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/


        

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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

Answer 3

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\<your_user_name>\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 & select Send To > 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`'

Answer 4

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"

Answer 5

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

Answer 6

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.