Install Separatrix on Windows

This guide takes you from the download to your first project. You need a 64-bit PC with Windows 10 or Windows 11. The installer puts Separatrix in your own user account, so you do not need an administrator password. Separatrix needs no internet connection after you install it.

Choose an installer

Go to the Separatrix releases page and look under Assets. Windows has three files. Most people want the first one.

Separatrix draws its window with Microsoft Edge WebView2. Windows 11 always has it, and Windows 10 gets it through Windows Update. If the PC lacks it, the standard installer downloads it, and that needs the internet. The offline installer carries WebView2 inside it, so it works on a PC with neither WebView2 nor an internet connection. If the standard installer can't download WebView2, use the offline installer.

Download SHA256SUMS.txt too. The names on this page are for version 1.0.1. A newer release has its own number in each name.

If Edge blocks the download

Microsoft Edge may say that the installer isn't commonly downloaded. The file is safe to keep once it passes the check in the next section.

1. In the downloads list, point to the file and click ... (More actions).
2. Click Keep.
3. Click Show more, then click Keep anyway.

Check the download

SHA256SUMS.txt lists the SHA-256 checksum of every file in the release. If your file's checksum matches, the download is complete and is the file that was published.

1. Open the Start menu, type PowerShell, and press Enter.

2. Go to your Downloads folder:

   cd $HOME\Downloads

3. Run this command. If you chose another installer, put its name in place of the standard one:

   Get-FileHash .\Separatrix_1.0.1_windows_x64-setup.exe -Algorithm SHA256

   PowerShell prints the checksum under Hash, a line of 64 letters and digits.

4. Open SHA256SUMS.txt in Notepad and find the line for your installer.

5. Compare the two checksums. They must be identical, except that PowerShell prints capital letters and the file has small ones.

If they differ, delete the file and download it again. Do not run a file that fails the check.

Install it

1. Double-click the installer in your Downloads folder.

2. Windows may show a blue window titled Windows protected your PC. Separatrix is not signed with a Microsoft certificate, so Windows does not know it yet. Click More info, then click Run anyway.

3. Follow the installer. Click Next until you see Install, click Install, then click Finish. The defaults are fine.

If you used the MSI, Windows asks for an administrator password before it installs.

Start Separatrix for the first time

Open the Start menu and click Separatrix. If the installer's last page offered to run Separatrix and you left that selected, it is already open.

Separatrix opens on a gallery of example systems from Strogatz's Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos. Click any card to start from that system. The Linux guide has a picture of the gallery. It looks the same on Windows.

Open a project

Separatrix saves projects as .sepx files. You can open one in three ways:

• Click Open… at the top right of the gallery, or press Ctrl+O at any time, then choose the file.
• Drag a .sepx file from File Explorer onto the Separatrix window.
• Double-click a .sepx file in File Explorer.

The project opens with its equations, trajectories and view as they were saved. The gallery also lists the projects you opened most recently under Recent. Click one to open it again.

Update Separatrix

Separatrix 1.0.0 cannot update itself. If you have 1.0.0, install the latest version once by following this guide from the top. From 1.0.1 on, updates install themselves.

Separatrix checks for a new version after it starts. When one exists, the status bar at the bottom of the window shows Update available beside the version number, such as v1.0.1.

1. Click the version number. You can click it at any time to check by hand.
2. Click Install and restart. If you have unsaved changes, Separatrix asks whether to save them first. A small progress window appears while the update installs, and then Separatrix starts again.

If you installed with the MSI, the update installs the new MSI, and Windows may ask for an administrator's approval. If you can't give it, ask your IT department to install the new MSI.

Uninstall Separatrix

1. Open Settings, then Apps, then Installed apps. On Windows 10, open Settings, then Apps.
2. Find Separatrix in the list.
3. Click ... beside it, or click the app on Windows 10, then click Uninstall.

Uninstalling keeps your .sepx projects. To also delete the list of recent projects, delete the folder %APPDATA%\io.github.uncrayon.separatrix.