How to Install Stable Diffusion on Windows

The first step in installing Stable Diffusion is to get Python up and running on your computer.

• To use Stable Diffusion, you’ll need to have Python 3.10.6 installed on your machine. You can download the 64-bit Windows installer by visiting the official Python website or by using the direct download link provided.
• Once you’ve downloaded the installer, open it up to begin the installation process. Be sure to check the box that says, “Add Python 3.10 to PATH”, as this will ensure that Python is added to your system’s PATH environment variable.
• After checking this box, click “Install Now” to start the installation process.
• If you encounter any errors during the installation process, it’s likely because you already have an older version of Python installed on your system.

In this case, you’ll need to remove any previous versions of Python before re-installing version 3.10.6. You can do this by visiting the Control Panel and selecting “Add or remove programs.”

To install and update AUTOMATIC1111, you’ll need to have Git installed on your computer. Git is a code repository management system that is widely used in the software development industry.

• To get started, head over to the official Git website and download the Windows version of the software.
• After downloading the Git installer, open it up and click “Install” to accept the license agreement and start the installation process.
• Follow the instructions provided by the installer to complete the installation of Git on your system.

This step can be challenging, but you can do it easily with a little guidance.

• Start by pressing the Windows key on your keyboard (it should be located to the left of the space bar). This will bring up a search window on your screen.
• Type “cmd” into the search bar and then click the Command Prompt option when it appears.

This will open up a command prompt window on your screen. Once the window is open, the next step is to navigate to your home folder. 

• To complete this, type “cd %userprofile%” into the command prompt and press Enter. This command will ensure that you’re in the right folder before you move on to the next step. (Pro tip: You can right-click to paste in Command Prompt.)
• If you’ve entered the command correctly, your prompt should show something like “C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME>.”
• Now that you’re in the correct folder, it’s time to clone the AUTOMATIC1111 repository.
• To accomplish this, type the following command into the command prompt window and then press Enter: “git clone https://github.com/AUTOMATIC1111/stable-diffusion-webui.git”

After entering this command, a new folder named “stable-diffusion-webui” must be in the home directory. This folder contains all the files you’ll need to run AUTOMATIC1111 on your computer.

• Begin by accessing the recently established directory using File Explorer.
• Enter the following command in the address bar: “%userprofile%\stable-diffusion-webui”
• Afterward, press the “enter” key to proceed.
• Once in the designated folder, locate the “models” subfolder and navigate to “Stable-diffusion.”
• Inside this directory, you’ll notice a .txt file named “Put Stable Diffusion checkpoints here.”

Your next step involves downloading v1.5 of the Stable Diffusion checkpoint file.

• You can obtain it using the following download link on the HuggingFace website.
• Once the file has finished downloading, transfer it to the folder mentioned previously.

• Using File Explorer, navigate back to the folder named “stable-diffusion-webui.”
• You can do that by returning two levels, or you can do it by directly inputting the command %userprofile%\stable-diffusion-webui in the address bar once more.
• Look for a file named webui-user.bat and double-click it to begin the installation.
• This final step may take some time to complete.
• Once finished, a message indicates that the program runs on the local URL: http://127.0.0.1:7860.

Now, open your preferred web browser and go to the URL http://127.0.0.1:7860/.

• You should see the AUTOMATIC1111 webui!
• Try inputting a prompt (such as “a cat”) and click “Generate” to test if Stable Diffusion is operating correctly.

When you are done using the tool, close the cmd window to shut the program down. If you wish to use it again later, double-click the webui-user.bat file.