Open Cygwin, MinGW or PowerShell in Current Folder with Windows Explorer

Open Cygwin Terminal from Windows Explorer using Keyboard Shortcut

Cygwin is a popular Unix-like environment for Windows that provides a command-line interface for performing various tasks. MinGW is a collection of tools that allows you to run native Windows applications. PowerShell is a cross-platform task automation solution made up of a command-line shell, a scripting language, and a configuration management framework.

Introduction

If you are a Windows user and work with Cygwin, MinGW, or PowerShell, you may find it convenient to open the terminal directly from the current folder in Windows Explorer using a keyboard shortcut. This article will show you how to do just that.

Using Cygwin

To open the Cygwin terminal from the current folder in Windows Explorer, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the folder you want to open in Windows Explorer.
2. Press the Shift key and right-click on an empty space in the folder.
3. Select Open command window here from the context menu.
4. Replace the command prompt with the path to the Cygwin installation directory, followed by a space and the bash command. For example, if your Cygwin installation directory is C:\cygwin64, type C:\cygwin64\bin\bash.exe and press Enter.

$ pwd
/cygdrive/c/Users/username/Documents/folder

You can create a keyboard shortcut to open the Cygwin terminal from the current folder by following these steps:

1. Right-click on the desktop or Start menu and select New > Shortcut.
2. In the location field, type the path to the Cygwin installation directory, followed by a space and the bash command. For example, C:\cygwin64\bin\bash.exe --login -i.
3. Click Next and give the shortcut a name, such as Cygwin Terminal.
4. Click Finish.
5. Right-click on the shortcut and select Properties.
6. In the Shortcut tab, click on the Shortcut key field and press the desired key combination, such as Ctrl+Alt+C.
7. Click OK.

Using MinGW

To open the MinGW terminal from the current folder in Windows Explorer, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the folder you want to open in Windows Explorer.
2. Press the Shift key and right-click on an empty space in the folder.
3. Select Open command window here from the context menu.
4. Type mingw32-make.exe and press Enter.

$ pwd
/c/Users/username/Documents/folder

You can create a keyboard shortcut to open the MinGW terminal from the current folder by following these steps:

1. Right-click on the desktop or Start menu and select New > Shortcut.
2. In the location field, type the path to the MinGW installation directory, followed by a space and the mingw32-make.exe command. For example, C:\MinGW\bin\mingw32-make.exe.
3. Click Next and give the shortcut a name, such as MinGW Terminal.
4. Click Finish.
5. Right-click on the shortcut and select Properties.
6. In the Shortcut tab, click on the Shortcut key field and press the desired key combination, such as Ctrl+Alt+M.
7. Click OK.

Using PowerShell

To open the PowerShell terminal from the current folder in Windows Explorer, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the folder you want to open in Windows Explorer.
2. Press the Shift key and right-click on an empty space in the folder.
3. Select Open PowerShell window here from the context menu.

PS C:\Users\username\Documents\folder>

You can create a keyboard shortcut to open the PowerShell terminal from the current folder by following these steps:

1. Right-click on the desktop or Start menu and select New > Shortcut.
2. In the location field, type powershell.exe and add the -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -NoProfile -Command Set-Location switch, followed by the path to the folder you want to open. For example, powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -NoProfile -Command Set-Location 'C:\Users\username\Documents\folder'.
3. Click Next and give the shortcut a name, such as PowerShell Terminal.
4. Click Finish.
5. Right-click on the shortcut and select Properties.
6. In the Shortcut tab, click on the Shortcut key field and press the desired key combination, such as Ctrl+Alt+P.
7. Click OK.

• Cygwin, MinGW, and PowerShell are popular command-line interfaces for Windows.
• You can open the Cygwin, MinGW, or PowerShell terminal from the current folder in Windows Explorer using a keyboard shortcut.
• To create a keyboard shortcut, follow the steps outlined in this article.

References

• Cygwin
• MinGW
• PowerShell