# Upscalers - upscayl-bin Windows 11 — Command-Line Installation Guide

There are two pieces you need: the **binary** (the `upscayl-bin` executable) and the **model** (upscayl models).

---

## Step 1 — Download the Binary

The upscayl-bin binary can be downloaded from the official upscayl repository or from the releases page.

1. Go to: [https://github.com/TNTwise/Universal-NCNN-Upscaler/releases](https://github.com/TNTwise/Universal-NCNN-Upscaler/releases)
2. Download the latest Windows zip, e.g. `upscayl-bin-YYYYMMDD-windows.zip`
3. Extract it to a folder, e.g. `C:\tools\upscayl-bin\`

The package includes all binaries required — it is portable, so no CUDA or PyTorch runtime environment is needed.

---

## Step 2 — Add to PATH

To run `upscayl-bin.exe` from any directory (instead of always `cd`-ing into the install folder), add the extraction folder to your system **PATH**:

```text
C:\tools\upscayl-bin\
```

Then open a new terminal and verify:

```powershell
upscayl-bin -h
```

## Step 3 — Download Models

The models can be downloaded from the links found in the `README.md` file of the upscayl-bin directory.

The default model used by the scripts is the `4xNomos8kSC` model.

1. Go to: [https://github.com/TNTwise/Upscaling-Models-NCNN/releases/tag/Realistic](https://github.com/TNTwise/Upscaling-Models-NCNN/releases/tag/Realistic)
2. Download the `4xNomo8kSC.zip` file
3. Extract the 2 files (`4xNomos8kSC.bin` and `4xNomos8kSC.param`) directly to the root of the **models** directory (create it if it doesn't exist) in `upscayl-bin`, e.g. `C:\tools\upscayl-bin\models\`

You can also download other models if you want to use them instead of the default `4xNomos8kSC` model. They should be extracted to the same `models` directory.

---

## Step 4 - Set UPSCAYL_HOME

The scripts that use upscayl-bin (for example `Clone-Image.ps1 -Upscale`) read the environment variable **UPSCAYL_HOME**. Set it to the same folder that is on PATH. The models are read from `%UPSCAYL_HOME%\models`:

```text
UPSCAYL_HOME=C:\tools\upscayl-bin\
```

Set the variable as a persistent user or system environment variable, then open a new terminal. The scripts also need `NCNN_GPU_ID`; see [NCNN_GPU_ID](index.md#ncnn_gpu_id).