2.1. Windows Installation

MFiX has been developed and tested on the following Windows versions:

  • Windows 10 (64-bit)

  • Windows 11 (64-bit)

If you have an issue running or installing MFiX on your system, ask for help at Support forum.

2.1.1. Install Anaconda

Download the 64-bit, Python 3, Windows version of Anaconda (~500 MB download) or Miniconda (~50 MB download).

For instance, with the Anaconda installer:

  1. Double-click on the downloaded file. (At the time of writing, Anaconda3-2022.10-Windows-x86_64.exe)

  2. Uncheck “Add Anaconda to my PATH environment variable”

  3. Check “Register Anaconda as my default Python”

Anaconda is now installed. To verify, open the Start Menu, and run Anaconda Prompt⏎.

2.1.1.1. Alternative: Install Miniforge/mamba

Miniforge is a version of miniconda which is set up by default to use the conda-forge package repository (which MFiX uses), and also the mamba package manager, which is a version of conda that was rewritten for better performance.

If you already have an Anaconda installation, you may continue to use it, but if you have never installed MFiX before you may want to try miniforge, for smaller download and faster installation.

Download the Mambaforge installer for Windows from the Miniforge release page, and run it.

At the time of writing, the current mambaforge release is 22.11.1-2 and the file is Mambaforge-22.11.1-2-Windows-x86_64.exe.

In order to use mamba, replace the conda command by mamba in the following instructions. If there is any problem with a mamba command, you can try again with conda - note that mamba is still somewhat new and may occasionally exhibit bugs.

2.1.2. Install MFiX

After installing Anaconda or Miniforge, install MFiX:

  1. Open a Terminal (Type “⌘-Spacebar”, type “terminal”)

  2. Browse to MFiX Download (requires registration and login)

  3. Copy the conda command

  4. Paste it in the Terminal.

  5. If using Miniforge, change conda to mamba at the start of the command.

  6. Press enter to run the command.

Note

If you already installed MFiX, you may see the following message. Select y to confirm.

WARNING: A conda environment already exists
Remove existing environment (y/[n])? y

MFiX will be installed in a new conda environment. The process may take a few minutes to complete.

2.1.3. Run MFiX

Open the Anaconda prompt by opening the Start Menu, type “Anaconda Prompt”, and selecting the Anaconda Prompt. Then run the following commands:

  1. Run conda activate mfix-23.3

  2. Run mfix⏎

Your prompt should look something like this:

C:\> conda create -n mfix-23.3 mfix=23.3 -c https://mfix.netl.doe.gov/....

C:\> conda env list
# conda environments:
#
base        *  C:\Users\user\anaconda3
mfix-23.3      C:\Users\user\anaconda3\envs\mfix-23.3

C:\> conda activate mfix-23.3

C:\(mfix-23.3)> conda env list
# conda environments:
#
base           C:\Users\user\anaconda3
mfix-23.3   *  C:\Users\user\anaconda3\envs\mfix-23.3

C:\> mfix

You are now ready to proceed to the First tutorial and Tutorials.

2.1.4. Deactivate Conda Environment

After using MFiX you can just exit to leave the Anaconda Prompt. However, if you need to deactivate the mfix-23.3 conda environment, you can do so with:

C:\(mfix-23.3)> conda deactivate
C:\>

This returns to the base conda environment.

2.1.5. Uninstall MFiX

To remove an MFiX version installed with Conda, remove the Conda environment (if you have the environment activated, deactivate it first):

C:\(mfix-23.3)> conda deactivate
C:\> conda env remove -n mfix-23.3

To uninstall Anaconda entirely, go to “Add or remove programs” under Windows Control Panel, and uninstall Anaconda.

Note

To learn more about managing conda environments, visit the conda documentation .