Installing R and RStudio

A Step-by-Step Guide for Windows, Linux, and macOS

Author

Prosper AYINEBYONA

Published

March 16, 2026

1 Introduction

R is a free, open-source programming language specifically designed for statistical computing, data analysis, and data visualization. It is used worldwide to analyze data, build predictive models, and create compelling visualizations that inform decisions in business, government, and beyond.

RStudio is a free, beginner-friendly application that makes working with R much easier. It provides a clean, organized interface with panels for writing code, viewing results, managing files, and exploring plots all in one place.

Install in the correct order!

You must install R first, then RStudio. RStudio is not R itself, it is a tool that uses R. Without R installed, RStudio will not work.

Why use R?

  • Purpose-built for statistics and data analysis
  • Thousands of free add on packages (via CRAN) for any analytical task
  • Produces publication quality charts and graphics
  • Free and open source no licence fees
  • Huge community with extensive free learning resources

2 System Requirements

Before installing, make sure your system meets the minimum requirements:

Requirement Minimum
Operating System Windows 10+, macOS 11+, Linux (Ubuntu 20.04+ / Fedora 36+)
Architecture 64-bit (x86_64 or ARM64)
Disk Space ~500 MB for R + ~600 MB for RStudio
RAM 2 GB (4 GB+ recommended)

3 Downloading R and RStudio

3.1 Where to Download R

R is hosted by CRAN (the Comprehensive R Archive Network):

🔗 https://cran.r-project.org

3.2 Where to Download RStudio

RStudio Desktop is available from Posit (the company behind RStudio):

🔗 https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/

Tip

Both R and RStudio are completely free. Always download from the official websites above to ensure you get safe, latest versions.

4 Installation on Windows

4.1 Part 1. Installing R

4.1.1 Download R

  1. Go to https://cran.r-project.org
  2. Click “Download R for Windows”
  3. Click “base”
  4. Click the download link at the top (e.g., Download R-4.x.x for Windows)

4.1.2 Run the Installer

  1. Locate the downloaded .exe file (e.g., R-4.x.x-win.exe)
  2. Double-click to launch the Setup Wizard
  3. If prompted by Windows security, click Yes to allow the installer to run

4.1.3 Choose Language and Accept License

  • Select your preferred language and click OK
  • Click Next to accept the GNU General Public License

4.1.4 Choose Install Location

  • The default path is usually C:\Program Files\R\R-4.x.x
  • It is recommended to keep the default path
  • Click Next

4.1.5 Select Components

  • Leave all default components checked
  • Click Next

4.1.6 Startup Options and Registry Entries

  • Leave the default startup options as they are
  • Click Next through the remaining screens
  • Click Install

4.1.7 Finish R Installation

  • Click Finish when the installation completes

4.2 Part 2. Installing RStudio

4.2.1 Download RStudio

  1. Go to https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/
  2. Click “Download RStudio Desktop for Windows”
  3. The correct installer for your system will be detected automatically

4.2.2 Run the Installer

  1. Open the downloaded .exe file (e.g., RStudio-2024.x.x-xxx.exe)
  2. Click Next to begin
  3. Choose the install location (default is recommended) and click Next
  4. Click Install
  5. Click Finish when done

4.2.3 Launch RStudio

  • Open RStudio from the Start Menu or the Desktop shortcut
  • RStudio will automatically detect your R installation

4.2.4 Verify the Installation

In the Console panel (bottom left), type the following and press Enter:

R.version.string

You should see something like:

[1] "R version 4.x.x (YYYY-MM-DD)"

5 Installation on macOS

5.1 Part 1. Installing R

5.1.1 Download R

  1. Go to https://cran.r-project.org
  2. Click “Download R for macOS”
  3. Choose the correct installer for your Mac:
    • Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) → download the arm64 .pkg file
    • Intel Mac → download the x86_64 .pkg file
Not sure which chip your Mac has?

Click the Apple menu→ About This Mac. If you see “Apple M1” (or M2, M3, etc.) under Chip, choose the Apple Silicon version. If you see “Intel Core”, choose the Intel version.

5.1.2 Install R

  1. Open the downloaded .pkg file
  2. Follow the on-screen instructions — click Continue, Agree, and Install
  3. Enter your macOS password if prompted
  4. Click Close when complete

5.2 Part 2. Installing RStudio

5.2.1 Download RStudio

  1. Go to https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/
  2. Click “Download RStudio Desktop for macOS”

5.2.2 Install RStudio

  1. Open the downloaded .dmg file
  2. Drag the RStudio icon into your Applications folder
  3. Eject the disk image

5.2.3 Launch RStudio

  • Open Finder → Applications → RStudio
  • On first launch, macOS may warn you that the app was downloaded from the internet — click Open to proceed

5.2.4 Verify the Installation

In the RStudio Console panel, run:

R.version.string

Output:

[1] "R version 4.x.x (YYYY-MM-DD)"

5.2.5 Optional: Install Xcode Command Line Tools

Some R packages require compiling from source on macOS. Install the Xcode tools to avoid errors later:

xcode-select --install

Run this in the macOS Terminal app (not in RStudio).

6 Installation on Linux

Linux users typically install R through their distribution’s package manager. The steps below cover Ubuntu/Debian and Fedora/RHEL — the two most common distributions.

6.1 Part 1. Installing R

6.1.1 Ubuntu / Debian

# Step 1 — Update your package list
sudo apt update

# Step 2 — Install R base
sudo apt install -y r-base

# Step 3 — Verify the installation
R --version

For the latest version of R on Ubuntu (recommended), add the official CRAN repository:

# Install prerequisites
sudo apt install -y software-properties-common dirmngr

# Add the CRAN signing key
wget -qO- https://cloud.r-project.org/bin/linux/ubuntu/marutter_pubkey.asc \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/cran_ubuntu_key.asc

# Add the CRAN repository (adjust 'jammy' to your Ubuntu version)
sudo add-apt-repository "deb https://cloud.r-project.org/bin/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs)-cran40/"

# Update and install
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y r-base r-base-dev

6.1.2 Fedora / RHEL / CentOS

# Install R
sudo dnf install -y R

# Verify
R --version

6.2 Part 2. Installing RStudio on Linux

6.2.1 Download RStudio

  1. Go to https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/
  2. Scroll down to find the Linux installer
  3. Choose the correct version for your distribution:
    • .deb for Ubuntu / Debian
    • .rpm for Fedora / RHEL

6.2.2 Install the Package

Ubuntu / Debian:

# Navigate to your Downloads folder
cd ~/Downloads

# Install the .deb package (replace filename with actual version)
sudo dpkg -i rstudio-2024.xx.x-xxx-amd64.deb

# Fix any missing dependencies
sudo apt --fix-broken install

Fedora / RHEL:

# Navigate to your Downloads folder
cd ~/Downloads

# Install the .rpm package
sudo rpm -i rstudio-2024.xx.x-xxx.x86_64.rpm

6.2.3 Launch RStudio

rstudio

Or find RStudio in your application launcher / activities menu.

6.2.4 Verify the Installation

In the RStudio Console, run:

R.version.string

7 Touring the RStudio Interface

When you first open RStudio, you will see four panels. Understanding them will make your work much more efficient.

Panel Location Purpose
Main menu 1 complete set of options available in the RStudio IDE.
Toolbar 2 contains buttons for commonly used commands in RStudio.
Source Editor Top left (3) Write and save R scripts (.R files)
Environment / History / Connections Top right (4)

View stored variables and command history

  1. Environment: shows all active objects created during your session.
  2. History: keeps a record of all previously entered commands.
  3. Connections: shows you all the connections you have made to supported data sources, and lets you know which connections are currently active.
Console Bottom left (5) Run code interactively and see immediate output
Files, Plots, Packages, Help, Viewer Bottom right (6)

Browse files, view charts, read package documentation

  1. Files: shows all files and folders in your default workspace.
  2. Plots: shows all your graphs.
  3. Packages: lists a series of packages or add-ons needed to run certain processes.
  4. Help: provides additional learning and reference resources.
  5. Viewer: is similar to the Plots tab, but displays HTML output generated by some R functions or Shiny apps.
Quick test — try this in the Console!

Click in the Console panel, type 2 + 2, and press Enter. You should see [1] 4. If you do, everything is working perfectly.

8 Post-Installation Setup

8.1 Update R Packages

After installation, update all default packages to their latest versions:

update.packages(ask = FALSE)

8.2 Install Your First Package

R packages are installed from CRAN using install.packages(). Let’s install the tidyverse, a popular collection of data science packages:

install.packages("tidyverse")
Note

The first time you install a package, R may ask you to choose a CRAN mirror, simply select one close to your location for faster downloads.

After installation, load a package with library():

library(tidyverse)

8.3 Set a Default CRAN Mirror (Optional)

To avoid being asked to choose a mirror every time, set a default in your .Rprofile:

# Run this once in the Console
options(repos = c(CRAN = "https://cloud.r-project.org"))

8.4 Create Your First R Script

  1. In RStudio, go to File → New File → R Script
  2. Type the following in the editor:
# My first R script
name <- "Mugisha"
age  <- 23

cat("Hello, my name is", name, "and I am", age, "years old.\n")
  1. Click Run (or press Ctrl + Enter / Cmd + Enter on Mac) to run the selected line

8.5 Useful RStudio Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut Action
Ctrl + Enter (Win/Linux) / Cmd + Enter (Mac) Run selected line or selection
Ctrl + Shift + Enter Run the entire script
Alt + - Insert the assignment operator <-
Ctrl + Shift + C Comment / uncomment selected lines
Tab Autocomplete code
Ctrl + S Save the current script

9 Troubleshooting

9.1 RStudio Cannot Find R

If RStudio opens but says it cannot find R:

  1. Go to Tools → Global Options → General → Basic
  2. Under R version, click Change and manually point to your R installation
    • Windows: C:\Program Files\R\R-4.x.x\bin\R.exe
    • macOS: /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources
    • Linux: /usr/bin/R

9.2 Package Installation Fails on Linux

Install system-level build tools first:

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt install -y build-essential libcurl4-openssl-dev libssl-dev libxml2-dev

# Fedora
sudo dnf install -y gcc gcc-c++ libcurl-devel openssl-devel libxml2-devel

Then retry the package installation in R.

9.3 “There is a binary version available” Warning

When installing packages, R may ask:

Do you want to install from sources the package which needs compilation? (Yes/no/cancel)

Type no (or n) to install the pre-built binary version, it is faster and does not require a compiler.

9.4 Updating R on Windows

Use the installr package to update R from within RStudio:

install.packages("installr")
installr::updateR()

9.5 Updating R on macOS

Download and install the new .pkg from https://cran.r-project.org it will replace the old version automatically.

10 Uninstalling R and RStudio

10.1 Windows

  1. Open Control Panel → Programs → Uninstall a Program
  2. Uninstall RStudio first, then R for Windows

To also remove all installed packages, delete the personal library folder:

C:\Users\<YourName>\AppData\Local\R\win-library\

10.2 macOS

# Remove RStudio
rm -rf /Applications/RStudio.app

# Remove R framework
sudo rm -rf /Library/Frameworks/R.framework

# Remove R-related files
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/R /usr/local/bin/Rscript
rm -rf ~/Library/R

10.3 Linux

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt remove r-base r-base-dev rstudio

# Fedora
sudo dnf remove R rstudio

11 Next Steps

Summary

OS R Installer RStudio Installer Key Tip
Windows .exe wizard .exe wizard Install R before RStudio
macOS .pkg wizard .dmg drag-to-Applications Match chip type (Apple Silicon vs Intel)
Linux Package manager (apt / dnf) .deb or .rpm package Install r-base-dev for compiling packages

You now have R and RStudio installed and ready to use!

Open RStudio, type 2 + 2 in the Console, and begin your data science journey.

Recommended Next Steps

Resource Link
Getting Started with R Your First Steps in R
Posit Community Forum Posit Community
More from Prosper Prosper

Happy coding!