Home | Research | HowTos Martin Raden, nee Mann

Bioinformatics Group
Institute for Computer Science
Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg
Georges-Koehler-Allee 106
D-79110, Freiburg, Germany

Phone: +49 (0)761 203-8254
Fax: +49 (0)761 203-7462
Room: 106-02-012

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7926-5911

Windows and Cygwin tweaks

Just a list of tweaks for Windows XP and the usage with the Cygwin linux distribution.

content

• some Cygwin related stuff
  
  
  • change the Windows CMD.EXE shell into a real BASH SHELL
  • bash shell via context menu
  • X11 with Windows
  
  
• some Windows related stuff
  
  
  • open shell via context menu
  • make shell interactive
  
  

additional links

• the Cygwin linux distribution.

Cygwin related stuff (top)

Cygwin offers an (almost) complete linux distribution for the usage inside a Windows host system. Almost all common packages are available including an X11-server.

Change the Windows CMD.EXE shell into a real BASH SHELL (top)

To do this, you have got to install the Cygwin system including the 'bash shell'.

Afterwards you can introduce the following changes in order to change the 'normal' Windows DOS-box into a fully functional bash shell.

• open the registry editor (select 'Start->Run' and type 'regedit')
• browse to the key 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor'
• add a new string var named 'Autorun'
• edit the value of the new 'Autorun'-key to 'CYGWINBINPATH/bash.exe' (for CYGWINBINPATH insert the local path on your machine where the 'bash.exe' is located)
• open a new CMD.EXE shell and make it interactive!

If you would like to run the bash shell with your own '.bashrc' do the following:

• add ' --rcfile RCPATH/.bashrc' to the Autorun key in the registry and voilá! (as usual RCPATH is your local path to the file)

To make the shell change global for all users:

• install Cygwin globally for all users
• change the registry key 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor' instead of 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER'

Bash shell via context menu (Win2k,WinXP) (top)

• add the cygwin/bin path to your PATH variable
• create in the cygwin/bin path a batch file named runBash.bat containing
  (replace BASHRC with your bashrc file)
  

  @echo off
  rem using extended MS Windows XP cmd.exe parameters
  
  rem change drive
  %~d1
  
  rem change path
  chdir %~p1
  
  rem run interactive bash shell
  bash --rcfile BASCHRC -i

• open registry editor via 'regedit'
• do the following for the keys
  
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell
• create a new key 'bash'
• change the string value to 'Open Bash shell here'
• create a subkey 'command'
• change the string value to 'CYGWINBINPATH/runBash.bat "%1"' (replace CYGWINBINPATH according to your system)
  Note: the double quotes in "%1" are important for pathes including spaces! (Thanks to Charles Loengard)

X11 with Windows (top)

To add X11 to your Windows system do the following

Setup X11-server

• Install the X11 system using the Cygwin setup
• Copy the file 'CYGWINPATH/usr/X11R6/bin/startxwin.bat' to 'CYGWINPATH/usr/X11R6/bin/startX11.bat'
• Edit 'CYGWINPATH/usr/X11R6/bin/startX11.bat' :
  • change 'SET CYGWIN_ROOT=\cygwin' according to your absolute Cygwin path
    (e.g. 'SET CYGWIN_ROOT=c:\cygwin')
  • remove the Xterm call at the end
    '%RUN% xterm -e /usr/bin/bash -l'
• Add a link to 'CYGWINPATH/usr/X11R6/bin/startX11.bat' in your Autostart folder (Start->Programs->Autostart)

After reboot or doubleclick on this link the X11-server will be started and online.

Set 'DISPLAY' for X11 applications

Now you 've got add the environment variable 'DISPLAY' to '127.0.0.1:0.0'.
There are 2 possibilities:

• Windows wide
  • go to 'Start > Settings > Control Panel > System'
  • click 'Advanced' tab
  • click 'Environment variables'
  • add new variable 'DISPLAY' with value '127.0.0.1:0.0'
• Bash exclusiv
  • edit your used '.bashrc' file
  • add the line 'export DISPLAY=127.0.0.1:0.0'

Afterwards, the X11-server should be reachable out of every bash shell.

Windows related stuff (top)

Open shell via right-click context menu (top)

Just download and install the CmdHere-PowerToy (available from www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp)

Make CMD.EXE shell interactive (top)

• open a CMD.EXE shell (e.g. go to 'Start->Run' and type 'cmd')
• open the window properties (left-click on upper left corner (on the symbol) --> Properties)
• go to the 'Options' tab
• enable 'Quick Edit Mode'
• enable 'Insert Mode'
  
  
• change the shell layout in the 'Layout' tab as you like
  
  
• save the settings globally for all instances of the DOS-box

Now you can do copy and paste like that:

• select something you want to copy (with pressed left-button for a region or via double-click for a word)
• do a right-click to copy the selection
  
  
• to insert any string copied somewhere do right-click once more
• Note: if you copied something outside of the shell and have currently selected something in the shell, this will be copied first instead of insertion. The local selection is handled first!