Windows – the EXEs for Subsystem For Unix Applications so I can use it

command linesuawindows 7

I am on Windows 7 Ultimate.

I have done done start..ctrl panel..programs..turn windows features on and off…and ticked Subsystem For Unix Applications

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When I click the start menu, I see it isn't installed but it has
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I then followed the link in my start menu which went to a webpage to download it. No need to register and it downloaded Utilities and SDK for UNIX-based Applications_X86.exe

 extracted it to C:\sua32

    C:\sua32>dir
     Volume in drive C has no label.
     Volume Serial Number is DC46-3C68

     Directory of C:\sua32

    11/18/2014  11:25 AM    <DIR>          .
    11/18/2014  11:25 AM    <DIR>          ..
    11/18/2014  11:24 AM    <DIR>          BaseUtils
    11/18/2014  11:24 AM    <DIR>          docs
    04/01/2008  01:21 PM           170,557 install.htm
    11/18/2014  11:24 AM    <DIR>          manage
    11/18/2014  11:24 AM    <DIR>          SDK
    11/18/2014  11:25 AM    <DIR>          setup
    04/02/2008  02:57 AM            24,120 setup.exe
    04/02/2008  02:57 AM         1,638,912 setup.msi
    11/18/2014  11:25 AM    <DIR>          sources
    04/02/2008  02:57 AM            24,120 upgrade.exe
                   4 File(s)      1,857,709 bytes
                   8 Dir(s)  126,447,235,072 bytes free

    C:\sua32>

I notice it has a setup.exe (which I will run), and it has files that look like they would be the commands but they have no exe extension.

C:\sua32\BaseUtils\bin>dir
....
01/18/2008  06:18 AM           101,888 wc
01/18/2008  06:19 AM           118,784 who
01/18/2008  06:19 AM               591 whoami
...
             212 File(s)     36,907,662 bytes
               2 Dir(s)  126,443,298,816 bytes free

C:\sua32\BaseUtils\bin>

I ran setup.exe

and it installed to C:\windows\sua

C:\Windows\SUA>dir
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is DC46-3C68

 Directory of C:\Windows\SUA

11/18/2014  12:05 PM    <DIR>          .
11/18/2014  12:05 PM    <DIR>          ..
11/18/2014  12:06 PM    <DIR>          bin
11/18/2014  12:04 PM    <DIR>          common
11/17/2014  05:52 PM    <DIR>          dev
11/18/2014  12:04 PM    <DIR>          docs
11/18/2014  12:06 PM    <DIR>          etc
11/18/2014  12:04 PM    <DIR>          help
11/16/2014  11:11 PM    <DIR>          net
11/18/2014  12:05 PM    <DIR>          opt
11/16/2014  11:11 PM    <DIR>          proc
11/18/2014  12:05 PM    <DIR>          svr-5
11/16/2014  11:11 PM    <DIR>          tmp
11/18/2014  12:05 PM    <DIR>          usr
11/18/2014  12:04 PM    <DIR>          var
               0 File(s)              0 bytes
              15 Dir(s)  126,443,307,008 bytes free

C:\Windows\SUA>

It includes these files in C:\Windows\SUA\bin>

01/18/2008  06:18 AM           101,888 wc
01/18/2008  06:19 AM           118,784 who
01/18/2008  06:19 AM               591 whoami

I see no exe extension, and no special shell

How are these meant to run? Or, how am I meant to run these?

I can rename or copy a command e.g. who to who.exe and run it but surely that's not how i'm meant to run it.

How am I meant to run these?

Best Answer

While there are only two EXE files in c:\windows\sua\bin (just cat32.exe and fileinfo.exe) and a load of commands that would run but are missing an EXE extension!)

C:\Windows\SUA\bin>dir Volume in drive C has no label. Volume Serial Number is B411-D580

 Directory of C:\Windows\SUA\bin

17/11/2014  11:09 AM    <DIR>          .
17/11/2014  11:09 AM    <DIR>          ..
18/01/2008  06:09 AM           172,032 at
18/01/2008  06:09 AM           172,032 atq
18/01/2008  06:09 AM           172,032 atrm
18/01/2008  01:45 AM           396,288 awk
18/01/2008  05:41 AM           115,200 banner
18/01/2008  01:45 AM           105,472 basename
18/01/2008  06:09 AM           172,032 batch
18/01/2008  07:01 AM           141,824 bp
18/01/2008  06:05 AM            46,605 c89
18/01/2008  06:05 AM           117,760 cal
18/01/2008  06:05 AM           140,800 calendar
18/01/2008  01:45 AM           118,784 cat
18/01/2008  01:45 AM           155,648 cat32
18/01/2008  01:45 AM           155,648 cat32.exe
.....

There are EXE files for not all but most of the commands, in c:\windows\sua\common

C:\Windows\SUA\common>dir *.exe
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is DC46-3C68

 Directory of C:\Windows\SUA\common

01/18/2008  04:42 AM            97,280 basename.exe
01/18/2008  05:05 AM           135,168 cat.exe
01/18/2008  05:05 AM           134,144 chgrp.exe
....
01/18/2008  06:19 AM           121,856 wc.exe
              29 File(s)      4,773,376 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  126,438,662,144 bytes free


C:\Windows\SUA\common>

There are some e.g. awk which don't have an exe file but are in c:\windows\sua\bin and you don't have to rename them to run them, they run from an SUA shell e.g. start..programs..subsystem for unix..c shell then ls /bin and awk shows there.

Also, I hadn't noticed initially but installing SUA does add C:\windows\sua\common\ and c:\windows\sua\usr\lib\" (with a trailing backslash oddly enough), to the path.

Related followup question now answered - In Windows SUA(System for Unix Applications), I cannot get KSH to run commands. Even ls fails

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