wstart

wstart is Node.js package that allow you to run Windows command from Bash on Ubuntu on Windows.

wstart is constituted with server and client. On Windows it runs as server, on Bash it runs as client.

Can open Windows applications in new window from Bash, or run Windows commands inside Bash.

Requirements

• Windows 10
• Bash on Ubuntu on Windows
• Node.js (>=4.0.0)

In this document, "Bash" referes "Bash on Ubuntu on Windows"

Installation

Node.js must be insalled both on Windows and Bash.

on Bash:

Specify your Windows username at <WINUSERNAME>.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install openssl -y
npm install -g wstart
wstart-init <WINUSERNAME>

on Windows:

npm install -g wstart

Running wstart command

wstart must be running on Windows in order to use wstart command on Bash.

On Bash, wstart can be used in the following two ways:

In New Window

wstart cmd can run cmd.exe in new window.

Because it internally calls start command, you can type wstart . to run cmd.exe, or type wstart /mnt/c and wstart ~/ to open C drive and lxss home directory in Windows Explorer.

• Linux style path will be automatically converted to Windows path. To learn more, see Path conversion.
• To learn Windows start command, run start /? on cmd.exe.

Inside Bash

By using exclamation mark (!) like wstart ! cmd, can run commands inside Bash.

• In Vim, note that ! must be escaped like :!wstart \! cmd.

Path conversion

This package has path conversion between Windows and Ubuntu.

For example, wstart echo ~/ will says C:\Users\YourName, wstart echo /mnt/c/Windows will says C:\Windows, and so forth.

This is convenient, but might be unexpected in some case.

To surpress this, use atmark(@) as prefix for each parameters. (eg. wstart echo @/mnt/c says /mnt/c)

If want to pass parameter that start with atmark, must enter atmark twice. (eg. wstart echo @@/mnt/c says @/mnt/c)

Security

server and client will communicate under local only TLS connection with key-based authorization.

Generally it is safe, but might become a unexpected backdoor.

I recommend to close server if not required.

Changing Port

Port 62000 is used by default, you can change it via the following configuration file.

• ~/.wstart/wstart.json (Bash)
• %USERPROFILE%/.wstart/wstart.json (Windows)

Uninstallation

Run npm uninstall -g wstart on both environments.

License

Distributed under the MIT license.

Copyright (C) 2016 Retorillo