Tutorial: Install ns-3 in Windows 7 using cygwin

April 15, 2010
Jason Ernst
27 Comments

Categories: Computer Science, Featured, Simulation, Tutorials, Wireless Networks

Tags: 802.11, 802.11s, cygwin, NS-3, NS-3.10, NS-3.7.1, Simulation, Windows 7

Ns-3 is one of the most popular simulation tools for network simulation. See the website: http://www.nsnam.org/. It is the successor to the popular ns-2 simulator. The tool is written in c++ / python, but I manage to get by using mostly only c++ (as opposed to ns-2 which uses c/c++ and tcl). One major difference between ns-3 and ns-2 is that this version has been designed for wireless network simulation from the ground up. (There is support for many types of 802.11 networks including 802.11s mesh networks which interest me).

The following instructions explain how to install the latest stable version of ns3 (~~as of April 14th, 2010~~ as of March 22nd 2011 with ns-3.10) on windows 7 with cygwin. It should work with newer releases as they come out, but if not leave me a message and I will update the instructions. I will try to include any common problems I have encountered, or those of users who comment on the post experience in order to make your install easier.

Step 1:
Download & install cygwin. (note: I install it in the recommended directory “{System Root}/cygwin/”). Make sure you select “install” for python and devel. This will ensure you have python and gcc/g++ as well as all of the dependencies. You can do this by clicking on the word default in the list of packages. I left all of the other package options on default for the install.

Step 2:
~~Download ns3.7.1~~Download the most recent version of ns3 from their website (you will likely want the all-in-one version if you are just starting out. Save the file to “{System Root}/cygwin/home/{your-username}”. Alternatively, you can try downloading the file directly within cygwin using something like “wget http://http://www.nsnam.org/releases/” where filename is the name of the release you wish to install.

Step 3:
Start cygwin. At the cygwin prompt type: “tar xvf ns-allinone-3.7.1.tar.bz2″ (or whatever the filename is depending on the version you downloaded). This will unpack the ns3 archive so you can use it.

Step 4:
After it has unpacked, change directory to the new ns3 directory with the following: “cd ns-allinone-3.7.1″. Then build ns3 by typing the following: “./build.py”. You can probably grab a coffee or tea while it compiles.

ns3 on windows 7 with cygwin

Step 5:
You should be good to go. You can validate the install by changing directory again to the ns-3.7.1 directory (“cd ns-3.7.1″) and running “./test.py”. It will let you know with a PASS / FAIL for each test case. You can now edit the files yourself. The scenario files are located in “” and the source files are located in “”. Good luck!

Note: For those getting remapping errors, I have finally had the same trouble. This is what worked for me: Open command prompt, change to your /cygwin/bin directory. Type: ‘ash’. Then type ‘/bin/rebaseall’. You can now try cygwin again and it may work. If it still does not work (this happened to me), you can apply this fix to the rebaseall script. (you can edit it using some tool like notepad within windows).

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27 Responses to Tutorial: Install ns-3 in Windows 7 using cygwin

Sam says:

May 21, 2011 at 8:50 am

hi, if ./build.py don’t work try ./install on dierctory ns-your_version
like cd ns-2.29 after ./intall and type “y” for yes that work it for me

gud luck
PS: I hve a bad english I know

Reply
Dayal says:

June 13, 2011 at 7:06 am

Hey Jason! Great work with the blog!
However, it didn’t work even after the ‘/bin/rebaseall’ command and the link you posted the fix to the script is broken… Can you post a correct one, please?

Thank you!

Reply
- Jason Ernst says:
  
  June 16, 2011 at 1:34 pm
  
  I noticed the link went down, I will try to find a new one or reproduce the method I used to fix it. That will teach me for just hard-linking rather than rewriting the instructions :S
  
  Reply
fehat says:

June 13, 2011 at 2:18 pm

c’est trés important mais je n’arrive pas a instaler cygwin correctement si vous pouvez m’aider merci

Reply
Achut says:

June 24, 2011 at 12:30 pm

hi
i hav installed cygwin properly
thenafter i hav also installed ns-3.11 with the help
of above mentioned procedure …..
but,when i tested it using “./test.py”
got error as:
OSError: [Errno 11] Resource temporarily unavailable
can u please tell me how to fix it up

Reply
Chang says:

July 11, 2011 at 9:58 pm

hi Jason,
why i install cygwin .. about 95% happened “incomplete” messagebox…
is wrong about my step ?

Reply
Svas says:

July 15, 2011 at 1:19 pm

I’ve succeeded until step 3 , but now I’m stuck at step 4….please i need help

Reply
salimpur arash says:

July 22, 2011 at 2:27 am

Hi
thanks very much for your help.
I’am facing the “0 of 0 tests passed (0 passed, 0 skipped, 0 failed, 0 crashed, 0 valgrind errors)” error in step 5. for solve this problem read her.
Thanks in advance

Reply
Shashank says:

November 10, 2011 at 8:13 am

hello jason,
i am working on a project that involves ns-3 and mesh networking 802.11s .i was wondering if you could help ?? can i post my doubts here itself or can i contact you through e-mail
thanks

Reply
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