Operating system (OS) is the most important component of a computer and it helps the user to interact with the computer. Windows OS is still the most widely used. Although its share in the OS market has declined due to emergence of open source operating system such as Linux. Nevertheless most of the computers that we buy today have windows. In comparison to windows, with linux every user has the power to control just about every aspect of the operating system. Since each user can actively take part in contributing to the development, there are many software choices when it comes to doing any specific task.

With so many software options available for linux users, the question is whether the windows users can use linux based programs on windows. Working in a Windows desktop environment but want to use Linux, cygwin offers the opportunity to do so. Cygwin is a dynamic link library (DLL) that acts as a Linux API emulation layer. Cygwin gives you the capability of using the linux command-line tools and quite other applications to compile linux based programs on windows. In short, Cygwin gives you the look and feel of a linux machine on top of your MS Windows.

So how to get started with Cygwin on windows.

1. Download and run the Cygwin installer (setup.exe). Cygwin is a free OpenSource program. Save the link (setup.exe) to your desktop, then double-click on the saved icon to begin installation.

2. A window titled Cygwin Net Release Setup Program appears. Click Next to get started.

3. Choose A Download Source: Accept the default ("Install from Internet") and click Next.

4. Select Root Install Directory: Accept the defaults ("C:/cygwin", All Users) and click Next.

5. Select Local Package Directory: Accept the default or change it to any temporary directory of your choice, but make a note of it.

6. Select Your Internet Connection: The default should be correct for most users.

7. Choose A Download Site: Select a nearby mirror site from which to download the Cygwin packages. At this time, the installer downloads a list of available packages from the site you have chosen.

8. Select Packages: If you wish to do a full installation, click on the rotating selector next to "All" (at the top of the Category list) so that the indicator to its right changes from "Default" to "Install".

9. Click next. The downloading process begins once the packages have been selected. The installer indicates its progress.

10. Once all selected package files have been downloaded and checked, they are unpacked into the Cygwin root install directory.

11. Final step is Creating the Icons: Check the 'create icons on the desktop and add icon to start menu' boxes are checked and click Finish.

12. To begin, click on the Cygwin desktop icon,or choose the Cygwin entry from your start menu, to open a Cygwin terminal window. You'll see a window with the bash shell running-the same shell used by GNU Linux. You should see some configuration files, your Windows user name (which is also your Cygwin username, by default), and a dollar sign, which is the start of the command line. The ~ after your user name shows that your current directory /home/user is the home directory similar to C: in Windows.