How to make a symbolic link with Cygwin in Windows 7 - cygwin

Recently I have tested to write an Android application with native code in C/C++. The problem is in making symbolic links when using the Android NDK. After some googling, some say to use Cygwin. I have installed it now. How can I make a symbolic link with Cygwin in Windows 7?

In short, define the following environment variable:
CYGWIN=winsymlinks:nativestrict
According to Cygwin documentation:
If set to winsymlinks:native or winsymlinks:nativestrict, Cygwin creates symlinks as native Windows symlinks on filesystems and OS versions supporting them.
The difference between winsymlinks:native and winsymlinks:nativestrict is this: If the filesystem supports native symlinks and Cygwin fails to create a native symlink for some reason, it will fall back to creating Cygwin default symlinks with winsymlinks:native, while with winsymlinks:nativestrict the symlink(2) system call will immediately fail.
You should also make sure you run Cygwin with elevated privileges (right-click the shortcut and choose Run as Administrator, or set the mintty shortcut property, Advanced → Run as Administrator).
Some details are provided in the other answer.

I got it the next day! So, not to wrongly get ignorance thinking like me (newbie to Cygwin), I answer it now.
Making a symbolic link for Windows 7 is easy with the usual command:
ln -s
The answer is setting up Cygwin with the required packages such as make, etc.
Read the requirements clearly: Android NDK

You may try to use "mklink" instead of "ln -s" as Tony O'Hagan suggested in an answer to Git Bash shell fails to create symbolic links.

We had a similar problem and had a solution not documented in previous answers.
We needed a way to create a directory remote link that worked for both Cygwin and Windows 7 to a remote Samba (Linux) share.
We used this command in Windows PowerShell and it worked.
CMD /C MKLINK /D C:\local_dir_path\dir \\\\192.168.0.1\remote_dir_path\dir
The above command makes a link that works in both.
Of course, please change the local and remote directories to meet your needs.
ln -s works in Cygwin, but not Windows.
Using a "make link" command in Windows Explorer (folder view) worked in Windows, but not in Cygwin.
A similar command as above entered in Cygwin did not work and we didn't completely understand why. Perhaps it is related to conversion of strings or paths.

Related

Cygwin not working on Windows 10 (even after added to system's PATH)

I recently downloaded and installed Cygwin on my 64-bit Windows 10 computer. I'd like to for Cygwin to work with the normal Windows command prompt. Per instructions I found online, I added the path to the Cygwin executable to my system's PATH:
Advanced System Settings -> Environment Variables -> appended ;C:\cygwin64\bin to system's Path
Unfortunately, Cygwin still doesn't work on Windows command prompt. Any suggestions?
You will not be able to make use of all Cygwin functionality at the Windows command prompt. Some limited use of commands -- specifically those commands that exist as binaries in the C:\cygwin64\bin directory, and don't rely on any kind of shell support -- will work. But since your're not running a shell when you're in a Windows prompt, the associated support normally available to you in a Cygwin native command window will not be there.

Trying to use bash on Windows and got no installed distributions message

I am trying to use bash on Windows 10, but I'm getting this message when tried to run bash:
Windows Subsystem for Linux has no installed distributions.
Distributions can be installed by visiting the Windows Store:
https://aka.ms/wslstore Press any key to continue...
When I go to that url which opens the Windows Store app, there no sign of any Linux distribution there.
My windows version is(as in my right bottom corner of the screen):
Windows 10 Enterprise Insider Preview. Evaluation copy.Build
16215.rs_prerelease.170603-1840
I follow the instructions in this guide Installation Guide and also was watching this video Editing code and files on Windows Subsystem for Linux on Windows 10 from Scott Hanselman, but they didn't get the message of no installed distribution.
Any Help?
When the Windows Store opened, there was no Distro to choose, then I found this command lxrun /install and worked for me as well.
You will get something like this as an output:
C:\WINDOWS\system32>lxrun /install
Warning: lxrun.exe is only used to configure the legacy Windows Subsystem for Linux distribution.
Distributions can be installed by visiting the Microsoft Store:
https://aka.ms/wslstore
This will install Ubuntu on Windows, distributed by Canonical and licensed under its terms available here:
https://aka.ms/uowterms
Type "y" to continue: y
Downloading from the Microsoft Store... 100%
Extracting filesystem, this will take a few minutes...
Would you like to set the Ubuntu locale to match the Windows locale (en-FI)?
The default locale is en_US.
Type "y" to continue: y
Please create a default UNIX user account. The username does not need to match your Windows username.
For more information visit: https://aka.ms/wslusers
Enter new UNIX username: <you type your login here>
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Installation successful!
Documentation is available at: https://aka.ms/wsldocs
I'm getting a similar bug after trying to uninstall and reinstall.
For me I had to open a cmd prompt as administrator and run lxrun /install
I get this when I have recently rebooted. If I wait 5 minutes, the problem fixes itself !
The top answers written for this question are more than enough. I just had trouble following them because lxrun command has been depreceated, so I get the error
'lxrun' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable
program or batch file.
when I try to run this command with cmd.
It has been replaced with wsl command. You can get more info on this issue here - https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/WSL/issues/425
When you run wsl /install, there is a chance you may still get the error that you had earlier posted in your question. In that case, simply go to the link https://aka.ms/wslstore as you had gone earlier. If you don't see anything coming up, simply search for Ubuntu and install the same. (If you search with the term wsl though, you will get to see other Linux flavors too and then you can download any of your choice)
It seems that the link given in the command doesn't work. Here's the actual link to the microsoft store for Ubuntu.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/store/p/ubuntu/9nblggh4msv6?rtc=1
You have to go to https://aka.ms/wslstore this link and download ubuntu on windows. After that you can use bash on windows.
If you have any problems with running lxrun /install (for example on ltsb Windows version) try manual mode.
First, go to the folder with downloaded .appx file and run following commands (change filename if needed):
Rename-Item ~/Ubuntu.appx ~/Ubuntu.zip
Expand-Archive ~/Ubuntu.zip ~/Ubuntu
After finishing cd into new folder and run ubuntu.exe file. That's it.
If you get this error after installing a distribution using the windows store, and WSL was working previously, you may need to make sure that the LxssManager service is running, since it often stops after a Windows update or a reboot.
Go to services.msc, and search for LxssManager and start it; if it is running already, restart it.
For everyone who is getting
'lxrun' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
or
Windows Subsystem for Linux has no installed distributions.
Distributions can be installed by visiting the Microsoft Store:
https://aka.ms/wslstore
Open microsoft store, install 'Ubuntu' then open the app. This will install ubuntu and later you can use wsl command since lxrun is deprecated
Go to add or remove programs
Install Windows subsystem for Linux
Go to https://aka.ms/wslstore, which will take you to the Microsoft Store
Select and install a Linux distribution
lxrun /install
Works on a Administrator Command Prompt for Windows 10 Professional, Version 1803 Build 17134.165
This installs GNU/Linux by default whereas there is an option to select between:
Ubuntu
openSUSE Leap 42
SUSE Linux Enterprise
Debian GNU/Linux
Kali Linux
If the given link (https://aka.ms/wslstore) works, it openes the windows store for me with an error saying something is wrong on their side and to try again later.
It's actually easier to solve this problem that other solutions listed here. If you run wslconfig /l and if the output is:
Windows Subsystem for Linux Distributions:
Ubuntu (Default)
Just run wslconfig /s Ubuntu to set Ubuntu as default again. It should start working now.
Edit:
I've also found that if this problem occurs on a fresh boot, then you just wait for a few minutes (10 minutes max) and this error automatically disappears.
Edit 2:
I've also found that this error is sometimes also due to the corresponding service not running. Run CMD as administrator and run
net start LxssManager
For running bash on windows ubuntu is required to be installed.
As you've already added bash from programs and features, now you need to install Ubuntu. Contrary to what is seen in most of the installation guides on web, it does not gets installed by running 'bash.exe'.
You can simply go to Microsoft store in search for 'Bash' or 'Ubuntu'and install Ubuntu 18 LTS from there.
After installation you'll be able to use the terminal and all its commands.
Run the bash command in git bash windows. It worked !!
As of 2022, New Linux distributions are available for Windows 10 as well as Windows 11 like Kali Linux and Ubuntu. Both available from Microsoft Store. Someone watching this question now can visit Microsoft Store to Download them..
I had this same issue. But when you go to the windows store you can search for ubuntu and then install the ubuntu app and it works. I think most of the tutorials on the net are from the beta version and have afterwards never been updated.
https://insights.ubuntu.com/2017/07/11/windows-10-loves-ubuntu-loveislove/
Note: This is also old. You do not need to be on the insider builds. I'm not and it worked.
The only thing that worked for me is described here https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-manual#downloading-distros
https://aka.ms/wsl-ubuntu-1804
manually install it or run Add-AppxPackage.\.appx from PowerShell
The link to the store appears to have a region lock in it, resulting in errors for many visitors.
However there are different Ubuntu distributions to be downloaded. See image below, image is however in Dutch but it will show results.
So pick a version you desire and it will result in a working bash.
The actual answer to the question query is: The user exists with Ubuntu already installed. But WSL command does not find anything in CMD.exe "Command Line" "System does not find distribution."
You need to start the below WSL command from Windows Start Menu. And then the old Linux System will show up on WSL in the command line as found.
If this doesn't work for you? Just start up PowerShell with Administrator and:
WSL --help
WSL "only this command, will start the Linux default distro selected"
You can then start up using this command with CMD.exe Administrator in Windows:
lxrunoffline l "This will now list all your distros"
With an option to remove old distros copied to Windows folders are with perhaps Ubuntu18.04 such way that you will have to use Linux to remove older folders, do not try to copy or edit files in a distro with Windows Apps. You risk integrity problems as well as many errors followed by huge processing time. Use folder /mnt to find your drive with Linux and use commands there to further finish your work as perhaps copying the home directory into a new distro.
My solution to move "not copy" my distro then was: "to give space for C:"
lxrunoffline m -n Ubuntu-18.04 -d d:\wslinstalled\Ubuntu-18.04 "remember folder names"
"Remember folder name such as Ubuntu-18.04 for a specific movement. Unless you will overwrite everything on that folder name with also the lxrunoffline files and you risk losing older copies if you use one folder name. You might end up with a strange name to your project if you just use one directory."
Lxrunoffline has several other commands if you need help just run:
lxrunoffline
like beginner_ said in his answer you need to go to the store and look for the distros you want to install.
Please see the following link to understand what has changed and what you can excpect or what distros you can look for(the list is outdated so just try to find an updated list or just try your luck).
I am running on my machine without the developer mode Ubuntu, OpenSuse and Kali.
Access to Microsoft Store is blocked by my company. For me following worked in PowerShell (admin) -
lxrun /install
Go to cmd, and then run the following command:
lxrun /install
Typing lxrun /install in elevated command prompt works....
The solution to the error "WSL 2 installation is incomplete",
Execute the following steps:
wsl --install -d Ubuntu ## lxrun is no more, its now replaced with wsl,
enter image description here
wsl
enter image description here

Using Visual Studio Code on Windows with Ubuntu-Bash and NodeJS

I'm trying to figure out how to do my web development on Windows using the relatively new Windows Subsystem for Linux (Bash on Ubuntu on Windows) in conjunction with Visual Studio Code. I've configured the IDE to use the Bash in its integrated terminal, and I've set the project up such that the files are accessible in both the Linux and Windows file system.
The last thing I want to get set up is to get the IDE set up with NodeJS, but not NodeJS for Windows. I want it to use an installation of NodeJS in the Linux Subsystem. Does anyone know if it's possible to point VS Code to the Node installation in the Linux Subsystem?
This was a stumbling block for me too, until I found out that the real problem is that there's a pathing issue with WSL that creates a conflict if you already have NPM installed for Windows. Hopefully you've already figured this out yourself, but for anyone else who hits this, I'm copying in an excerpt from my longer guide on Visual C + WSL that's specific to this problem alone.
Given what you've said, I'll assume you already have node and NPM already installed in WSL's Ubuntu.
Using your favorite CLI editor (such as nano, vim, emacs, cat and sed… etc), open your ~/.profile
nano ~/.profile
Note: do NOT attempt to edit Linux files using Windows tools. (Thanks to #david-c-rankin's comment for the official link with the bold red text explaining this) If you don't want to use a CLI editor for this in the terminal, see the bottom of the answer this is excerpted from for a link on how to get a GUI one running.
Currently, the default bash PATH variable in WSL is
PATH="$HOME/bin:$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
Which is injecting the windows path after the first two binary directories. Unfortunately, this doesn't result in /usr/bin being used before the windows installed npm, so add that before the final $PATH:
PATH="$HOME/bin:$HOME/.local/bin:/usr/bin:$PATH"
Save out, and then either reload the terminal or just source the path file
source ~/.profile
VSCode (v1.18) now has better WSL support for Node:
I use nvm to install Node on Ubuntu, although it should work fine if you install it normally.
e.g.
nvm install 9.2.0
nvm alias default 9.2.0
From the VSCode docs
If you want to run Node.js in the Linux subsystem on Windows (WSL), you can use the approach from above as well. However to make this even simpler, we've introduced a useWSL flag to automatically configure everything so that Node.js runs in the Linux subsystem and source is mapped to files in your workspace.
Here is the simplest debug configuration for debugging hello.js in WSL:
{
"type": "node",
"request": "launch",
"name": "Launch in WSL",
"useWSL": true,
"program": "${workspaceFolder}/hello.js"
}
I opened bash outside of the vs code and run the following command, to install node.
sudo apt install nodejs-legacy
and I'm able to run node with bash in vs code.

Shared folder between Windows host and Ubuntu guest, long filenames

I'm setting up an Ubuntu guest under Windows using VirtualBox for a colleague to provide him with a Linux-based development environment for a node.js application.
This colleague of mine can't or doesn't want to SSH into the VM and work in emacs or vim; he's a Sublime Text guy. So I have set up the project tree in a VirtualBox shared folder so he can access it from Windows (to edit) and the Linux VM (to build/test).
Unfortunately, npm install fails with file system errors. The problem seems to be extremely long path names resulting from deeply nested node_modules dependencies. I'm guessing we're hitting a Windows limit on filename length. The npm install works just fine in a regular (non-shared) directory in the VM.
Does anyone have ideas about how to deal with this problem? One idea I had was to somehow alias or link $MY_PROJECT/node_modules to another, non-shared location, but I can't figure out how to do that.
Update: I'm going to try this hack: https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/11976.
Update 2: Ended up using samba, which is probably what I should have done in the first place.
One option is to use one of the multiple ways for sublime to edit remote files over ssh, covered in some detail here
How to use Sublime over SSH
Another is try using the native windows version of node and have your colleague develop locally directly under windows.

Cygwin terminal crashes

I installed Cygwin on windows 7 64 bit ultimate and after starting cygwin terminal it crashes and creates a file named mintty.exe.stackdump, and in this file there is a line i.e
Exception: STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION at eip=61004DF6
After searching it on google; it seems that this exception occurs if their are two cygwin1.dll in system. There is only one that is inside the installation directory of cygwin.
I had installed mingw, but even after uninstalling mingw it still crashes. I didn't worked on cygwin before can anybody guide me how I could get rid of this problem
cygwin1.dll gets installed by some other programs that get ported from Linux to Windows, such as OpenSSH. It's possible that you have another version of it somewhere else on your system that was installed by a different application.
It doesn't necessarily need to be in your Cygwin install dir either. Just being in a directory that's in your PATH env variable, for instance, would be enough for it to cause confusion for Cygwin.
If you know exactly of a likely culprit (think Windows ports of traditionally Linux programs and tools), I would check those first. Otherwise, try digging in the different directories in your path var (you can see them by firing up a cmd.exe terminal and running the command echo %path%).

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