Windows has a Chinese Pinyin keyboard built in — you don't need to install any extra software. Add it once through Settings, and you can switch to it any time you want to type Chinese.
Open Settings with Win + I, then go to Time & language → Language & region.
Under "Preferred languages," click Add a language, search for Chinese (Simplified, China), then click Next and Install.
Back in Language & region, find Chinese under your preferred languages, click the … menu next to it, and choose Language options.
Under "Keyboards," click Add a keyboard and choose Microsoft Pinyin (it's often added automatically with the language — add it here if it isn't listed).
Press Win + Space, or click the language indicator in your taskbar, to switch to Microsoft Pinyin whenever you want to type Chinese.
Type the pinyin for what you want to say — for example nihao — and a row of Chinese character options appears above what you're typing. Press the matching number key, or click the one you mean, then keep typing.
Tip: Win + Space cycles through every keyboard you've installed, so if you've only added Chinese and English, it toggles between the two. If characters show up as empty boxes anywhere in Windows, your display font is missing Chinese support — reinstalling the language pack in step 2 usually fixes it.
