Documentation
Installation
Windows

Windows Installation

To install Jan desktop on Windows, follow the steps below:

Compatibility

Ensure that your system meets the following requirements to use Jan effectively:

  • Operating System: Windows 10 or higher.
  • CPU
  • Intel: Haswell (Q2 2013) or newer
  • Intel Celeron/Pentium: Tiger Lake (Q3 2020) or newer

Jan requires a processor with AVX2 for best performance. See full list of supported processors. (opens in a new tab) While older processors with AVX/AVX-512 will work, you may experience slower performance.

  • Memory (RAM)
    • 8GB > 3B parameter models (int4)
    • 16GB > 7B parameter models (int4)
    • 32GB > 13B parameter models (int4)

DDR2 RAM is supported but newer RAM generations are recommended for better performance.

  • GPU:
    • 6GB > 3B models with ngl at 120 (full speed)
    • 8GB > 7B models with ngl at 120 (full speed)
    • 12GB > 13B models with ngl at 120 (full speed)

Minimum 6GB VRAM recommended for NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel Arc GPUs.

  • Storage: Minimum 10GB free space for application and model downloads

Install Jan

To install Jan, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Download Application

Jan provides 3 types of releases:

Please download Jan from official distributions, or build it from source.

Step 2: Install Application

  1. Once you have downloaded the Jan app .exe file, open the file.
  2. Wait for Jan to be completely installed on your machine.
  3. Once installed, you can access Jan on your machine.

Data Folder

By default, Jan is installed in the following directory:


# Default installation directory
~/Users/<YourUsername>/AppData/Roaming/Jan/data

See Jan Data Folder for more details about the data folder structure.

GPU Acceleration

Jan can leverage your GPU to significantly improve model performance and inference speed. Here's how to enable GPU acceleration for different hardware:

Step 1: Verify Hardware & Install Dependencies

1.1. Check GPU Detection

To verify that your system recognizes the NVIDIA GPU:

  • Right-click desktop > NVIDIA Control Panel
  • Or check Device Manager > Display Adapters

1.2. Install Required components NVIDIA Driver:

  1. Install NVIDIA Driver (opens in a new tab) for your GPU (NVIDIA driver 470.63.01 or higher).
  2. Verify installation:

nvidia-smi

Expected output should show your GPU model and driver version.

CUDA Toolkit:

  1. Download and install CUDA toolkit (opens in a new tab) (CUDA 11.7 or higher)
  2. Verify installation:

nvcc --version

Step 2: Enable GPU Acceleration

  1. In Jan, navigate to Settings > Hardware
  2. Select and enable your prefered NVIDIA GPU(s)
  3. App reload is required after the selection

While Jan supports both CUDA and Vulkan for NVIDIA GPUs, we strongly recommend using CUDA for optimal performance.

Uninstall Jan

Step 1: Remove Application through Control Panel

  1. Open Control Panels
  2. Go to Programs section
  3. Click Uninstall Program
  4. Search for Jan
  5. Click the Three Dots Icon > Uninstall
  6. Click Uninstall again to confirm
  7. Click OK

Step 2: Handle Jan Data

When prompted with: Do you also want to delete the DEFAULT Jan data folder at C:\Users{username}\Jan?

  • Click OK to remove all Jan data
  • Click Cancel to keep your Jan data for future installations

Step 3: Clean Up Remaining Files

To ensure a complete uninstallation, remove the app cache:

  1. Navigate to C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming
  2. Delete Jan folder
⚠️

Deleted data folders cannot be restored. Make sure to backup any important data before proceeding with deletion.

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