Hugo Installation Guide

Installing Hugo on Windows 11

This guide walks you through the process of installing Hugo on Windows 11, setting up your development environment, and creating your first site.

Prerequisites
Installation Methods
Verifying Your Installation
Creating Your First Hugo Site
Running Your Hugo Server
Next Steps

Prerequisites

Windows 11 operating system
Administrative privileges on your computer
Command Prompt or PowerShell
Git (recommended for version control)

Installation Methods

There are three primary methods to install Hugo on Windows 11. Choose the one that works best for your workflow.

Method 1: Using Chocolatey

Chocolatey is a package manager for Windows that makes installing software easy.

Install Chocolatey (if not already installed):

Open PowerShell as Administrator
Run the following command:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

Install Hugo using Chocolatey:
- For the standard version:
Terminal window
```
choco install hugo -y
```
- For the extended version (recommended for Sass/SCSS support):
Terminal window
```
choco install hugo-extended -y
```

Method 2: Using Scoop

Scoop is another lightweight package manager for Windows.

Install Scoop (if not already installed):

Open PowerShell
Run:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser
irm get.scoop.sh | iex

Install Hugo using Scoop:
- For the standard version:
Terminal window
```
scoop install hugo
```
- For the extended version:
Terminal window
```
scoop install hugo-extended
```

Method 3: Manual Installation

If you prefer not to use a package manager, you can manually install Hugo:

Download Hugo:
- Visit the Hugo Releases page
- Find the latest release for Windows
- Download the appropriate ZIP file:
  - hugo_X.XX.X_windows-amd64.zip for standard version
  - hugo_extended_X.XX.X_windows-amd64.zip for extended version (recommended for Sass/SCSS processing)
Extract the ZIP file:
- Create a folder where you want to install Hugo (e.g., C:\Hugo)
- Extract the contents of the ZIP file to this folder
Add Hugo to your PATH:
- Search for “Environment Variables” in the Start menu
- Click “Edit the system environment variables”
- Click the “Environment Variables” button
- Under “System variables,” find the “Path” variable, select it and click “Edit”
- Click “New” and add the path to the Hugo executable (e.g., C:\Hugo)
- Click “OK” on all dialogs to save changes

Verifying Your Installation

To verify that Hugo is installed correctly:

Open a new Command Prompt or PowerShell window
Run the following command:
```
hugo version
```

You should see output similar to:

Hugo Static Site Generator v0.111.3-...

Creating Your First Hugo Site

Once Hugo is installed, you can create your first site:

Navigate to the directory where you want to create your site:
```
cd C:\Users\YourUsername\Documents
```
Create a new site:
```
hugo new site my-site
```

Add a theme (required for Hugo to work properly):

cd my-site
git init
git submodule add https://github.com/theNewDynamic/gohugo-theme-ananke themes/ananke

Set the theme in your configuration file:
- Open config.toml in a text editor
- Add the line: theme = "ananke"

Running Your Hugo Server

To preview your site locally:

Start the Hugo server:
```
hugo server -D
```
The -D flag includes draft content in the preview.
View your site by opening a browser and navigating to:
```
http://localhost:1313/
```

Next Steps

Now that you have Hugo installed and your first site running, you can:

Add content using Markdown files
Customize your site’s theme and design
Configure your site settings in config.toml
Deploy your site to a hosting service

For more information, refer to the official Hugo documentation.

This guide was created for Windows 11 users setting up Hugo for static site development.