Notes for Windows users: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:38, 9 August 2019

Windows is not a UNIX or UNIX-like operating system, so there are extra steps to interfacing a Windows computer with our servers.

You have a few options for software to enable this kind of connection.

The strongly preferred option is to install Ubuntu subsystem for Windows on Windows 10. Since this is Windows 10-only, we encourage students who want to use Windows to run Windows 10 rather than an earlier version. Here are the instructions:

Click Start and search for Developer mode. Click the first option and enable developer mode.
NOTE: It will ask you to restart your computer during this step, so be sure to save your work first. Run the Windows PowerShell in admin mode (right-click Start and select the option). Then copy the following and paste it in and hit Enter:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

Type 'Y' and press Enter when it asks you to restart.
Go to the Windows Store and install Ubuntu (just plain Ubuntu).

Some quirks of interfacing Windows with Linux:

It's common for a Linux operating system to appear to mount the main Windows filesystem under /drives, usually /drives/c/.
Within /drives/c, directories and filenames observe such Windows conventions as capitalizing (e.g.) "Users" and "Documents".
If you're in a Linux environment, the Windows "\" becomes a Linux "/".

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 You have a few options for software to enable this kind of connection.
-* The strongly preferred option is to [https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10 install Ubuntu subsystem for Windows on Windows 10]. Since this is Windows 10-only, we encourage students who want to use Windows to run Windows 10 rather than an earlier version.
+* The strongly preferred option is to install Ubuntu subsystem for Windows on Windows 10. Since this is Windows 10-only, we encourage students who want to use Windows to run Windows 10 rather than an earlier version. Here are the instructions:
+# Click Start and search for Developer mode. Click the first option and enable developer mode.
+# NOTE: It will ask you to restart your computer during this step, so be sure to save your work first. Run the Windows PowerShell in admin mode (right-click Start and select the option). Then copy the following and paste it in and hit Enter:<br /><br /> Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux <br /><br />Type 'Y' and press Enter when it asks you to restart.
+# Go to the Windows Store and install Ubuntu (just plain Ubuntu).
 * MobaXterm and [https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html Putty] are other options.