I have installed MinGW-w64 and MSYS2. But how do I change the HOME directory in MSYS2? So that when I type cd $home or cd ~ it goes to another directory that I defined.
And how do I write a code so that the starting directory is always where the .bat file is placed on?
In cmd I used this code:
%~d1 cd "%~p1" call cmd
so when I open cmd on my desktop, it starts from the directory on desktop.
How can I do a similar thing with msys2?
If you would like to use your windows home folder as the home folder for MSYS2, you can edit /etc/nsswitch.conf and write:
db_home: windows 
/etc/nsswitch.conf not /etc/nssswitch.conf 
db_home: env windows /C/your-dot-files as suggested here [ conemu.github.io/en/CygwinHome.html]
Msys2 will use windows %HOME% as it's $HOME dir. If you set %HOME% in environment variables (to the windows directory you need Msys2 to use) it will work.
I prefer to just update /etc/fstab @ fstab.
# cat /etc/fstab # For a description of the file format, see the Users Guide # https://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/using.html#mount-table # DO NOT REMOVE NEXT LINE. It remove cygdrive prefix from path none / cygdrive binary,posix=0,noacl,user 0 0 ################################################################## # Canonicalize the two home directories by mounting the windows # # user home with the same path mapping as unix. # ################################################################## c:/Users /home ntfs binary,posix=0,noacl,user 0 0 
C:/Users /home ntfs binary,posix=0,noacl,user 0 0. BTW I prefer to mount the entire C:\Users to /home, as it's easier to comply.
Besides the above answers, there is another way with the Windows command mklink to make a directory symbol link, that similar to ln in Linux.
First, make a directory of e:\msys\home, then run cmd as Administrator, and execute:
> cd c:\msys64 > mklink /j home e:\msys\home no other change required.
Occasionally, after specific base updates, the directory link becomes invalid, and a new 'home' directory is made under the raw installation directory. That requires to rename or remove the new generated 'home' directory, and run the mklink command again.
Note that Git Bash is MSYS2-based. So, see also my other answer here: Change the location of the ~ directory in a Windows install of Git Bash.
how do I change the
HOMEdirectory in MSYS2?
Open C:\msys64\home\my_username\.bash_profile and add this to the top:
# Change your home (`~`) dir to `C:\Users\my_username` HOME="/c/Users/$(whoami)" # OPTIONAL: change your start directory too: # Start in HOME cd "$HOME" # OR cd "$HOME/path/to/some/start/dir" # etc. I really prefer to use the seven MSYS2 terminals inside Windows Terminal, since it is a great terminal shell and allows modern features like multiple tabs.
From my MSYS2 setup answer here: Installing & setting up MSYS2 from scratch, including adding all 7 profiles to Windows Terminal:
HOME directoryFirst, here is how to set the starting directory to your HOME directory so that a terminal starts there when you open it up:
Open Windows Terminal.
Then, click the little drop-down arrow at the top-right of the open tab, and select "Settings" --> in the Settings tab that opens up, click "Open JSON file" in the bottom-left, as shown here:
In the JSON settings file that opens up, look for the
"profiles"section in the JSON file
Then, add an MSYS2 profile like this, setting the "startingDirectory" value like this. Note that this is just one of seven of the MSYS2 profiles. See my full answer above for all 7 profiles:
// -ucrt64 (recommended default) { "commandline": "C:/msys64/msys2_shell.cmd -defterm -here -no-start -ucrt64 -shell bash", "guid": "{a718a3d5-9e77-4d0d-b7b6-69ec3d190206}", "hidden": false, "name": "MSYS2: ucrt64 (recommended default)", // "startingDirectory": "C:/msys64/home/%USERNAME%", // alternative "startingDirectory": "%USERPROFILE%", // ie: C:\Users\my_username "icon": "C:/msys64/ucrt64.ico", "font": { "size": 10 } }, HOME directory to whatever you wantNext, here is how I set my HOME (~) dir to whatever I want in the seven MSYS2 terminals:
Again, from my MSYS2 setup answer here: Installing & setting up MSYS2 from scratch, including adding all 7 profiles to Windows Terminal:
Change your
HOME(~) dir from MSYS2's default ofC:\msys64\home\my_usernameto your regular Windows home dir ofC:\Users\my_username:Open up
C:\msys64\home\my_username\.bash_profilein a text editor, such as VSCode. Modify it so that it looks like this. Note: you can just comment everything out with#and add this to the top:# Change your home (`~`) dir to `C:\Users\my_username` HOME="/c/Users/$(whoami)" # Source your `C:\Users\my_username\.profile` file, if it exists if [ -f "$HOME/.profile" ]; then . "$HOME/.profile" fiClose and re-open Windows Terminal. Run
echo ~andecho "$HOME"and ensure they now both show/c/Users/my_username. Runls -aand ensure you see the contents of your normal Windows home directory for your user.pwdshould show that you are currently in that directory too...
In one of your shell startup scripts (e.g. ~/.bash_profile where ~ is the default/original home directory) you can change the $HOME environment variable:
export HOME=/something/else If you want your shell to open in that directory you might need to run cd (with no arguments) after setting $HOME; I have not tested it.
Create or modify an MSYS2 /etc/passwd file. Two ways of doing this are shown below.
The following command can be run from an MSYS2 shell, and works safely whether or not the file exists and whether or not it already contains the current user:
$ grep "^${USERNAME}:" /etc/passwd >/dev/null 2>&1 || mkpasswd | grep "^${USERNAME}:" >>/etc/passwd Next, edit /etc/passwd, and change the relevant user's home directory field (the 6th colon-delimited field).
$ vim /etc/passwd BONUS: It is also possible to change the MSYS2 username by editing the first field.
As desired, move current home directory content to the new home directory.
Log off, then log back in.
The /etc/passwd edits can be done without manual editing, but this makes for a more complex command-line to paste into the MSYS2 shell, and, it might not work if the /etc/passwd file already exists and has the username in it already:
__DIR="/path/to/home" mkpasswd | grep "^${USERNAME}:" | \ awk -v DIR="${__DIR}" -v RS=":" -v ORS="/n" \ 'NR == 6 { printf(DIR ":"); next } { printf("%s", $0) } NR < 7 { printf(":") }' - >>/etc/passwd 
Adding HOME='E:/Users/your_directory' in /etc/profile. It looks as follows:
... # Setup some default paths. Note that this order will allow user installed # software to override 'system' software. # Modifying these default path settings can be done in different ways. # To learn more about startup files, refer to your shell's man page. MSYS2_PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin" MANPATH='/usr/local/man:/usr/share/man:/usr/man:/share/man' INFOPATH='/usr/local/info:/usr/share/info:/usr/info:/share/info' HOME='e:/Users/HP' case "${MSYS2_PATH_TYPE:-minimal}" in ... but then in fresh start, your shell would shows the full path, instead of just ~.
E:/Users/<your_username> $ instead of
~ $ 
Also using /etc/fstab but in another way:
# this line is generated by cygwin/msys2. none YOUR_CYGDRIVE_MOUNT_PATH cygdrive binary,posix=0,noacl,user 0 0 # add this line: YOUR_CYGDRIVE_MOUNT_PATH/c/Users/USER_NAME /home/USER_NAME none bind YOUR_CYGDRIVE_MOUNT_PATH = The path where your Windows drives are mounted into your cygwin/msys2 environment.
USER_NAME = Your username. Usually in msys2 you have the same username as your Windows username.
Explanation:
Cygwin/msys2 will mount your Windows drives to YOUR_CYGDRIVE_MOUNT_PATH (for msys2, the default value is /).
Instead of creating another mount directly from your NTFS filesystem (from @cornnutz 's answer), we create a bind from a subpath to our Windows user directory YOUR_CYGDRIVE_MOUNT_PATH/c/Users/USER_NAME to /home/USER_NAME.
Try it out without editing /etc/fstab:
You can achieve the same result from command line by executing:
mount -o bind YOUR_CYGDRIVE_MOUNT_PATH/c/Users/USER_NAME/ /home/USER_NAME I know this is an old post, however, I just got a new Windows 11 laptop, and had to go over it again. So here is what I've been using to let MSYS2 use my Windows USERPROFILE directory (C:\Users\USERNAME) as their HOME (/home/USERNAME) directory.
db_home: /c/Users/%U It is based on the ConEmu post mentioned in the comments to dr ganjoo top rated accepted answer.
I use the following sed oneliner to make the change.
sed -i.bak 's!^\(db_home:\)\(.*\)$!# \1\2\n\1 /c/User/%U!' '/etc/nsswitch.conf' Diff:
- db_home: cygwin desc + # db_home: cygwin desc + db_home: /c/Users/%U I've created a batch file which sets the HOME variable:
set HOME=C:\Users\%USERNAME% C:\LocalApp\PortableGit\git-bash.exe This allows me to put my .bash_profile in this HOME (rather than on the default network location which performs very slowly).
