4.64 FAQ-1004 What Can I Do When Origin Cannot Connect to R?

Last Update: 5/6/2019

If you have R installed on your system but Origin reports that R is not installed or that it cannot find R, there is a simple fix to remedy the issue.

Background

When Origin is asked to launch R, it first searches the Windows Registry for the Registry Key for R's installation folder. If it does not locate that key, it will look for the R_HOME Windows environmental variable.

In some cases, R installers for Windows may not set the registry key or the user may skip setting the key. Additionally, the R installer may not set the R_HOME Windows environmental variable.

In this situation, Origin will not be able to find R and will assume it is not installed.

Solution

The solution is to add a Windows environmental variable named R_HOME that points to R's installation folder.

Assuming R has been installed into a folder on disk similar to: C:\Program Files\R\R-3.6.0, follow these steps:

  1. Exit Origin if it is running.
  2. In Windows Search, search for "advanced system settings" (without quotes) and open View advanced system settings (Control Panel).
  3. In the System Properties dialog, select the Advanced tab.
  4. Click the Environmental Variables... button.
  5. Under either User variables for... or System Variables, click the New... button. (See Note below.)
  6. For variable name enter R_HOME.
  7. For variable value, enter the installation path for R on your system (e.g. C:\Program Files\R\R-3.6.0).
  8. Click OK to to close dialogs.


The next time you launch Origin and try connect to R, the connection should be successful.


Note: Whether you add the environmental variable to your User variables or the System variables depends on your needs. If it will only be you using R on your computer, setting a User variable may suffice. If others use your PC, you may need to set it as System. You may have to experiment.



Keywords:R, R Console, R_HOME, environmental variable, connect