How I Installed COBOL on my Windows PC for Free in 10 Minutes

?TL; DR: Install WSL2, Debian, GnuCOBOL, and VSCode to create a modern COBOL development environment in under 10 minutes. Perfect for beginners, students, and professional developers.

?Why Learn COBOL in 2025?

Quick facts that might surprise you:

- COBOL handles $2 trillion in daily commerce

- 95% of ATM swipes use COBOL

- 220+ billion lines of COBOL still run in production

- Only 0.4% of developers know COBOL (Stack Overflow 2024)

What You'll Learn in This Guide

? How to install a free COBOL development environment

? Set up VSCode for COBOL programming

? Create, edit, and run your first COBOL program

? Use modern development tools with legacy languages

Prerequisites

- Windows 10 version 2004 and higher (Build 19041 and higher) or Windows 11

- 4GB RAM minimum (8GB recommended)

- 64-bit processor with virtualization enabled

Complete Installation Guide

Step 1: Install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2)

Time: 2 minutes

1. Open PowerShell as Administrator

2. Run:

wsl --install --no-distribution

3. Choose 'YES' when prompted

4. Restart your computer

Step 2: Install Debian

Time: 2 minutes

1. Open Microsoft Store

2. Search for "Debian"

3. Click "Get" or "Install"

4. Launch Debian from start menu

5. Create your UNIX username and password

Step 3: Install GnuCOBOL

Time: 2 minutes

Run these commands in Debian bash:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install gnucobol

Step 4: Install Visual Studio Code

Time: 2 minutes

1. Download VSCode from (https://code.visualstudio.com/download)

2. Install with default settings

3. Open VSCode

Step 5: Configure VSCode for COBOL

Time: 2 minutes

1. Install required extensions:

? ?- Open VSCode

? ?- Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)

? ?- Search and install:

? ? ?- "Remote - WSL"

? ? ?- "COBOL Language Support" Bitlang COBOL" (for syntax highlighting)

2. Connect VSCode to WSL:

? ?- Press Ctrl+Shift+P

? ?- Type "WSL: connect to WSL using Distro"

? ?- Select Debian

Step 6: Create Your First COBOL Project

Time: 3 minutes

1. In VSCode terminal (WSL window): Open VSCode's integrated terminal (Ctrl+`)? [?`?is the?key above?TAB]

run below commands to create cobol-projects folder and launch vscode's new window.?

? ?mkdir cobol-projects

? ?cd cobol-projects

? ?code .

2. Create a new file: hello.cbl

3. Copy this code or write your own, you should also re-install the COBOL plugin for WSL

? ? ? ?IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.

? ? ? ?PROGRAM-ID. HELLO.

? ? ? ?ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.

? ? ? ?DATA DIVISION.

? ? ? ?PROCEDURE DIVISION.

? ? ? ? ? ?DISPLAY "Welcome to Modern COBOL Development!".

? ? ? ? ? ?STOP RUN.

4. Compile: Below command creates an executable file with the same name as code file.

cobc -x hello.cob

5. Troubleshoot: you might see below error while compiling. To resolve this press,?ENTER after STOP RUN. This creates a newline.

hello.cbl:19: warning: line not terminated by a newline [-Wothers]

Recompile the code after saving the code.

6. Run:?

./hello

VSCode Features for COBOL Development

Your new setup includes:

- Syntax highlighting

- Code snippets

- Integrated terminal

- Git integration

- File explorer

- Multi-file editing

Pro Tips for COBOL in VSCode

1. Enable word wrap for better COBOL code readability

2. Use the integrated terminal for quick compilations

3. Take advantage of VSCode's split screen for copybooks

Free Resources to Level Up

1. Official GnuCOBOL Documentation

2. Open Mainframe Project Materials

3. IBM COBOL Programming Course (GitHub)