Yet Another MinGW "gcc: error: CreateProcess: No such file or directory"

Question

I have installed MinGW C compiler in Windows 8 (64 bit) through the GUI installer. But when I try to compile a C program, gcc says: gcc: CreateProcess: No such file or directory

It is a common bug, and I have tried all the solutions I found, without success.

In particular, (following CreateProcess: No such file or directory) I have tried to:

1. [EDITED] Add C:\MinGw\libexec\gcc\mingw32\4.7.2 to my system PATH

2. Uninstall and re-install gcc through mingw-get CLI:

   mingw-get remove mingw32-gcc
   mingw-get install mingw32-gcc

Other suggestions?

EDIT: verbose gcc output:

> gcc -v helloWorld.c
Using built-in specs.
COLLECT_GCC=gcc
COLLECT_LTO_WRAPPER=c:/mingw/bin/../libexec/gcc/mingw32/4.7.2/lto-
wrapper.exe
Target: mingw32
Configured with: ../gcc-4.7.2/configure --enable-languages=c,c++,ada,fortran,obj
c,obj-c++ --disable-sjlj-exceptions --with-dwarf2 --enable-shared --enable-libgo
mp --disable-win32-registry --enable-libstdcxx-debug --disable-build-poststage1-
with-cxx --enable-version-specific-runtime-libs --build=mingw32 --prefix=/mingw
Thread model: win32
gcc version 4.7.2 (GCC)
COLLECT_GCC_OPTIONS='-v' '-mtune=i386' '-march=i386'
cc1plus -quiet -v -iprefix c:\mingw\bin\../lib/gcc/mingw32/4.7.2/
OPTIONS.C -quiet -dumpbase OPTIONS.C -mtune=i386 -march=i386 -auxbase OPTIONS -
version -o C:\Users\elvis\AppData\Local\Temp\cc4fWSvg.s
gcc: error: CreateProcess: No such file or directory

Solution 1

You shouldn't add C:\MinGw\libexec\gcc\mingw32\4.7.2 to the path.

Add: c:\MinGW\bin

You may need to reboot to ensure that the path is made available to all processes properly.

Another suggestion is to use a different MinGW distribution. It's been a long time since I used an 'official' MinGW distribution because the installation steps were so byzantine and fragile. I've heard they've made large advances to the installer, but from what I hear it still seems to be rather complicated and fragile.

TDM's installer just works, but I think the TDM release isn't quite to 4.7.2.

The nuwen distribution's installation is just unpacking an archive where you want the thing (I love that!) and making sure the path points to the location of gcc.exe. Nuwen also packages the boost libraries, which is nice.

---

I case it helps, here's what I get from gcc -v hello.c (c:\mingw.4.7.2\bin is in the path`):

Using built-in specs.
COLLECT_GCC=gcc
COLLECT_LTO_WRAPPER=c:/mingw.4.7.2/bin/../libexec/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/lto-wrapper.exe
Target: i686-pc-mingw32
Configured with: ../src/configure --prefix=/c/temp/gcc/dest --with-gmp=/c/temp/gcc/gmp --with-mpfr=/c/temp/gcc/mpfr --with-mpc=/c/temp/gcc/mpc --enable-languages=c,c++ --with-arch=i686 --with-tune=generic --disable-libstdcxx-pch --disable-nls --disable-shared --disable-sjlj-exceptions --disable-win32-registry --enable-checking=release --enable-lto
Thread model: win32
gcc version 4.7.2 (GCC) 
COLLECT_GCC_OPTIONS='-v' '-mtune=generic' '-march=i686'
 c:/mingw.4.7.2/bin/../libexec/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/cc1.exe -quiet -v -iprefix c:\mingw.4.7.2\bin\../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/ hello.c -quiet -dumpbase hello.c -mtune=generic -march=i686 -auxbase hello -version -o C:\Users\mikeb\AppData\Local\Temp\cct1oltc.s
GNU C (GCC) version 4.7.2 (i686-pc-mingw32)
    compiled by GNU C version 4.7.2, GMP version 5.0.5, MPFR version 3.1.1-p2, MPC version 1.0.1
GGC heuristics: --param ggc-min-expand=100 --param ggc-min-heapsize=131072
ignoring nonexistent directory "c:\mingw.4.7.2\bin\../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/../../../../i686-pc-mingw32/include"
ignoring duplicate directory "c:/mingw.4.7.2/lib/gcc/../../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/include"
ignoring nonexistent directory "c:/temp/gcc/dest/include"
ignoring nonexistent directory "/c/temp/gcc/dest/include"
ignoring duplicate directory "c:/mingw.4.7.2/lib/gcc/../../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/include-fixed"
ignoring nonexistent directory "c:/mingw.4.7.2/lib/gcc/../../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/../../../../i686-pc-mingw32/include"
ignoring nonexistent directory "/mingw/include"
#include "..." search starts here:
#include <...> search starts here:
 c:\mingw.4.7.2\bin\../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/include
 c:\mingw.4.7.2\bin\../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/../../../../include
 c:\mingw.4.7.2\bin\../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/include-fixed
End of search list.
GNU C (GCC) version 4.7.2 (i686-pc-mingw32)
    compiled by GNU C version 4.7.2, GMP version 5.0.5, MPFR version 3.1.1-p2, MPC version 1.0.1
GGC heuristics: --param ggc-min-expand=100 --param ggc-min-heapsize=131072
Compiler executable checksum: 8461a53e6fc78ff58191bda61fe9586d
COLLECT_GCC_OPTIONS='-v' '-mtune=generic' '-march=i686'
 as -v -o C:\Users\mikeb\AppData\Local\Temp\ccqRcYAj.o C:\Users\mikeb\AppData\Local\Temp\cct1oltc.s
GNU assembler version 2.22 (i686-pc-mingw32) using BFD version (GNU Binutils) 2.22
COMPILER_PATH=c:/mingw.4.7.2/bin/../libexec/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/;c:/mingw.4.7.2/bin/../libexec/gcc/
LIBRARY_PATH=c:/mingw.4.7.2/bin/../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/;c:/mingw.4.7.2/bin/../lib/gcc/;c:/mingw.4.7.2/bin/../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/../../../
COLLECT_GCC_OPTIONS='-v' '-mtune=generic' '-march=i686'
 c:/mingw.4.7.2/bin/../libexec/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/collect2.exe -Bdynamic c:/mingw.4.7.2/bin/../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/../../../crt2.o c:/mingw.4.7.2/bin/../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/crtbegin.o -Lc:/mingw.4.7.2/bin/../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2 -Lc:/mingw.4.7.2/bin/../lib/gcc -Lc:/mingw.4.7.2/bin/../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/../../.. C:\Users\mikeb\AppData\Local\Temp\ccqRcYAj.o -lmingw32 -lgcc -lmoldname -lmingwex -lmsvcrt -ladvapi32 -lshell32 -luser32 -lkernel32 -lmingw32 -lgcc -lmoldname -lmingwex -lmsvcrt c:/mingw.4.7.2/bin/../lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.7.2/crtend.o

Solution 2

In my case, I had uninstalled a few items in MinGW to save space on my SSD. Installing mingw32-gcc dev class fixed this problem for me.

Solution 3

I have the same problem.

I have a startgcc.bat in my folder.
It's OK for me just after remove double quotation marks in my PATH assignment. my bat script:

@title gcc-mingw
@rem @cd /d %~dp0
@rem below line will fail and got error: gcc.exe: error: createprocess: no such file or directory
@rem @set path="C:\mingw64\bin";%path%
@rem below lines works ok without double quotation marks
@set path=C:\mingw64\bin;%path%
@set path=C:\mingw64\opt\bin\;%path%
@cmd

Solution 4

I had the same error. I have 64 bit win 7 OS. First I installed 32 bit MinGW, gcc was installed successfully but showing this error. Tried installing 64 bit MinGW but failed to install. Searched a lot, tried many things but nothing worked.

Finally installed "tdm64-gcc-5.1.0-2" from this link >> https://sourceforge.net/projects/tdm-gcc/?source=typ_redirect

It installed & worked in single attempt without any error. Nothing special tried.

And the basic important point, after installation need to add "bin" directory on env path ('C:\TDM-GCC-64\bin' in my case). Then check gcc installation from this command on console >> "gcc --version" , this will show the gcc version installed.

Solution 5

I installed MinGW of the ofcial website.
I select "Basic Setup"( I only wanted get c compiler), and I marked all package, after this installation I added the path, in my case.

C:\MinGW\bin.

I created a c file in

C:\Users\christian\Documents\C projects\

with the name untitled1.c

Wen I tried to use the command

gcc untitled.c

the command promt showed me that message.

gcc: CreateProcess: No such file or directory

---

How did I solve this problem?
I removed all package,

-Open "MinGW Installation Manager"
-Select "Basic Setup".
-Mark for removal all packages.
-Select "Installation" tap.
-Click in Apply changes.
-After you can install those again.

---

Operating system

• Edition: Windows 10 Pro
• Version: 1607
• Os build: 14393.187

View more solutions

Comments

[eang]

I have already set c:\MinGW\bin in my PATH. I'll try the different distributions, thank you for the tip.

[eang]

The nuwen distro works fine, thank you. I can consider solved this problem. BTW I hope that mingw developers will debug it.

[ApproachingDarknessFish]

TDM works perfectly and was trivial to install. Thank you very much for your assistance.

[Jostikas]

Actually, in my case, the path you mentioned MUST be in the path, ALONG with the c:\MinGW\bin. Adding the path with the version number solved the CreateProcess problem for me

[shabby]

The nuwen distro solution works seamlessly. It also has a bat file for setting all the env variables