How can I change my MinGW/MSYS + mintty home directory?

Mintty is an open source terminal emulator for Windows, which is the default terminal for the MSYS and MinGW projects. While Mintty is a great terminal emulator, it can be difficult to change the home directory. This can be problematic for IT administrators who want to customize the user environment for their organization.

The first step in changing the Mintty home directory is to open the Mintty configuration file. This is located in the %APPDATA%\\mintty\\ directory. This file is in JSON format and can be edited with any text editor.

The next step is to locate the “home” property in the configuration file. This property specifies the directory that Mintty will use as its home directory. To change the home directory, simply change the value of the “home” property to the desired directory. For example, if you want to set the home directory to “C:\\users\\username\\”, then you would set the “home” property to “C:\\users\\username\\”.

After changing the home directory, it is important to save the configuration file and restart Mintty for the new setting to take effect. The new home directory should now be used as the default directory when launching Mintty.

It is also possible to set the home directory on the command line when launching Mintty. To do this, use the “-h” option followed by the desired directory. For example, to launch Mintty with the home directory set to “C:\\users\\username\\”, use the following command:

mintty -h \C:\\users\\username\\\

This technique can be useful when launching Mintty from a script or application.

Changing the Mintty home directory is a simple task, but it can be difficult to locate the necessary configuration file. By understanding the steps involved and being aware of the options available, IT administrators can easily customize the user environment for their organization.