Open Cygwin at a specific folder

Question

How can I create a Cygwin shortcut that will open Cygwin at a specific folder  This would obviate having to type  cd  cygdrive c Users Tom Desktop    each time I launch Cygwin

User · Answer

I used the following lines of code to start zsh in the current directory in Win7.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\cygwin_bash]
@="Open Cygwin Here"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\cygwin_bash\command]
@="\"C:\\Programmieren\\cygwin64\\bin\\mintty.exe\" -i /Cygwin-Terminal.ico /bin/zsh --login -c 'cd \"%V\";zsh'"

note that i used %V instead of %L or %1 (since both didn't work for me)

User · Answer

Finally an answer which is independent of Cygwin itself   This uses the fact that  if I am on the directory C   Cool and I call the command C   Cygwin  bin  mintty exe  mintty will automatically open on the current directory  i e   C   Cool   First  you will need to create the file C   Cygwin  silent run vbs with the following contents   Function EnquoteString argument    EnquoteString   Chr 34   amp  argument  amp  Chr 34  End Function  arglist      With WScript Arguments     For Each arg In  Unnamed           Wscript Echo  Unnamed     amp  arg         If InStr arg        gt  0 Then               arg contains a space             arglist   arglist  amp       amp  EnquoteString arg          Else             arglist   arglist  amp       amp  arg         End If     Next End With  CreateObject  Wscript Shell   Run Trim  arglist    0  False   Next  to install this answer  you will use a Windows Registry file  For that  just put the contents of the following file into a file named C   Cygwin  AddMinttyToContextMenu reg  Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00   HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell Terminal Here   Icon     C   Cygwin  bin  mintty exe     Position   Middle     Terminal Here   CommandFlags  dword 00000020   HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell Terminal Here Command       C   Cygwin  bin  mintty exe   -w max     HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell Terminal Here   Icon     C   Cygwin  bin  mintty exe     Position   Middle     Terminal Here   CommandFlags  dword 00000020   HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell Terminal Here Command     cmd exe  c cd  d    V    amp  amp  wscript   C   Cygwin  silent run vbs     C   Cygwin  bin  mintty exe   -w max    Now  Fix all hard coded paths  i e  C   Cygwin to the actual location where your Cygwin installation is on   Then  just open the file C   Cygwin  AddMinttyToContextMenu reg to install your new registry entries and you are done   The file C   Cygwin  AddMinttyToContextMenu reg works by opening first a cmd exe  changing to the directory where you are in  then  calling C   Cygwin  silent run vbs to open the C   Cygwin  bin  mintty exe terminal with the command line options -w max  i e   to open it maximized    The script C   Cygwin  silent run vbs is required to open the C   Cygwin  bin  mintty exe terminal without keeping the first cmd exe we opened  open   The first entry of C   Cygwin  AddMinttyToContextMenu reg does not use C   Cygwin  silent run vbs because by default the HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell keys are already open in the current directory  then  we can just call C   Cygwin  bin  mintty exe directly to get it working out of the box   References    How add context menu item to Windows Explorer for folders VBScript pass commandline argument in paths with spaces How to pass a command with spaces and quotes as a single parameter to CScript  calling vbscript from another vbscript file passing arguments https   ss64 com vb syntax-args html Check if string contains space Running command line silently with VbScript and getting output  http   www vbsedit com html 6f28899c-d653-4555-8a59-49640b0e32ea asp https   superuser com questions 62525 run-a-batch-file-in-a-completely-hidden-way How to run Batch script received as argument on VBscript  Can I pass an argument to a VBScript  vbs file launched with cscript

User · Answer

Best to do like below   HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell BashHere Enter Data  Bash Here  HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell BashHere command Enter Data    cmd exe  c C  cygwin bin bash exe --login -c  cd   1   exec  bin bash

User · Answer

Find file Cygwin bat and make content like this    echo off set newpath  cd      pushd    dp0  chdir bin bash --login -i -c  cd    newpath     exec bash    Add path to cygwin bat to environment PATH   Now in any folder you can type to address bar   cygwin   Also you can type it when you in cmd exe

User · Answer

echo off C  SET mypath   dp0 c  cygwin bin bash -c  cd   mypath    export CHERE INVOKING 1  exec  bin bash --login -i    Copy above commands in a text file and save it as  bat in any of  your folder of interest   It should open cygwin in  your folder of interest

User · Answer

When a fresh install is needed  I create a Windows  user environment variable   named HOME and assigns it the path of wherever  My Documents  reside   The cygwin installer detects the HOME variable  automatically translates this into a cygpath and selects this it to be my   directory   This has worked fine for every workstation I have used professionally the last 5 years  about 3 or 4  Win7   I have always been the only user on these machines  cannot say what the effect is

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In the answer that uses the registry  I found that on Windows 2008 R2 SP1  you need to drop the Background out of the path  Further  since the chere and xhere are not part of cygwin64  here is a solution that works for both  combining the registry and the Send To solutions  Replace  E  cygwin64  with your install location   Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00   HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell cygwin bash     Open Cygwin Here    HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell cygwin bash command     E   cygwin64  bin  mintty exe -i  Cygwin-Terminal ico --exec  bin bash exe --login -c   cd   1    exec bash -rcfile    bashrc

User · Answer

I made a  reg file that puts an  Open Cygwin Here  option in the right-click context menu  It depends on the Cygwin  chere  package  which you can install using apt-cyg if you didn t install it in the initial setup   Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00   HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell cygwin bash     Open Cygwin Here    HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell cygwin bash command     C   cygwin  bin  mintty exe -e  bin xhere  bin bash exe

User · Answer

I use and Icon to launch my cygwin without the chere package    Create a shortcut on my desktop for the cygwin terminal  R-click the icon and select properties  On the shortcut tab  use this for the TARGET  C  cygwin64 bin mintty exe -i  Cygwin-Terminal ico -c  cd  For START IN  Put the path of the dir folder where you want to launch cygwin   i e  C  some dir name here

User · Answer

If you want to have that directory as your default  simply add a cd statement to your    profile file   What I tend to do is use that method to set my usual directory  plus define aliases for my common cases as well   alias tom  cd  users tom    or your equivalent  This lets me change directories very fast

User · Answer

I have made a registry edit script to open Cygwin at any folder you right click  It s on my GitHub    Here s my GitHub  Sample RegEdit code from Github for 64-bit machines   REGEDIT4   HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell CygwinHere      amp Cygwin Bash Here    HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell CygwinHere command     C   cygwin64  bin  mintty exe -i  Cygwin-Terminal ico C   cygwin64  bin  bash exe --login -c   cd      V       exec bash -rcfile    bashrc      HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Classes Directory Background shell CygwinHere      amp Cygwin Bash Here    HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Classes Directory Background shell CygwinHere command     C   cygwin64  bin  mintty exe -i  Cygwin-Terminal ico C   cygwin64  bin  bash exe --login -c   cd      V       exec bash -rcfile    bashrc

User · Answer

I have created the batch file and put it to the Cygwin s  bin directory  This script was developed so it allows to install uninstall the registry entries for opening selected folders and drives in Cygwin  For details see the link http   with-love-from-siberia blogspot com 2013 12 cygwin-here html    update  This solution does the same as early suggestions but all manipulations with Windows Registry are hidden within the script    Perform the command to install  cyghere bat  install   Perform the command to uninstall  cyghere bat  uninstall

User · Answer

I had also problem with git  that used to  steal  my cygwin commands - so i needed to run    C  cygwin bin mintty exe -  but after installing chere and executing chere -i -t mintty -f  as admin  see above   you can simply use     C  cygwin bin mintty exe -e  bin xhere  bin bash exe      I added this in Total Commander as custom button  right click on panel   add       and it works very well

User · Answer

You can add the icon to the shell by adding an Icon field set to the path to your Cygwin ico file   Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00   HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell cygwin bash     Cygwin   Icon     C   cygwin64  Cygwin ico      HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell cygwin bash command     C   cygwin64  bin  mintty exe -e  bin xhere  bin bash exe

User · Answer

To create a Windows shortcut that launches a Cygwin terminal in a directory of your own choosing  try the following    Right-click on the Windows desktop  select  New   and then select  Shortcut    For location of the item  enter the following text  changing the mintty path as needed and substituting the name of the desired directory where indicated   C  cygwin64 bin mintty exe  bin sh -lc  cd DESIRED-DIRECTORY  exec bash    For example  the OP would use the following text   C  cygwin64 bin mintty exe  bin sh -lc  cd  cygdrive c Users Tom Desktop   exec bash   Click  Next   Enter the desired name for the shortcut and click  Finish     Multiple shortcuts can be placed on the desktop to open Cygwin terminals in various often-accessed directories    Inspired by solution posted on How to open a Cygwin shell at a specific directory from Netbeans  at superuser com

User · Answer

When you install Cygwin  or if you   ve already installed it  download it again and start setup again to run an update   make sure that you select the chere package under the  Shells  category   After Cygwin is launched  open up a Cygwin terminal  as an administrator  and type the command  chere -i -t mintty -s bash   Now you should have  Bash Prompt Here  in the Windows right-click context menu    mintty is Cygwin s default terminal  If you don t choose it with the -t option  your  Bash Prompt Here  will use the same terminal as the Windows Command Prompt  which prevents horizontal resizing

User · Answer

For cygwin64 or installations without chere you can use the following command in a registry entry  assuming windows due to your path  also assuming cygwin installation directory is c  cygwin64   C  cygwin64 bin mintty exe  bin sh -lc  cd   cygpath   V     bash    Works on Windows 7 and 8 Registry file available for download here  http   tomkay me blog Cygwin64---Open-Here-18  Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00   Open cygwin to folder   http   tomkay me - Tom Kay   HKEY CLASSES ROOT Folder shell open cygwin     Open Cygwin Here    HKEY CLASSES ROOT Folder shell open cygwin command     C   cygwin64  bin  mintty exe  bin sh -lc  cd    cygpath    V       bash     HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell open cygwin     Open Cygwin Here    HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell open cygwin command     C   cygwin64  bin  mintty exe  bin sh -lc  cd    cygpath    V       bash

User · Answer

Here s what I use  It doesn t require chere package or registry tinkering   Works on Windows 7   Go to your  Send To  folder   C  Users  lt your user name gt  AppData Roaming Microsoft Windows SendTo   Create a shortcut named Bash Here having this in the Target field   C  cygwin bin mintty exe -i  Cygwin-Terminal ico  C  cygwin bin bash exe  -l -c  cd    0     exec bash    In the Windows Explorer  you right-click on a folder  amp  select Send To  gt  Bash Here   And here s the opposite trick  opening a Windows Explorer in your current bash dir   Create this alias   alias winx   cygdrive c Windows explorer exe  e   cygpath -w        Note  the cygpath -w   part above is enclosed in back-ticks     Now just type winx at the bash prompt  and a Win Explorer pops up there   Note  If winx directs you to your documents folder  try   alias winx   cygdrive c Windows explorer exe  e  cygpath -w  PWD

User · Answer

Save the following code as a file  cygwin bash reg This will add opening Cygwin in the current directory and opening Cygwin in the specified folder at the same time  Use  quot  bashrc quot  instead of  quot  bash profile quot  configuration  Because of exec bash   bashrc is executed for interactive non-login shells  see  https   apple stackexchange com questions 51036 what-is-the-difference-between-bash-profile-and-bashrc Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00   HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell z cygwin bash     quot Cygwin Here quot   quot Icon quot   quot C   cygwin64  Cygwin ico quot    HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell z cygwin bash command     quot C   cygwin64  bin  mintty exe  bin sh -lc  cd   quot  cygpath   quot  V  quot    quot   exec bash  quot    HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell z cygwin bash     quot Cygwin Here quot   quot Icon quot   quot C   cygwin64  Cygwin ico quot    HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell z cygwin bash command     quot C   cygwin64  bin  mintty exe  bin sh -lc  cd   quot  cygpath   quot  V  quot    quot   exec bash  quot

User · Answer

Open Cygwin terminal as Administrator   In powershell  using chocolatey    choco install cyg-get   In cygwin Will Install right-click menu  cyg-get install chere chere -i   Now you can right click and use  Bash Prompt Here  in any folder

User · Answer

As two7s clash said you first need to install chere package and setup mintty    Open Cygwin terminal as administrator apt-cyg install chere chere -i -t mintty   You are now able to open cygwin in specific directory with a Right mouse click in Windows Explorer  Context Menu  and select  Bash Prompt Here    You can also open cygwin from a specific directory using windows command prompt    Open windows command prompt Navigate  cd  to custom directory Execute C  cygwin64 bin mintty exe C  cygwin64 bin env exe CHERE INVOKING 1 C  cygwin64 bin bash exe -l  This command will open cygwin with current directory taken from command prompt    FreeCommander  This command can also be used to open cygwin from custom file manager  like FreeCommander   To open cygwin with current directory taken from FreeCommander  do the following    Tools -  Favorite Tools -  Favorite tools edit     Ctrl   Shift   Y  Add a new toolbar    Icon   Shortcut  Insert   Name  cygwin Program or folder  C  cygwin64 bin mintty exe Start folder   ActivDir  Parameter  C  cygwin64 bin env exe CHERE INVOKING 1 C  cygwin64 bin bash exe -l    You can add custom shortcut to open cygwin from FreeCommander    Tools -  Define keyboard shortcuts Scroll down to  Favorite tool 01   or  Favorite tool N   Assign new shortcut key  I use Ctrl   Shift   T   Great reference  MinTTY Wiki  article Tips  Starting in a particular directory

User · Answer

I don t know why I had to wast so much time  but this works for me on win 10  64 bit   Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00   HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell cygwin bash     Open Cygwin Here    HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell cygwin bash command     C   cygwin64  bin  mintty exe -i  Cygwin-Terminal ico C   cygwin64  bin  bash exe --login -c   cd      V       exec bash -rcfile    bashrc

User · Answer

Create a bash file say move sh which has the following code  C  cygwin64 bin run exe -p  bin bash runFile sh This starts the Cygwin and executes the runFile sh present in the bin directory of Cygwin Suppose you want to navigate to a specific directory say E  code then runFile sh has the following code cd E  cd code

User · Answer

On my Windows machine it was not taking   chere -i -t mintty  Because mintty shell was not available but you might have choice of various other shells like ash bash cmd dash mksh pdksh posh tcsh zsh passwd   so I used    chere -i -s bash

User · Answer

Probably the simplest one   1  Create file foo reg  2  Insert content   Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00   HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory background shell open mintty     open mintty    HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory background shell open mintty command     cmd  C mintty    3  Execute foo reg  Now just right-click in any folder  click open mintty and it will spawn mintty in that folder

User · Answer

You can just open cygwin terminal and write  cd and after drag n drop the folder you want end enter

User · Answer

This is the only Cygwin64 registry solution that worked for me in Windows 8 1   Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00   HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell mintty     Mintty from Here   NoWorkingDirectory       HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell mintty command     C   cygwin64  bin  mintty exe -h always -e  usr bin ash -c  cd       usr bin cygpath    L        exec  usr bin bash       Make sure you modify your  C  cygwin64  path as necessary

User · Answer

based on  LindseyD answer I created a simple BAT file  that opens cygwin in current directory  it may be useful  for me it is   Assuming that You have cygwin s bin directory in PATH   FOR  F   x IN   sh -c pwd   DO bash -l -i -c  cd   x  exec bash

User · Answer

From the cygwin terminal  run this command   echo  cd your path   gt  gt     bashrc  The  bashrc script is run when you open a new bash session   The code above with change to the your path directory when you open a new cygwin session

[windows] Open Cygwin at a specific folder

Examples related to windows

Examples related to cygwin