'flutter' is not recognized as an internal or external command

# 'flutter' is not recognized as an internal or external command

The error "'flutter' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file" occurs for 2 main reasons:

1. Not having the path to flutter added to your user's PATH environment variable.
2. Not having flutter installed on your machine.

To solve the error if you have flutter installed:

1. Click on the Search bar and type "environment variables".
2. Click on "Edit the system environment variables".

3. Click on the "Environment Variables" button.

4. In the "User variables for YOUR_USER" section, select the "Path" variable and click "Edit".

5. You can either click "New" and then "Browse" and navigate to the path where flutter\bin is located or paste it directly.

The flutter documentation recommends storing the flutter directory at C:\src\flutter.

Note that the path points to flutter\bin, not to flutter.

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C:\src\flutter\bin

We are looking for the directory that contains the flutter.bat file.

Make sure that you also have the path C:\Windows\System32 in your PATH environment variable.

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C:\Windows\System32

6. Once the two paths are added, confirm the changes by clicking on the "OK" button twice.

7. Close your Command prompt application and then reopen it.

You might also have to restart your PC, but that's not always necessary.

Open a new Command Prompt and run the flutter doctor command to make sure everything works as expected.

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flutter doctor

If the error persists, follow the step-by-step installation guide from the next subheading.

# Using the official installer to install and configure flutter

To install and configure flutter on Windows:

1. Download the Flutter SDK zip file for Windows.

2. Right-click on the file and extract it.

3. Copy the flutter folder to C:\src\flutter.

4. Click on the Search bar and type "environment variables".
5. Click on "Edit the system environment variables".

6. Click on the "Environment Variables" button.

7. In the "User variables for YOUR_USER" section, select the "Path" variable and click "Edit".

8. You can either click "New" and then "Browse" and navigate to the path where flutter\bin is located or paste it directly.

The flutter documentation recommends storing the flutter directory at C:\src\flutter.

Note that the path points to flutter\bin, not to flutter.

Copied!
C:\src\flutter\bin

We are looking for the directory that contains the flutter.bat file.

Make sure that you also have the path C:\Windows\System32 in your PATH environment variable.

Copied!
C:\Windows\System32

9. Once the two paths are added, confirm the changes by clicking on the "OK" button twice.

10. Close your Command prompt application and then reopen it.

You might also have to restart your PC, but that's not always necessary.

Open a new Command Prompt and run the flutter doctor command to make sure everything works as expected.

Copied!
flutter doctor

# Conclusion

To solve the error "'flutter' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file", make sure:

1. You have the path to flutter added to your user's PATH environment variable.
2. You have flutter installed on your machine.

# Additional Resources

You can learn more about the related topics by checking out the following tutorials:

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