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I have MinGW/MSYS on Windows, and can't figure how to start MSYS shell in folder I'm working in.

For example, in Windows console I'm working in folder c:\temp and if I call MSYS (msys.bat) it opens new console window in some fixed location, representing my home folder.

How to change this msys.bat file, so that MSYS shell opens in current working folder (or changes to it, after start)?

zetah
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  • Can you include the contents of that batch file in your question? – Karan Jun 13 '13 at 23:41
  • Sure: https://github.com/msysgit/msysgit/blob/master/msys.bat – zetah Jun 13 '13 at 23:57
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    Unless I missed something I don't see a path being set anywhere in that batch file. My guess is that rxvt/bash are starting up in their default dirs as per their config files. You *might* be able to pass your current dir (`%cd%`) to them somehow, but I'm not sure. – Karan Jun 14 '13 at 00:08
  • Yep, that's what I'm looking for: when calling bash instruct it to change in current working folder under Windows. Cygwin has similar option – zetah Jun 14 '13 at 00:21

6 Answers6

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I'm not sure what version of msysgit you are using, but for me calling msys.bat does not change the current directory. If you see the directory being changed, check the etc/profile file in the msysgit directory for cd commands. As this file gets executed when a login shell is started it might be the cause for you to always land in your home directory.

sschuberth
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    Yes, the last line in that file (...\mingw\msys\1.0\etc\profile on my system) is `cd "$HOME"`. If you comment that out bash will start in the current folder, then it's easy enough to type `cd` to go to the home folder. – Brian Burns Jul 08 '14 at 09:51
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As others have pointed out, msys.bat will issue a cd "$HOME" from etc/profile. Setting the HOME environment variable to . gives me a mingw shell with the correct working directory.

set HOME=.
C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\msys.bat
Marcel Greter
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You can create a bash file and pass arguments to the msys2_shell.cmd to start anywhere you want it to be.

msys2_shell.cmd -where "home/name/esp"

Brandan
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If you want to run it in the folder you are working in, and you are working in that folder regularly, you can add a line to the end of .bash_profile in your home directory.

cd /c/temp

This command will be ran each time you log into the terminal. You can get elaborate and source a file if you have multiple commands you want to run, e.g.

. ~/etc/start_script . ~/etc/start_script2

This is especially useful if you already have your .bashrc configured and or don't really want to use an alternate HOME path.

Brian Thomas
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In case the modifying of etc/profile (commenting out of cd "$HOME" like in first answer) is undesirable for some reason, this could do the job:

# in mingw:
%SystemDrive%\mingw\msys\1.0\bin\sh.exe --login -i -c "cd '%TEMP%'; $SHELL"
# msys in root:
%SystemDrive%\msys\bin\sh.exe --login -i -c "cd '%TEMP%'; $SHELL"

This example would start msys shell in /tmp directory.

sebres
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0

This is not exactly what you were asking for but has the same effect.

What you could do is adding a MSYS2 here context menu entry. To do so add the following to your registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Conext menu entry right clicking on directories
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\msys_shell]
@="MSYS2 Here"
"Icon"="C:\\msys64\\msys2.exe"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\msys_shell\command]
@="\"C:\\msys64\\msys2_shell.cmd\" \"-where\" \"%V\""


; Conext menu entry right clicking when in the library folder
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\LibraryFolder\background\shell\msys_shell]
@="MSYS2 Here"
"Icon"="C:\\msys64\\msys2.exe"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\LibraryFolder\background\shell\msys_shell\command]
@="\"C:\\msys64\\msys2_shell.cmd\" \"-where\" \"%V.\""


; Conext menu entry right clicking not on directories but the background
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shell\msys_shell]
@="MSYS2 Here"
"Icon"="C:\\msys64\\msys2.exe"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shell\msys_shell\command]
@="\"C:\\msys64\\msys2_shell.cmd\" \"-where\" \"%V\""


; Conext menu entry right clicking on directories
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\msys_shell]
@="MSYS2 Here"
"Icon"="C:\\msys64\\msys2.exe"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\msys_shell\command]
@="\"C:\\msys64\\msys2_shell.cmd\" \"-where\" \"%V\""
  • Make sure you adapt the MSYS2 installation paths accordingly
  • You can find more information regarding the use of %V here
  • Adding "-use-full-path" to lines where msys2_shell.cmd is called allows you to use everything in PATH in MSYS2
holzkohlengrill
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