A hack for mintty to use as Windows command console cmd

If you’re like me, vain in changing the Windows command console (cmd.exe) and if you like the functionality and look and feel of mintty (cygwin), here’s how to change the look and feel of cmd.exe:

1. Install Cygwin with Shells -> Mintty included.
2. start <cygwin directory>/bin/mintty %COMSPEC%

Start is a windows command for spawning new applications.

<cygwin directory>/bin/mintty is the application you want to start.

%COMSPEC% is the parameter for mintty.  Windows will substitue this to cmd.exe.  Well you can call it directly using “start <cygwin directory>/bin/mintty cmd.exe”

Example screehshot:

Hope this helps