How to install Hugo on Windows

Hugo was my second static site generator after Jekyll. Now it’s my favorite SSG. It has many nice features but its strongest advantage is the build time—the fastest among all other SSGs. In this article I will show you how to install Hugo on your Windows computer.

  less than a minute  

Our goal is to install Hugo on a computer running Windows.

Install Go

Hugo is based on the Go or Golang programming language. You need to install Go before installing Hugo.

To install Go:

  1. Check if Go is installed on your machine: go version.

    Check Go version

  2. If Go isn’t installed, install it from this site:

    https://go.dev/doc/install

Install Chocolatey

First, go to the official Hugo installation page. As you see, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. I choose the Chocolatey option to install Hugo.

To install Chocolatey:

  1. Enter the following command in the Command Prompt. Press Enter.

    @"%SystemRoot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -NoProfile -InputFormat None -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command " [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))" && SET "PATH=%PATH%;%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\chocolatey\bin"

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  2. Check if you have Chocolatey installed: choco version

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Install Hugo

There are two versions of Hugo: standard and extended. Install the extended version as some themes require it.

  1. To install the Hugo extended version using Chocolatey, enter:

    choco install hugo-extended -confirm

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  2. To check if Hugo is installed:

    hugo version

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    Now you are ready to start your journey with Hugo static site generator.


Last modified April 10, 2023: edited Hugo installation article (061d825)