Windows doesn't have a built-in "make" environment, so as well as installing the toolchain you will need a GNU-compatible environment. We use the MSYS2_ environment to provide this. You don't need to use this environment all the time (you can use :doc:`Eclipse <eclipse-setup>` or some other front-end), but it runs behind the scenes.
Toolchain Setup
===============
The quick setup is to download the Windows all-in-one toolchain & MSYS zip file from dl.espressif.com:
Unzip the zip file to ``C:\`` (or some other location, but this guide assumes ``C:\``) and it will create an ``msys32`` directory with a pre-prepared environment.