Windows 10 Insiders Can Take Bash for a Spin -- Visual Studio Magazine

Windows 10 Insiders Can Take Bash for a Spin

A Windows 10 preview build now has some basic Bash shell capabilities that only Windows Insider members can check out in a test environment.

By David Ramel
04/07/2016

Microsoft announced that developers registered with the Windows Insider program can now take the Bash shell features for a test drive in Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14316 that was released today. Windows Insiders can get it from the project's development branch.

"In this build, you can natively run Bash in Windows as announced last week at Build 2016," Microsoft's Gabe Aul announced in a blog post. "To do this, you first need to turn on Developer Mode via Settings > Update & security > For developers. Then search for 'Windows Features' and choose 'Turn Windows features on or off' and enable Windows Subsystem for Linux (Beta). To get Bash installed, open Command Prompt and type 'bash'."

In the Build announcement, Microsoft's Kevin Gallo explained, "This is not a VM, this is not cross-compiled tools, this is native Ubuntu Linux binaries running on Windows through the magic of a new Windows subsystem. We partnered with Canonical, which developed this great console experience, which you'll be able to download directly from the Windows Store. Inside of Bash, you have access to the native file system, VT100 support, SSH and all of your favorite command-line tools."

Microsoft's Scott Hanselman provided more info on the new Linux capabilities, including user-mode Ubuntu Linux binaries, being baked into Windows 10, in a blog post published last week.

"This is a new developer feature included in a Windows 10 'Anniversary' update (coming soon)," Hanselman said. "It lets you run native user-mode Linux shells and command-line tools unchanged, on Windows.

The Bash shell is but one small part of a huge range of new features showcased in the new build. It also includes cross-device features for the Cortana personal assistant, including help in finding a lost phone; new extensions for the Microsoft Edge browser, a Skype UWP preview; virtual desktop improvements and even a bunch of updated emoji.

"As a reminder, the Windows Insider program is designed for hardware experts who are comfortable downloading unfinished software, preferably on a secondary device," a Microsoft spokesperson said in an e-mail to ADTmag.com.

About the Author

David Ramel is an editor and writer at Converge 360.

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