I recently got Bash running on Windows. Since I use a Mac, one might wonder why I’d do such a thing? Here’s bullets of what my needs were:
- Needed to VPN into my customer’s network with minimal disruption to my Mac’s network settings
- Needed an environment that could run CAC software so I could use my PIV card to authenticate for VPN
- Needed to use the customer’s supplied installation instructions (either Mac or Windows) for the above CAC software
- Needed a desktop environment that could run native MS Project (juicy, I know!)
Given all the above, I configured VirtualBox to run Windows 10 and now wanted to use Bash to run git commands. Naturally, I Googled “bash on Windows” which came up with several results.
Figuring I’d give it a shot, I joined the Windows Insider Program, followed the instructions at howtogeek.com, turned on Developer Mode, turned the Windows Subsystem feature on, rebooted several times, and I was off and running!
So far I’ve had good success running (and installing) normal Ubuntu packages.
If you’re looking for a similar setup as me, give it a shot and let me know if you run into any blockers!