Bash for Windows

So last week at //Build/ Microsoft announced native Bash-integration on the Windows 10 platform and today they delivered the first preview. Being a Windows Insider since nearly day 1 – including installing those buggy mobile builds on my daily driver – I still have my daily driver set to the fast ring and I received build 14316 today. After about 30 mins of installation (ymmv), I eagerly logged in and typed ‘bash’. Unfortunately, nothing happened.

Then I realized I had to switch some options on. First you need to enable the ‘developer mode’. You can do this by opening the settings app and selecting the correct option:

Next you can enable the optional windows feature ‘Windows Subsystem for Linux (Beta)’:

After a reboot, you can press the windows key and enter ‘bash’. A new prompt will open with the question if you want to install Ubuntu – say what:

And that’s it, you’re root:

A few tips:

• right click the title bar and go to ‘properties’ enable ‘quick editing’ here, this allows you to copy/paste into the window.
• if you’re like me, and you try to install Docker even though you kind of knew it wouldn’t work: it doesn’t work. Luckily there’s an easy integration running a docker host in HyperV just around the corner (and I run the beta already), so no sweat there, just had to try 🙂