Windows 7 Right Click Menu to Launch Cygwin

If you use Windows 7 and Cygwin here are instructions for creating a Windows 7 File Explorer right-click menu to lauch Cygwin (image on right).

Steps

1. Install Cygwin (here's a link to the download site). I installed mine to c:\programs\cygwin. We'll call this CYGWIN_HOME.

2. Add the CYGWIN_HOME to the system path

3. Create a file called runBash.bat in the CYGWIN_HOME\bin with the following lines:

• @echo off
• %~d1
• chdir %~p1
• cd %1
• bash --rcfile ~/.bashrc -i

4. Use Regedit to add a registry entry called HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\bash with value of Bash Here...

5. Use Regedit to create another registry entry called HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\bash\command with a value of c:\programs\cygwin\bin\runBash.bat "%1"

6. That's it. Now you can right click in File Explorer and open a Cygwin window.