[Mingw-users] Problems installing MinGW

[Robert M. <rob...@be...>]

I've now tried installing MinGW software on my 64-bit Windows
Vista SP2 computer three times, and it failed to give me much I
could use each time.

The first time, I found an Msys package and installed that.  No error
messages, but the C compiler I was trying for was apparently not
installed.  I didn't find any instructions for adding more software.

The second time, I found mingw-get-inst-20120426.exe and ran the
program.  Most of the error messages said that some package is
already installed and I should use the mingw-get command to
reinstall it.  Trying the gcc, man, and mingw-get commands under
Msys commands gave errors saying that none of these commands
could be found.

Some of the log messages log indicated that some of the gcc
software was installed before the second time; whatever makes
the gcc command accessible still isn't in place, though.

The third time, I ran mingw-get-inst-20120426.exe again and told it
to reinstall.  Nearly the same errors in the log file; the missing
commands are still missing.

If there were any other errors the second or third times, they
didn't appear in the log files.

What went wrong and how do I fix it?

In case it matters, I had already installed the Cygwin version of gcc
and used it to learn C.  I've used UNIX for a few  months about 15
years ago, but have never used Linux.

I'm looking for a C compiler that will run under Windows Vista and is
suitable for use with Nvidia's nvcc.  Is MinGW even suitable for this?