Windows7下R 3.4.4安装包报错求助：install.packages执行异常

Hey there, let's work through this frustrating package installation issue you're hitting with R 3.4.4 on Windows 7. Your hunch about repeated install/uninstall cycles causing mess makes total sense—those leftover files and wonky configurations can definitely gum things up. Here’s a step-by-step plan to fix it:

1. Do a complete clean-up of R residuals #

Repeated installs/uninstalls often leave behind broken files or permissions issues. Let's wipe everything related to R 3.4.4:

• Uninstall R via Control Panel > Programs and Features > Find R 3.4.4 and uninstall it.
• Manually delete these folders (if they exist):
  • C:\Program Files\R\R-3.4.4
  • C:\Users\[Your Username]\Documents\R (this holds user-specific packages and configs)
  • Clear out R-related temp folders in C:\Users\[Your Username]\AppData\Local\Temp (you can safely delete all files here if you don't have active downloads/processes)
• Restart your PC to kill any lingering R background processes.

2. Reinstall R with proper permissions #

Old Windows 7 has strict system folder permissions, so let's avoid those pitfalls:

• Download the R 3.4.4 installer for Windows (make sure it's the correct 32/64-bit version for your system).
• Right-click the installer and select Run as administrator—this avoids permission blocks during installation.
• Choose a non-system drive for installation (e.g., D:\R\R-3.4.4) instead of the default C:\Program Files—system folders often restrict write access for R packages.
• Make sure the "Save version number in registry" option is checked during installation—this helps R integrate correctly with your system.

3. Fix temporary directory configuration #

Your initial issue with installed.packages() points to temp directory problems. Let's lock this down:

• Open R and run tempdir() to check the current temp path. Ensure the folder exists and you have read/write access to it.
• If the temp path is still problematic, manually set it via an R profile:
  1. Create a folder like D:\R\temp (make sure you have full permissions here).
  2. Create a file named .Rprofile in your Documents folder (C:\Users\[Your Username]\Documents), if it doesn't exist.
  3. Add these lines to .Rprofile:

     Sys.setenv(TMP = "D:\\R\\temp", TMPDIR = "D:\\R\\temp")
     

  4. Restart R for the changes to take effect.

4. Test with a small package first, then debug tidyverse #

Tidyverse has dozens of dependencies, which can make errors harder to spot. Let's start small:

• First, install a lightweight package to test the system:

  install.packages("ggplot2")
  

• If this works, try installing tidyverse with verbose output to catch any specific stuck dependencies:

  install.packages("tidyverse", verbose = TRUE)
  

  The verbose log will show exactly which package is failing, so you can troubleshoot that specific dependency if needed.

5. Verify your CRAN mirror settings #

Old R versions might struggle with newer mirrors. Let's ensure you're using a reliable one:

• Run getOption("repos") to check your current mirror. If it's a mirror that no longer supports R 3.4.4, switch to the main CRAN mirror:

  options(repos = c(CRAN = "https://cran.r-project.org/"))
  

A quick note: R 3.4.4 is quite outdated (released in 2018), and Windows 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft. While the steps above should fix your current issue, you might run into more compatibility problems down the line. If possible, upgrading to a newer Windows version and a recent R release would save you a lot of headaches long-term.

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者A. Reynolds