Unofficial Geant4 11.4.3 Windows Installer (full functionality) MinGW

Abstract

Native Windows build of the Geant4 11.4.3 simulation toolkit, packaged as a single installer. It contains Geant4, all 15 data sets, the Qt 6 GUI with 3D visualization, and a complete C++ toolchain (gcc 16.2, CMake, Ninja), so Geant4 applications can be run and built without Visual Studio, MSYS2 or Cygwin and without further downloads. Unofficial build. Compiled with the open-source MinGW-w64 (MSYS2 UCRT64) toolchain from the official Geant4 11.4.3 sources, with a small portability patch. It is not produced, supported or endorsed by the Geant4 Collaboration. Please report problems specific to this Windows build on the geant4-mingw build repository, not to the Geant4 developers. File: Geant4-11.4.3-mingw-ucrt64-setup.exe (2.85 GB) Contents Geant4 11.4.3, shared libraries, with multithreading (TBB tasking), Qt 6 GUI, OpenGL and ToolsSG visualization, GDML (Xerces-C), HDF5 output (thread-safe HDF5 2.2.0), FreeType and G3toG4. All 15 data sets (3.2 GB), found automatically without environment variables: G4NDL 4.7.1, G4EMLOW 8.8, PhotonEvaporation 6.1.2, RadioactiveDecay 6.1.2, G4PARTICLEXS 4.2, G4PII 1.3, RealSurface 2.2, G4SAIDDATA 2.0, G4ABLA 3.3, G4INCL 1.3, G4ENSDFSTATE 3.0, G4CHANNELING 2.0, G4TENDL 1.4, G4NUDEXLIB 1.0, G4URRPT 1.1. Toolchain: gcc/g++ 16.2, binutils, CMake 4.4, Ninja, with all headers and import libraries. Applications build against Geant4 with CMake (find_package(Geant4)). All Geant4 example sources, plus ready-to-run examples B2a and B2b with Start-menu shortcuts. Requirements Windows 10 (1809 or later) or Windows 11, 64-bit (x64). Tested on Windows 11. 4.6 GB of free disk space. No administrator rights. An OpenGL-capable graphics driver for the interactive 3D viewers; batch and offscreen runs need none. Installation Run the installer. It is not code-signed, so SmartScreen may show "Windows protected your PC": click More info → Run anyway. Accept the Geant4 Software License and choose a folder (default %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Geant4-11.4.3). The install is per-user and changes no system settings and no global PATH. Unpacking takes a few minutes. Optionally leave "Run example B2a with 3D visualization" ticked. The Start menu gets entries for examples B2a and B2b (Qt GUI), a Geant4 shell (command prompt with gcc, CMake and Ninja on PATH) and the uninstaller. Unattended install: Geant4-11.4.3-mingw-ucrt64-setup.exe /VERYSILENT /DIR="D:\Geant4-11.4.3". Building your own application From the Geant4 shell, for example with B1: xcopy /e /i "%G4PREFIX%\share\Geant4\examples\basic\B1" "%USERPROFILE%\Documents\B1" cd /d "%USERPROFILE%\Documents\B1" cmake -S . -B build cmake --build build cd build .\exampleB1 Use the bundled compiler: code built with MSVC cannot link against this Geant4 (different C++ ABI). Programs need the Geant4 DLLs: start them from the Geant4 shell, or add \ucrt64\bin to PATH. Viewers: TSG (default, in Qt), OGLSQt, OGLSWin32 (no Qt), TSG_OFFSCREEN (renders to files, for batch jobs and machines without GPU drivers). Validation Run on the installed copy, in a path containing spaces, with nothing but the install and Windows on PATH: Example B2 vs. upstream reference output (serial Linux run): identical hit counts for all 201 events; geantino navigation identical step by step; a multithreaded run processes all events. Hadronic and neutron physics: 10 MeV p + Mo-98 cross sections identical to the upstream reference. Thermal-neutron cross sections from G4NDL agree with evaluated data within 0.6 % (H-1 and Au-197 capture, B-10(n,α), U-235 fission and capture). Reaction products obey two-body kinematics: H(n,γ)d, and B-10(n,α)Li-7 with its 94 % excited branch. U-235 fission: 2.38 ± 0.03 neutrons per fission, mean energy 2.0 MeV. 2 MeV neutrons in water slow down in 16.5 collisions and are captured after 204 µs, consistent with the reference and with simple estimates. Visualization: all 3D viewers render (TSG Qt, OpenGL Qt, OpenGL Win32, TSG offscreen). Toolchain: compiles and runs the examples from a plain command prompt. Uninstall: removes every file, shortcut and registry entry. Build scripts, the MinGW patch and the full validation report are in the geant4-mingw build repository. Known limitations Not code-signed. With Windows 11 Smart App Control on, the installer may be blocked outright. No software-OpenGL fallback: in VMs or remote sessions without GPU drivers, use TSG_OFFSCREEN. If G4LEDATA-style variables or GEANT4_DATA_DIR are set (e.g. for another Geant4 version), they override the bundled data sets. geant4-config and geant4.sh are POSIX scripts and do not work from cmd; use CMake. OGLSWin32 exports vector formats only (eps, ps, pdf, svg). Uninstalling deletes the whole install folder, including anything written inside \examples. Licenses and source code Geant4: Geant4 Software License (shown by the installer; copy in ucrt64\share\Geant4\LICENSE). Source: geant4-v11.4.3.tar.gz; the MinGW patch is in the build repository. HDF5 2.2.0: built from the 2.2.0 release; BSD-style license in ucrt64\share\doc\hdf5\LICENSE. Everything else comes from MSYS2 UCRT64 packages under their own licenses. The full package list with versions and licenses is in third-party-packages.md in this record; license texts are in ucrt64\share\licenses\ (a few in ucrt64\share\doc\ ). Sources for these exact versions: repo.msys2.org/mingw/sources; packaging recipes: MINGW-packages. Citing Geant4 If you use Geant4 in published work, please cite the Geant4 papers: S. Agostinelli et al., "Geant4 — a simulation toolkit", Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A 506 (2003) 250–303. J. Allison et al., "Geant4 developments and applications", IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 53 (2006) 270–278. J. Allison et al., "Recent developments in Geant4", Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A 835 (2016) 186–225. The Geant4 name belongs to the Geant4 Collaboration.