Installing QtCreator on Windows 8.1

Downloading Qt Creator was described a few posts ago.  The latest version of Qt Creator at the time is 3.1.2.  Open the qt‑creator‑opensource‑windows‑x86‑3.1.2.exe download file and click through, accepting the recommended Installation Folder, the license, and Start Menu shortcuts.  Accept the User Access Control if asked.  At the end go ahead and Launch Qt Creator as some post install configuration is needed.

Qt Creator should be able to find the various utilities and Qt 4.8.6 since these are on the path, but it does not appear to actually look for some of these, so these need to be configured manually.  In Qt Creator selected Tools and Options...  Click the Build & Run page.

On the Qt Versions tab, if Qt 4.8.6 was not auto-detected, it needs to be set manually.  Click the Add button and browse to the C:\Qt\4.8.6\bin directory and select the qmake.exe (just qmake if extensions are not displayed).  Click the Apply button.

On the Compilers tab, if MinGW was not auto-detected, it needs to be set manually.   as MinGW (x86 32bit in C:\mingw32\bin).  Click the Add button and select MinGW (from the drop down menu).  On the Compiler path field, click the Browse button and navigate to the C:\mingw32\bin directory and select g++.  Click the Apply button.

On the Debuggers tab, it GDB was not auto-detected, it needs to be set manually.  Click the Add and replace the default New Debugger name with something like GDB 7.7 (which is the version installed with MinGW).  Click the Browse... button and browse to This PC, Local Disk (C:) (or whatever it may be called), mingw32, bin, gdb and click the Open button.  Click the Apply button.

On the CMake tab, click the Browse... button and navigate to This PC, Local Disk (C:), Program Files (x86), Cmake 2.8, bin, cmake and click the Open button.  Click the Apply button.

Finally on the Kits tab, select the Desktop (default) under manual, which is italicized with a yellow triangle warning indicating it is not configured properly.  Under the Debugger field, select GDB 7.7 on the drop down (only debugger listed).  The warning should go away since the Compiler and Qt Version fields are already set.  Click the OK button.

The configuration can be testing by compiling one of the Examples.  On the Welcome page (icon on upper-left), select Examples.  I selected the first example: 2D Painting Example.  On the Configure Project page that appears next, click the Configure Project button.  Test building by clicking the Hammer icon (lower-left or type Ctrl+B).  After a few moments it should finish.  Click the Run/Play icon (or type Ctrl+R) to run the program.  It should present two rotating patterns.  Qt and Qt Creator have been successfully installed.