A Beginner’s Guide To Installing And Customizing Cygwin On Windows

In this article, we are going to show you how to install Cygwin + Oh My ZSH and configuration on windows which gives a consistent cross-platform terminal experience on Windows.

Cygwin gives you comfortable when your web development workflow use git, node, npm, docker, wp-cli, etc.

In the end of this article, you will be able to use Cygwin with ZSH with this awesome theme.

Step #1: Installation Cygwin

1. Download Cygwin https://cygwin.com/install.html
2. Choose A Download Source:  Install from Internet
3. Select Root Install Directory: for me I select  D:\dimacode\cygwin
4. Install For All Users
5. Select Local Package Directory:  D:\dimacode\cygpack
6. Select Your Internet Connection:  Direct Connection
7. Choose A Download Site:  [http://mirrors.xmission.com](http://mirrors.xmission.com/)

This mirror was reliable for me. They should generally all be up to date. It is recommended that you select a mirror site that is closest to you. Visit the Cygwin  Mirror Sites  page for more information.

Select Packages:

• curl: Muti-protocol file transfer tool
• fzf-zsh: fzf key bindings for Z shell
• fzf-zsh-completion: fzf completion for Z shell
• git: Distributed version control system
• gitk: Git repository browser
• zsh: The Z-Shell
• wget: utility to retrieve files from the WWW via HTTP and FTP

Step #2: Install  Oh My ZSH

Launch Cygwin and install Oh My ZSH using curl

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

Step #3: Theme Configuration

For text, I have the Powerline fonts installed on my system.

1. download PixelDima zsh-theme from here and replace it with cygwin\home\USER\.oh-my-zsh\themes
2. Open .zshrc from cygwin\home\USER\ change ZSH_THEME into ZSH_THEME="pixeldima"
3. Open .minttyrc from cygwin\home\USER\ and replace it with this configuration.

~/.minttyrc

BoldAsFont=-1
Padding=18
FontSmoothing=full
Font=Inconsolata-dz for Powerline
FontHeight=11
FontWeight=500
BackgroundColour=9,41,51
CursorColour=9,41,51
Black=9,41,51
Red=#F92672
Green=#82B414
Yellow=#FD971F
Blue=#268BD2
Magenta=#8C54FE
Cyan=#56C2D6
White=#CCCCC6
BoldRed=#FF5995
BoldBlack=#505354
BoldGreen=#B7EB46
BoldYellow=#FEED6C
BoldBlue=#62ADE3
BoldMagenta=#BFA0FE
BoldCyan=#94D8E5
BoldWhite=#F8F8F2

Wrap Up

So, that’s all about it. There’s still a lot that you can do with Cygwin. It all depends on your choice and needs. It was a beginner-focused article to help you set up Cygwin with zsh in Windows and start customizing it.

If you have any questions, tips, or thoughts feel free to share in the comment box below.