How to move an existing Cygwin installation

Although Cygwin is a self-contained installation with little in the way of the normal tendrils hooked into the dark shady corners of Windows there are a few hidden catches to moving an existing installation.

Cygwin creates a number of mount points for your drives, and it's these that cause the problems when you move your installation directory around.

Here are the steps to move your Cygwin installation:

1. Save off existing mount points
   mount -m > /usr/bin/mountCommands.bat


2. Unmount existing mount points
   umount -A


3. Copy Cygwin directory to new home


4. Update any Windows shortcuts & Start Menu items


5. Update the Cgywin path within $CYGWIN_HOME/cygwin.bat


6. Update mount points within $CYGWIN_HOME/bin/mountCommands.bat


7. Re-mount to new location
   • Start Cygwin
     
   • ./mountCommands.bat
     
   • Close Cygwin
     


8. Restart Cygwin, and carry on with life

This tip was compiled from information about Backup Your Cygwin installation

Technorati Tags: Windows, Unix, Linux, Terminal, Cygwin, Installation, Relocation, Andrew Beacock