This HOWTO is an attempt to provide information on compiling Vim on Win32 systems. It will walk you through the steps of acquiring the source, getting additional external libraries, and compiling them all into a Vim that suits your editing needs. The general information presented should be applicable to any 6.x version of Vim, though specific patches may be required to enable some specific features, which will be noted when this is the case. This version of the HOWTO is based on features available with the 6.2 version of Vim.

An assumption of this HOWTO is that the required compilers and external interfaces are installed according to the respective program's documentation. While where to get the programs and any special modifications necessary to use them will be noted, general installation information will not.