• Windows 10/11 64-bit
• MinGW-w64 installed (example path: C:\mingw64)
• VS Code with the C/C++ extension

Obtain SDL2

1. Go to https://www.libsdl.org/
2. Download both of the following for MinGW:
   • Development package: SDL2-devel--mingw.tar.gz
   • Runtime binaries: SDL2--win32-x64.zip (contains SDL2.dll)

Choose x86_64 for 64-bit MinGW-w64 or i686 for 32-bit.

Install headers and librareis into MinGW-w64

1. Extract SDL2-devel-…-mingw.tar.gz
2. Inside, open the directory matching your target:
   • x86_64-w64-mingw32 (64-bit)
   • i686-w64-mingw32 (32-bit)
3. Copy these folders into your MinGW-w64 sysroot of the same name:
   • bin
   • include
   • lib
   • share

For example, copy into:

• C:\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\ (64-bit)
• C:\mingw64\i686-w64-mingw32\ (32-bit)

After copying, C:\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\enclude should contain an SDL2 directory, and lib should contain SDL2 libraries.

Create the project

• Make a new folder for the project
• Place SDL2.dll (from the runtime ZIP) next to the executable you will build (simplestt: copy it into the project root for now)
• Create a .vscode directory inside the project
• Create these files in .vscode: tasks.json, launch.json, c_cpp_properties.json
• Create main.c in the project root

VS Code configuration

.vscode/tasks.json

{
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "type": "shell",
      "label": "Build C (SDL2)",
      // Change to your MinGW-w64 gcc path
      "command": "C:/mingw64/bin/gcc.exe",
      "args": [
        "-g",
        "${file}",
        "-o",
        "${fileDirname}/${fileBasenameNoExtension}.exe",
        "-lmingw32",
        "-lSDL2main",
        "-lSDL2",
        "-mwindows"
      ],
      // Change to your MinGW-w64 bin directory
      "options": { "cwd": "C:/mingw64/bin" },
      "problemMatcher": ["$gcc"],
      "group": { "kind": "build", "isDefault": true }
    }
  ]
}

.vscode/launch.json

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "Debug C (SDL2)",
      "type": "cppdbg",
      "request": "launch",
      "program": "${fileDirname}/${fileBasenameNoExtension}.exe",
      "args": [],
      "stopAtEntry": false,
      "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
      "environment": [],
      "externalConsole": false,
      "MIMode": "gdb",
      // Change to your MinGW-w64 gdb path
      "miDebuggerPath": "C:/mingw64/bin/gdb.exe",
      "setupCommands": [
        { "description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb", "text": "-enable-pretty-printing", "ignoreFailures": true }
      ],
      "preLaunchTask": "Build C (SDL2)"
    }
  ]
}

.vscode/c_cpp_properties.json

{
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "windows-x64",
      "includePath": [
        "${workspaceFolder}/**",
        // Point to your MinGW-w64 sysroot includes
        "C:/mingw64/x86_64-w64-mingw32/include/**"
      ],
      "defines": ["_DEBUG", "UNICODE", "_UNICODE"],
      // Change to your MinGW-w64 gcc path
      "compilerPath": "C:/mingw64/bin/gcc.exe",
      "cStandard": "c11",
      "cppStandard": "c++17",
      "intelliSenseMode": "gcc-x64"
    }
  ],
  "version": 4
}

If you use a 32-bit toolchain, replace x86_64-w64-mingw32 with i686-w64-mingw32 in the paths above.

Example program (C, SDL2 renderer)

main.c

#include <SDL2/SDL.h>

int main(int argc, char** argv) {
    if (SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO) != 0) {
        return 1;
    }

    SDL_Window* win = SDL_CreateWindow(
        "SDL2 Demo",
        SDL_WINDOWPOS_CENTERED,
        SDL_WINDOWPOS_CENTERED,
        800,
        600,
        0
    );
    if (!win) {
        SDL_Quit();
        return 2;
    }

    SDL_Renderer* ren = SDL_CreateRenderer(
        win,
        -1,
        SDL_RENDERER_ACCELERATED | SDL_RENDERER_PRESENTVSYNC
    );
    if (!ren) {
        SDL_DestroyWindow(win);
        SDL_Quit();
        return 3;
    }

    SDL_Rect rect = {700, 10, 20, 20};
    int dx = 6;
    int dy = 2;
    int running = 1;

    while (running) {
        SDL_Event ev;
        while (SDL_PollEvent(&ev)) {
            if (ev.type == SDL_QUIT) running = 0;
            if (ev.type == SDL_KEYDOWN && ev.key.keysym.sym == SDLK_ESCAPE) running = 0;
        }

        rect.x += dx;
        rect.y += dy;
        if (rect.x >= 800) rect.x = 0;
        if (rect.y >= 600) rect.y = 0;

        SDL_SetRenderDrawColor(ren, 20, 20, 30, 255);
        SDL_RenderClear(ren);

        SDL_SetRenderDrawColor(ren, 10, 200, 120, 255);
        SDL_RenderFillRect(ren, &rect);

        SDL_RenderPresent(ren);
        SDL_Delay(1000 / 60);
    }

    SDL_DestroyRenderer(ren);
    SDL_DestroyWindow(win);
    SDL_Quit();
    return 0;
}

Build and run

• Press Ctrl+Shift+B to build the active C file; an .exe will appear next to it
• Doublle-click the .exe or press F5 to debug in VS Code (ensure SDL2.dll is beside the executable or on PATH)