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Windows Installation

Jan runs on Windows 10 and higher, supporting NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel Arc GPUs.

Install Jan

Download

Download Jan for Windows (x64)

On a Windows on ARM PC, get the ARM64 installer from the download page instead.

Install

  1. Run the downloaded .exe file
  2. Wait for installation to complete
  3. Launch Jan

Compatibility

  • Operating System: Windows 10 or higher
  • CPU: x64 with AVX2 support — Intel Haswell (2013+), AMD Excavator (2015+) — or ARM64 (Windows on ARM)
  • Memory: 8GB minimum (16GB recommended)
  • GPU: 6GB VRAM minimum for NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel Arc GPUs
  • Storage: 10GB free space minimum

Jan Data Folder

Jan stores all your data locally — downloaded models, conversation threads, settings, and logs generated from using the app. Nothing is sent to the cloud.

Default location:

~\Users\<YourUsername>\AppData\Roaming\Jan\data

See Jan Data Folder for details.

GPU Acceleration

Step 1: Verify Hardware & Install Dependencies

1.1. Check GPU Detection

Verify GPU is recognized:

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

1.2. Install Required components NVIDIA Driver:

  1. Install NVIDIA Driver (version 470.63.01 or higher)
  2. Verify installation:
nvidia-smi

CUDA Toolkit:

  1. Install CUDA toolkit (11.7 or higher)
  2. Verify installation:
nvcc --version

Step 2: Enable GPU Acceleration

Navigate to Settings () > Hardware > GPUs and toggle the ON switch if not enabled.

Jan supports AMD GPUs via two backends: Vulkan (default) and llama.cpp HIP (ROCm-accelerated). The HIP backend provides significantly better performance than Vulkan for supported AMD GPUs.

Option A: Vulkan Backend (Default)

Vulkan works out of the box with no additional setup.

Navigate to Settings () > Hardware > GPUs and toggle the ON switch if not enabled.

For better performance, use the HIP backend with ROCm installed.

1. Check GPU Detection

Verify your AMD GPU is recognized:

  • Open Device Manager > Display Adapters
  • Or run dxdiag and check the Display tab

2. Install ROCm

  1. Download and install AMD ROCm for Windows (6.0 or higher)
  2. Follow the installer instructions and restart your computer when prompted
  3. Verify installation:
hipInfo

3. Download and Install llama.cpp HIP Backend

Jan does not ship with a pre-built HIP backend. You need to download it manually from the official llama.cpp releases:

  1. Go to the llama.cpp releases page
  2. Download the latest release with hip in the filename (e.g., llama-<version>-bin-win-hip-x64.zip)
  3. Extract the downloaded archive
  4. In Jan, navigate to Settings () > Model Providers > Llama.cpp
  5. Use the backend version selector to point at the extracted folder
  6. Go to Settings () > Hardware and ensure GPU acceleration is enabled

The HIP backend requires a compatible AMD GPU (RX 6000 series or newer recommended) and ROCm installed. If you encounter issues, fall back to the Vulkan backend.

Intel Arc GPUs require Vulkan support.

Navigate to Settings () > Hardware > GPUs and toggle the ON switch if not enabled.

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: Clean Up Remaining Files

Remove app data:

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

or via Terminal:

cd C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming
rmdir /S Jan
⚠️

Deleted data folders cannot be recovered. Backup important data first.

MacLinux

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