MinGW + MSYS + Mintty = Light Unix Env on Windows :)

This is a good choice for those who just want to use Bash Shell on windows but reluctant to install the huge cygwin.

Step 1:  Install MinGW and MSYS. You can follow the wiki here.

Step 2:  Download mintty.

Step 3: Unzip mintty to MSYS’s bin folder. Usually it is

C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\bin       or

C:\msys\1.0\bin

Step 5. Create a shortcut with command like

C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\bin\mintty.exe /bin/bash --login -i

Then you can enjoy the mintty with bash shell.

Note: To make bash load your .bashrc or .bashrc_profile so you can customize your environment, you need to add following code to /etc/profile :

Then create a file e.g.~/ .bashrc and add anything you like. Ibasically  like to put in