How to Install PICSimLab on Windows
This guide walks through installing PICSimLab v0.9.3 (released 20 September 2026) on Windows, from choosing the right file to running your first simulation. If you only want the files, they are all listed — with sizes and SHA-256 checksums — on our PICSimLab for Windows page and the main Download page.
Step 1: Choose the right file
PICSimLab for Windows comes in four files:
- win64_setup.exe (59,917,837 bytes) — the standard installer for 64-bit Windows. This is the right choice for almost everyone.
- win32_setup.exe (59,629,851 bytes) — the installer for 32-bit Windows.
- win64.zip (100,521,245 bytes) and win32.zip (98,077,259 bytes) — portable copies that run without installation.
If you are not sure whether your Windows is 64-bit, it almost certainly is; the 32-bit builds exist for older 32-bit installations.
Step 2: Download and verify
Download the installer from the Windows download page. The buttons there link to the official GitHub release files. To verify the download, open PowerShell in your Downloads folder and run:
Get-FileHash .\PICSimLab_0.9.3_260920_win64_setup.exe
For the 64-bit installer, the SHA-256 must be acb584b83c60e93ae35060d458bb2e2f28e2287683e2de83fff3999357902dc4. Checksums for the other files are in the table on the Windows page.
Step 3: Install (or unzip)
Run the setup file and follow the installer prompts; there are no special options to change. If you downloaded a ZIP instead, extract it to a folder of your choice and run PICSimLab from that folder — nothing is installed and nothing is written outside the folder by the simulator itself.
Step 4: First launch
Start PICSimLab, select a development board (for example one of the PIC boards, an Arduino Uno, Blue Pill or ESP32-DevKitC — 21 boards are supported in total), and load a compiled firmware file (.hex) to run it. You can also open one of the example configurations that ship with the program to see a working simulation immediately.
One thing PICSimLab does not do is edit or compile source code — the official documentation states this plainly. Write and build your firmware in MPLAB X, the Arduino IDE, or VS Code with PlatformIO, exactly as you would for real hardware, then load the resulting .hex (or .elf, where the workflow uses one) into PICSimLab.
Step 5 (optional): Serial port and MPLAB X
Two add-ons are worth knowing about once the basic install works:
- Serial communication: the desktop simulator talks to other programs through a virtual null-modem port pair. On Windows that pair is created by the free com0com driver. Without it, the simulated serial port has nothing to connect to.
- MPLAB X debugging: the plugin file
com-picsim-picsimlab.nbmlets MPLAB X debug and program PICSimLab through a TCP connection, much like a real hardware tool.
Both setups are covered in their own guides, linked below.