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Gemini helped with re-writing this

Setting Up Rust in windows

Hey there!

I know setting up Rust on Windows can be a bit of a headache. Those C++ build tools are huge – 6GB just to say hello to the world? Ouch.

Here’s a way to set things up a bit more smoother:

  1. Let’s get Ubuntu WSL on your Windows machine. This will create a Linux environment that you can run right inside Windows.
  2. Install the VS Code extension for WSL. This will let you connect to your WSL environment from VS Code.
  3. Once you’re connected to WSL, you’ll need to install some things there. Don’t worry, it’ll be much lighter weight than the Windows setup. Run the installation script inside WSL, and you’ll be good to go.
  4. Fire up VS Code on your Windows machine.
  5. Look down in the left corner of VS Code. See that WSL connection option?
  6. Now that you’re connected to WSL inside VS Code, you’ll need to install some extensions there. They’re separate from the ones you have on Windows, but luckily they’re much smaller. Grab the rust-analyzer extension – that one’s essential for Rust development.
  7. Let’s make something awesome! Use the Cargo tool to create a new Rust project.
  8. Open your main.rs file in VS Code.
  9. See that little hover over your code? That might be an option to run your code. Give it a try! If not, you can always use the command palette CTRL+SHIFT+P and search for something like rust-analyzer run.