Emulate a Linux terminal and shell commands on Windows

Question

Ok, I am accustomed to Linux/Unix like terminal and its commands and now I am using Windows. Does anyone know how to emulate a Linux terminal and the bash Commands?

Solution

Ok, I do not know a unique software that do it perfectly, but, I know two awesome software (one for terminal emulator, another for shell commands) that can work together and do it perfectly.

ConEmu (Linux Terminal Emulator for Windows) and WinBash (Linux bash programs to Windows)

Preview

Setup it

1. Extract conemu in a directory (C:/conemu)
2. Extract win-bash files in a directory (C:/winbash)

3. Open conemu C:/conemu/ConEmu.exe or C:/conemu/ConEmu64.exe

   • 3.1 Go to menu, settings (Win + Alt + P)
     
   • 3.2 Go to Startup menu
   • 3.3 Check Command Line item
   • 3.4 Put C:/winbash/sh.exe path
     
   • 3.5 Click in Save Settings...
   • 3.6 Close and reopen conemu

Others shell libraries

You also can use any other shell libraries that you want, I personally use Gt Bash instead win-bash, because Git Bash is the win-bash with some more commands like, git and curl, however, you can put in yours custom .exe, .dlls etc. in C:/winbash folder.

• if you want to set it up with Git Bash instead win-bash install it and set the $GIT_INSTALLATION_PATH/bin/sh.exe in 3.4 step, C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\bin\sh.exe (for example) instead C:/winbash/sh.exe

Obs: I do not use the git bash instead conemu because conemu interaction is better in my opinion.

Comments

[Admin]

Have you looked at cygwin? part parts of the "terminal" are you looking to get access to? Do you just want to have bash and the associated job control/gnu tools, or do you really like some features of xterms or gnome terminals or something else?

[Maffelu]

This is an excellent answer and I would vote for the Git Bash solution rather than the Win Bash one.