Windows installation

Installing and Accessing the ZIP Version of MONICA on Windows

Starting with version 3.6.12, MONICA is distributed as a ZIP archive instead of a traditional installer.
This makes setup simpler and more flexible where users can keep multiple MONICA versions on their computer and easily run a specific one for each project.

1. Extracting MONICA

Download the latest Windows ZIP package from the MONICA Releases Page, for example: monica_win64_<version>.zip
Extract the contents to a convenient location, such as: C:\monica\
After extraction, the folder structure should look like this:
```
C:\monica
├── bin
├── documentation
├── monica-parameters
└── projects
```
There is no installation process. Simply unzipping the archive is enough to make MONICA ready for use. User may also maintain several versions in parallel (e.g., C:\monica_3.6.12\, C:\monica_3.7.0\).

2. Running MONICA

Because the ZIP version isn’t registered automatically on Windows, users can either:

Run the included example project, or
Add MONICA to the user system PATH to use it from anywhere.

Option 1: Run the Example Project (Recommended)

MONICA comes with a ready-to-run example project.

Open Command Prompt (Win + R → type cmd → press Enter).

Navigate to the example folder:

cd C:\monica\projects\Hohenfinow2-single-run

Run the simulation by typing:
```
run_monica.cmd
```

The script automatically:

Points to the MONICA executable in the bin folder
Sets required environment variables (e.g., MONICA_PARAMETERS)
Runs a predefined example simulation

When the run is complete, a file named sim-out.csv will appear in the same folder. Open it in Excel or any text editor to view the results.

Option 2: Run MONICA Manually (Advanced)

If users prefer to run MONICA from anywhere on the system

Add the path to bin folder (e.g. C:\monica\bin) to the PATH environment variable
Create a new environment variable named MONICA_PARAMETERS and set its value to: C:\monica\monica-parameters
Open a new Command Prompt and verify the installation:
```
monica-run.exe --help
```
Change to a project directory containing sim.json, crop.json, site.json, and climate.csv
```
cd C:\monica\projects\Hohenfinow2-single-run
```

Then run monica-run.exe -o .\sim-out.csv sim.json. The sim JSON file must be supplied when running MONICA manually.

3. Updating an Existing Installation

If the user already has an older MONICA installation for example, under %USERPROFILE%\AppData\MONICA, users can simply replace the files in the existing bin folder with those from the new ZIP.
However, it is generally recommended to use the ZIP-based workflow exclusively. This avoids version conflicts and allows each project to reference its own MONICA version explicitly.
The ZIP-based approach will now be the default method for running MONICA.

4. Verifying the Installation

To confirm that MONICA runs correctly:

Navigate to the example folder:

C:\monica\projects\Hohenfinow2-single-run

Run the simulation by typing:
```
run_monica.cmd
```

If the setup is correct, the model will complete a short test simulation and generate an output file named sim-out.csv in the same directory. This confirms that MONICA is successfully installed and functional.