The catch? It comes natively with Linux and macOS, but not Windows.
choco install libxml2 After installation, restart your terminal and verify with xmllint --version . No winget ? No Chocolatey? No problem. Let’s do it manually. Step 1: Download the binaries Go to the official libxml2 Windows build from Zlatkovic (the de facto source for Windows ports):
Open or PowerShell as an administrator and run:
xmllint --version If you get an error about missing DLLs ( libxml2.dll , libiconv.dll , etc.), copy them from the same bin folder into C:\Windows\System32 , or add the bin folder to your system PATH (the same way as above). Once installed, try a real command. Save this as test.xml : How To Install Xmllint Windows
👉 ftp://xmlsoft.org/libxml2/
<?xml version="1.0"?> <book> <title>Learning xmllint</title> <author>Windows User</author> </book> Now run:
If you work with XML files—whether it’s parsing sitemaps, validating RSS feeds, or cleaning up messy data—you have probably heard of xmllint . It’s a powerful, fast command-line tool for checking and processing XML. The catch
Otherwise, the manual method takes under three minutes and gives you full control.
Look for the latest libxml2-2.x.x-win32-x86_64.zip (or win32 if you need 32-bit). Unzip the archive to a permanent location, like C:\Program Files\libxml2 .
First, install Chocolatey if you haven’t (from their official site). Then run: No winget
Now go validate some XML like a proper terminal wizard. Have a different XML tool you swear by? Let me know in the comments below.
winget install libxml2 That’s it. The package libxml2 contains xmllint . Once installed, close and reopen your terminal, then test it:
xmllint --version If you see version info, you’re done. If you already use Chocolatey, this feels natural.
Don’t worry. Here are three reliable ways to get xmllint running on your Windows machine, from easiest to most "pro." Windows 11 and modern Windows 10 come with winget , Microsoft’s package manager. This is by far the fastest method.