Screenshot of RGui.exe (1), script editor (2), and results of `plot()` (3) on WinPC.

Mac:

R.app (macOS): run code in the terminal or via script
File → New Document

Enter code in script editor, e.g.,

myX <- c(1,2,3,4)
myY <- c(5,10,15,20)
plot(myY,myX)

Run code: Cmd+Enter

Screenshot of three windows on MacOS showing R.app (1), script editor (2), and results of plot() (3). — Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Screenshot of R.app (1), script editor (2), and results of `plot()` (3) on macOS.

Many of you would like a video. Do a little search and you’ll find plenty, although most are also showing how to install RStudio in addition to base R.

Note:

For my Biostatistics class, BI311, we typically will run R and use R Commander for scripting, without RStudio.

For BI311, we also use R Commander

R Commander is a package that adds function to R; it provides a familiar point-and-click interface to R, which allows the user to access functions via a drop-down menu system (Fox 2017).

Go to Install R Commander guide.

Run R in the “Cloud”

If you do not wish to install R, or, if you have a Chromebook and, therefore cannot gracefully install R, then there are alternatives; Run R in the Cloud. I’ll list three ways to run R in the cloud for free. Go to Use R in the Cloud guide.