Title: Installing the npRmpi binary package for MS Windows 7 (32-bit/64-bit)

Date: 07/14/2011
Author: David T. Jacho-Chavez (djachocha@emory.edu)

These are based on those given in http://www.stats.uwo.ca/faculty/yu/Rmpi/

INSTALLATION:

1) Download and install MPICH2 for Windows (32-bit) from
   http://www-unix.mcs.anl.gov/mpi/mpich2 Version 1.3rc1.

   Before installing MPICH2, you may need Microsoft .Net 2.0 .NET
   Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package and Visual C++ 2010
   Redistributable Package (x86).

2) After installation, add the MPICH2 bin directory to your PATH
   environment variables. This is very important. Otherwise npRmpi
   will not run properly.

   Right click "My Computer" and choose "Properties". Click "Advanced
   system settings" to get a new window.

   Click "Environment Variables..." to get a new window. Locate the
   variable "PATH" (it is version dependent. Either User or System
   variables will be fine). Click Edit to get a new window.

   At end of Variable value, add ";C:\Program Files (x86)\MPICH2\bin" for
   32bit windows. (Remove the double quotations).

3) Next launch wmpiconfig.exe from the Start menu. First it will ask
   you for your account name and password. Enter your account name and
   password. Click "Register" and then "OK". After that MPICH2
   Configurable Settings will show up. Click "Get Settings" on the
   right upper corner. If your machine name gets a green color on the
   left hosts panel, then MPICH2 is running properly. Otherwise open
   "Command Prompt" as the administrator. At the prompt, type

    smpd -install -phrase mypassword

   (change `mypassword' to your actual password). click "Get Settings"
   again to see if your host gets green color.

4) Download the npRmpi binary zip file for windows. Launch R as the
   administrator to install npRmpi.

TESTING:

   The way to run code in parallel on a windows machine is described
   in steps 1 to 4 below.

   Note that the provided ".Rprofile" file has to be located where
   'test.R' is for the above command to run properly. In this example,
   both 'test.R' and '.Rprofile' are located on my 'C Drive'

  (i) Download the files 'test.R' and '.Rprofile' and save them
      locally on your C:\ drive.

 (ii) Open "Command Prompt" as the administrator. At the prompt, type

  cd C:\

(iii) Now type

     mpiexec -n 2 R --no-save -q < test.R > test_out.txt

     (Change 2 for 3 or 4 if you got a quad-core desktop)

(iv) After execution, type

    test_out.txt

    and notepad will open and display the generated output.