Guide for changing your dev environment from Mac to Windows

The following tips and control equivalents should help you in your transition between a Mac and Windows (or WSL/Linux) development environment.

For app development, the nearest equivalent to Xcode would be Visual Studio. There is also a version of Visual Studio for Mac, if you ever feel the need to go back. For cross-platform source code editing (and a huge number of plug-ins) Visual Studio Code is the most popular choice.

Keyboard shortcuts

Operation	Mac	Windows
Copy	Command+C	Ctrl+C
Cut	Command+X	Ctrl+X
Paste	Command+V	Ctrl+V
Undo	Command+Z	Ctrl+Z
Save	Command+S	Ctrl+S
Open	Command+O	Ctrl+O
Lock computer	Command+Control+Q	WindowsKey+L
Show desktop	Command+F3	WindowsKey+D
Open file browser	Command+N	WindowsKey+E
Minimize windows	Command+M	WindowsKey+M
Search	Command+Space	WindowsKey
Close active window	Command+W	Control+W
Switch current task	Command+Tab	Alt+Tab
Maximize a window to full screen	Control+Command+F	WindowsKey+Up
Save screen (Screenshot)	Command+Shift+3	WindowsKey+Shift+S
Save window	Command+Shift+4	WindowsKey+Shift+S
View item information or properties	Command+I	Alt+Enter
Select all items	Command+A	Ctrl+A
Select more than one item in a list (noncontiguous)	Command, then click each item	Control, then click each item
Type special characters	Option+ character key	Alt+ character key

Trackpad shortcuts

Note: Some of these shortcuts require a “Precision Trackpad”, such as the trackpad on Surface devices and some other third party laptops.

Operation	Mac	Windows
Scroll	Two finger vertical swipe	Two finger vertical swipe
Zoom	Two finger pinch in and out	Two finger pinch in and out
Swipe back and forward between views	Two finger sideways swipe	Two finger sideways swipe
Switch virtual workspaces	Four fingers sideways swipe	Four fingers sideways swipe
Display currently open apps	Four fingers upward swipe	Three fingers upward swipe
Switch between apps	N/A	Slow three finger sideways swipe
Go to desktop	Spread out four fingers	Three finger swipe downwards
Open Cortana / Action center	Two finger slide from right	Three finger tap
Open extra information	Three finger tap	N/A
Show launchpad / start an app	Pinch with four fingers	Tap with four fingers

Note: Trackpad options are configurable on both platforms.

Command-line shells and terminals

Windows supports several command-line shells and terminals which sometimes work a little differently to the Mac’s BASH shell and terminal emulator apps like Terminal and iTerm.

Windows shells

Windows has two primary command-line shells:

PowerShell — PowerShell is a cross-platform task automation and configuration management framework, consisting of a command-line shell and scripting language built on .NET. Using PowerShell, administrators, developers, and power-users can rapidly control and automate tasks that manage complex processes and various aspects of the environment and operating system upon which it is run. PowerShell is fully open-source, and because it is cross-platform, also available for Mac and Linux.

Mac and Linux BASH shell users: PowerShell also supports many command-aliases that you are already familiar with. For example:

• List the contents of the current directory, using: ls
• Move files with: mv
• Move to a new directory with: cd

Some commands and arguments are different in PowerShell vs. BASH. Learn more by entering: get-help in PowerShell or checkout the compatibility aliases in the docs.

To run PowerShell as an Administrator, enter «PowerShell» in your Windows start menu, then select «Run as Administrator.»

Windows Command Line (Cmd): Windows still ships the traditional Command Prompt (and Console – see below), providing compatibility with current and legacy MS-DOS-compatible commands and batch files. Cmd is useful when running existing/older batch files or command-line operations, but in general, users are recommended to learn and use PowerShell since Cmd is now in maintenance, and will not be receiving any improvements or new features in the future.

Linux shells

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) can now be installed to support running a Linux shell within Windows. This means that you can run bash, with whichever specific Linux distribution you choose, integrated right inside Windows. Using WSL will provide the kind of environment most familiar to Mac users. For example, you will ls to list the files in a current directory, not dir as you would with the traditional Windows Cmd Shell. To learn about installing and using WSL, see the Windows Subsystem for Linux Installation Guide for Windows 10. Linux distributions that can be installed on Windows with WSL include:

Just to name a few. Find more in the WSL install docs and install them directly from the Microsoft Store.

Windows Terminals

In addition to many 3rd party offerings, Microsoft provides two “terminals” – GUI applications that provide access to command-line shells and applications.

Windows Terminal: Windows Terminal is a new, modern, highly configurable command-line terminal application that provides very high performance, low-latency command-line user experience, multiple tabs, split window panes, custom themes and styles, multiple “profiles” for different shells or command-line apps, and considerable opportunities for you to configure and personalize many aspects of your command-line user experience.

You can use Windows Terminal to open tabs connected to PowerShell, WSL shells (like Ubuntu or Debian), the traditional Windows Command Prompt, or any other command-line app (e.g. SSH, Azure CLI, Git Bash).

Console: On Mac and Linux, users usually start their preferred terminal application which then creates and connects to the user’s default shell (e.g. BASH).

However, due to a quirk of history, Windows users traditionally start their shell, and Windows automatically starts and connects a GUI Console app.

While one can still launch shells directly and use the legacy Windows Console, it’s highly recommended that users instead install and use Windows Terminal to experience the best, fastest, most productive command-line experience.

copying files from unix to windows?

Is there any way to automate the process of copying the files between windows and unix without doing it manually, using tools such as winscp .

I need to copy files from unix to windows such by executing some commands in windows. I goolged it and found these tools that can do this.

EDIT : Can I get something using pscp because I just found out that ftp is not enable in my servers.

Please suggest a way of doing it and I need to run whatever script/command in windows only for copying the unix files.

EDIT 2 : Getting this error in winscp console for sftp :

5 Answers 5

I would use WinSCP script for this Here you have some good piece of documentation on how to do this. Example script :

Then save it to example.txt and use this command :

winscp.exe /console /script=example.txt

You say you want to automate the process but the at the same time you say you want to run some commands. Other answers contain some command but if you want to have automation, checking out unison might be worth a try. It allows not only unidirectional syncing but also provides a way to keep 2 directories in sync on different machines.

There are several solutions. One way impacts how you’ll approach it is where it should be initiated from.

From the Unix device, you should be able to mount a Windows file share and handle it like keeping local files synchronized. (Filenames with characters that Windows dislike might complicate it. )

You can also share the drive and mount it using NFS on Windows (It is in Services for Unix on XP, and an optional component in Vista and newer (might need specific editions, some alternatives are also available)). (Samba can also be used for a Windows file share if you do not want to install the NFS client on Windows)

Once that is set up, you can use tools like Unison and Rsync (or cp for simple cases) (if you do it from the Unix side) or SyncToy or similar tools (for the Windows side) as you would for local files.

scp (and the PuTTY-bundled equivalent pscp might be easier to secure, but need SSH keys set up to work automatically). curl also supports SCP and SFTP (mainly for fetching files) and might be useful for several other options as well.

Sftp from Unix to Windows [closed]

Is anyone aware of a way of sftp’ing from Unix to Windows

7 Answers 7

You setup a server with, for instance freeSSHd. Then you can use the regular unix client that comes with OpenSSH, which is a bit on the no feature side of the spectrum, or choose among many of the other SFTP supporting unix clients.

If you just want a Windows client, I’d recommend WinSCP.

From a similar question just asked, I saw this mentioned: http://www.freesshd.com. That could allow you to sftp from *nix to Windows.

PSFTP from the PuTTY team works ok for grabbing files while on Windows.

You can install OpenSSH for windows. It is a cygwin thing and is a little bit tricky to set up on windows box, but it worked for me.

Take a look at CompleteFTP, which is an fast, compact SFTP server for all Windows platforms.

You can use OpenSSH on Unix to SFTP to CompleteFTP running on Windows.

Disclosure: I’m one of the developers of CompleteFTP.

Wikipedia has a large list of sftp servers many can run on windows. Some are more difficult to setup and some are non free. I have used openssh under cygwin and freesshd.

If you are looking for a GUI sftp client that works on Linux you probably are looking for FileZilla or gftp-gtk.

Are you looking for a ready SSH server on windows or you are going to create one? If you need to create a server, then take a look at SSHBlackbox package of SecureBlackbox (our product). It provides powerful components to build a full-scale SSH and SFTP server.

Automatically download log file from Unix server to Windows machine

I have a Unix server on which a continuously running application generates a large text log. (aprox. 100megs an hour).

My main development machine is a Windows computer and to see what’s going on with the application I use Filezilla to download the log file to the PC where I use notepad++ to go thru log entries.

The whole process seems a bit convoluted to me — so could you recommend a tool that I could run on my PC to connect to the Unix box and automatically download the log file — so I could dissect it on my Windows machine where I have all the required tools (my Unix access is very restricted — so viewing a log file on the Unix box is not really an option).

5 Answers 5

Windows itself has these tools. Use ftp to get the file. You can set up a file called snatch.ftp:

(with suitable values of USER and PASSWORD) then have a command file ( snatch.cmd ) run by scheduled tasks on whatever schedule you desire:

I have to say though that generating 100M an hour is not a very good idea for any log file. It may be that this is necessary but you should examine why so much data is being generated and whether it is really necessary.

Shifting 100M an hour across the network is also something I’d be circumspect of as well. I know you stated that you don’t have a lot of access to the UNIX side but I’d still be looking at that as the first choice, especially since the text processing tools under UNIX are more than up to the task.

At a bare minimum, think about filtering the log file a little on the UNIX side before copying it to your own box. Your network administrators will be eternally grateful 🙂

Where to Download Unix

Free derivatives of Unix can be easily downloaded via the Internet. This sets Unix apart from other proprietary operating systems like Microsoft Windows.

The different Unix versions and Unix-like operating systems available for download include FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Red Hat Fedora Linux, Debian Linux, Ubuntu Linux, and Sun Solaris.

Those who are new to Unix or Linux can still try these operating systems by using virtual machines, without worrying about existing data or OS being affected. The user can install his/her preferred Unix version inside the virtual machine to get a separate “computer” running inside the existing OS. These virtual machines can be set up with software such as Sun Microsystems’ VirtualBox, which is available as a free download.

Download FreeBSD Unix

The FreeBSD operating system is meant to be used on the following architectures:

1. x86 machines, with Pentium or Athlon cores
2. AMD64 compatible machines, which include Athlon 64, Opteron, and EM64T
3. Alpha/AXP
4. IA-64, PC-98
5. UltraSPARC

FreeBSD is an offshoot of BSD, the Unix version that was developed at the University of California, Berkeley.

Download OpenBSD Unix

The OpenBSD project developed the free, multi-platform 4.4BSD-based UNIX-like system. This system has the benefits of portability, standardization, and integrated cryptography. Binary emulation of programs from SVR4 (Solaris), FreeBSD, SunOS, Linux, BSD/OS and HP-UX is possible with OpenBSD Unix.

Download Solaris Unix

The Solaris OS exhibits good scalability, performance, and security on SPARC, Opteron, AMD, and Intel Xeon-based systems. The latest Solaris Unix version used exceptional technologies for facilitating robust computing infrastructures. The Solaris operating system integrates many popular open source applications, including Apache, Tomcat, and Secure Shell. Open source packages are available on this platform, cutting down the time needed for porting.

Download Ubuntu Linux

Ubuntu is good for laptops, desktops, and servers. It contains all essential programs, from word processors to compilers for various programming languages.

Users interested in Ubuntu can download, use, and share Ubuntu with friends or associates free of cost.

Download Fedora Linux

The Fedora Project builds versions of a general purpose operating system made exclusively from free software. Fedora Linux is quite popular among open source software development enthusiasts.

Download Debian Linux

Debian uses the Linux kernel and many of its basic tools are derived from the GNU project.

Debian GNU/Linux has more than 8710 packages and pre-compiled software bundled conveniently for easy installation.

Download Gentoo Linux

Users can quickly and easily customize Gentoo Linux. Among the highlights of the Gentoo Linux experience are easy configurability and good performance. Also, ample developer support is available via the communities.

Many users call Gentoo a meta-distribution because of its easy adaptability.

Download Slackware Linux

Slackware Linux is a UNIX-like system. It contains an easy to use installation program, extensive online documentation, and a menu driven package system. A complete installation of Slackware provides the X Window System, C/C++ development environments, an ftp server, the GNU Image Manipulation Program, Netscape Communicator, and other key features.

Download Mandriva Linux

Mandriva Linux attempts to turn the regular Linux into a more user friendly operating system.

Mandriva Linux is easy to use and innovative. This is manifest in the numerous awards Mandriva has received.

Download openSUSE Linux

The openSUSE project is a community program that Novell sponsors. The openSUSE system is the most user friendly of all the Linux versions.

This system is excellent for both developers and casual users to feel a great Linux experience.

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Got Something To Say: Cancel reply

36 comments

Hitesh Daiya

Which version should i used for Mainframe?

محمد عبدالله

hey i wanna download unix now what i can do

veerapandiyan

its good one. unix and linux is best in os in the world.

sindhu

pls i want to download unix os .where i go to download that software pls that send me my mail.

Plast0000

UNIX alone is like MS-DOS it’s a command line OS, these stuff up there are UNIX with a GUI

Anonymous

All operating systems use command line whether you would like to think they do, or not. UNIX is nowhere like or even related to MS-DOS.

Plast0000

I know that
What I meant to say here is that it’s a command-line OS by default

satyam

hii everybody myself satyam shukla..i have downloaded a minix unix but it is asking for login id and password…please help me …my email id is yashshukla.se@gmail.com

Plan9 unix successor

other

Linux is not Unix. Minix is Unix. Linux was born thank Minix, so is not Minix, is not UNIX.

Anonymous

Linux is UNIX, because Minix is UNIX.
Just like how Mac OS X is UNIX.

Zekai Oğuz Özalp

no, linux is not unix. it’s unix-like.

Xtain55

I’m using a MacBook Pro (bought it January 2011), and i want to download the Ubuntu Linux on my MacBook Pro. Would it be compatible? I’m afraid that my MacBook Pro might crash after download because my MacBook Pro is for school use. Thanks guys!

memenode

It’s a bit of a process, somewhat different and potentially quirkier than on PCs, but you can find all the info you should need here:

If you make a backup of all your data you should be fine. You can always reinstall Mac OS X from the supplied DVD and then restore your data from backup if something goes wrong. The only potential loss is some time.

Xtain55

Thanks man, you rock!!

Plast0000

believe me, OS X is way better

Anonymous

Mac OS X is closed source, Linux is not.
Some people prefer closed-source, because they think it is more stable.
Some prefer open-source, because they like flexibility.

Try removing the graphical environment on OS X and putting XFCE or something.

Originally posted by memenode: “In the corporate world it’s mostly RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or otherwise SuSE Linux Enterprise Edition (SLED). Elsewhere Debian and its derivative Ubuntu Server is used often.

I think if it’s a relatively big company they might go for RHEL for the beefy support service they get, though Canonical entered that field lately with Ubuntu which some medium companies might prefer. Smaller companies might go for plain Debian or Ubuntu on their servers.

If you want to practice on RHEL which you can’t really get without an expensive contract go for CentOS, which is basically a free rebranded version of RHEL. It’s the same thing, just different brand and no support service.”

Thanks a lot for all the info you provided and your time.Really appreciated.I”m downloading CentOS atm and i’ll try Ubuntu aswell some time later.

Daniel Memenode

Originally posted by Sawb: “Hello i’m about to work as a system admin and i’d like to practice in Unix/Linux enviroment,so i’d like some opinions on which version should i download?Or does anyone know what versions companies use?”

In the corporate world it’s mostly RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or otherwise SuSE Linux Enterprise Edition (SLED). Elsewhere Debian and its derivative Ubuntu Server is used often.

I think if it’s a relatively big company they might go for RHEL for the beefy support service they get, though Canonical entered that field lately with Ubuntu which some medium companies might prefer. Smaller companies might go for plain Debian or Ubuntu on their servers.

If you want to practice on RHEL which you can’t really get without an expensive contract go for CentOS, which is basically a free rebranded version of RHEL. It’s the same thing, just different brand and no support service.

savitha

thanks Daniel Memenode, thanks for all your reply’s.

Hello i’m about to work as a system admin and i’d like to practice in Unix/Linux enviroment,so i’d like some opinions on which version should i download?Or does anyone know what versions companies use?

Daniel Memenode

Originally posted by savitha: “@memenode ,i have installed the virtual box as per the first response . i have encountered the problem as i run the uploaded freebsd software its starts the installation process as it proceeds at terminal it shows list of commands and displays [ok] , what should i have to do at this stage? how do i complete the installation?”

I never actually installed FreeBSD myself, though I installed a bunch of Linux operating systems over the years. If it’s a more advanced issue someone more experience with FreeBSD specifically should be more helpful. Otherwise you can try Linux, even Ubuntu would do fine if all you need is a bash prompt for UNIX commands. Alternatively, you can try PC-BSD, a user friendly variant of FreeBSD. 🙂

savitha

@memenode ,i have installed the virtual box as per the first response . i have encountered the problem as i run the uploaded freebsd software its starts the installation process as it proceeds at terminal it shows list of commands and displays [ok] , what should i have to do at this stage? how do i complete the installation?

Daniel Memenode

Originally posted by savitha: “@memenode what is vm workstation is all about? my instructor showed me to run unix using vm workstation but it is not freeware… can u kindly help me.”

That’s vmware workstation. Vmware is the most popular software for virtualization. You can apply to get a free VMWare Player in which I think you can run other OSs, but I still think Virtualbox (which is what I was describing above) is the simplest solution. It’s free and it doesn’t require registration. Both serve pretty much the same purpose though.

You can mention Virtualbox (from Virtualbox.org) to your instructor. He may be familiar with it or otherwise he may find it useful too.

savitha

@memenode what is vm workstation is all about? my instructor showed me to run unix using vm workstation but it is not freeware… can u kindly help me.

Daniel Memenode

Originally posted by savitha: “@mememode thanks for the reply… i have successfully done with that, as per ur instructions . i need this to work on with unix for one of my subjects in my academics.
one more question, to work on commands of unix every time should i have to “start” virtual machine? i mean ,how to work with this?”

Yes, starting it is like turning on a virtual computer which is running UNIX. It isn’t installed anywhere else in Windows, that is, it makes no changes to Windows. Everything is inside that virtual machine.

So basically, when you want to work with it, run Virtualbox, click on your virtual machine (BSD or Ubuntu, whichever you installed), click start in the toolbar and wait for it to boot. Once it boots you should be able to start a terminal where you can run the commands, if the OS is installed. The program should be called either a gnome-terminal or konsole, but it might be in the menus as just “Terminal”.

If you haven’t installed the OS yet to your virtual machine (just ran it) here’s a video tutorial for BSD and one for latest Ubuntu (really easy). This is the process that starts when you boot the downloaded .iso in your virtual machine.

savitha

@mememode thanks for the reply… i have successfully done with that, as per ur instructions . i need this to work on with unix for one of my subjects in my academics.
one more question, to work on commands of unix every time should i have to “start” virtual machine? i mean ,how to work with this?

Daniel Memenode

Originally posted by savitha: “hi, i want unix os inside my windows xp os…. can u pls guide me to download unix os through BSD… i couldnt understand when i followed above instructions”

You can download FreeBSD here. It’s probably best to choose amd64 or i386, click on ISO, and in the list that follows choose the file that ends with disc1.iso.

Once it downloads you can run it in virtualbox. You can download Virtualbox for Windows here. Once you install and run it click on New, then Continue, give it a name like “BSD” and under “Operating System” choose BSD. Under version leave it at “FreeBSD” or if you downloaded amd64 version just select “FreeBSD (64 bit)” and click continue.

On the next step chose the amount of memory you wish to assign to running FreeBSD. If you have 2GB of memory or more assigning about 512MB is probably gonna be good. Otherwise at least 128MB should do.

Next step is to create a virtual Boot Hard Disk. Just leave as is and press continue twice. In the next screen set “Dynamically expanding storage” so that the virtual disk will take only so much space on your real hard drive as virtualized FreeBSD requires. Just click continue and done till the dialog disappears.

Now you just need to add the downloaded FreeBSD iso file so it is booted when you start this virtual machine. To do that, select the virtual machine (BSD), click settings, and in the window that appears click on Storage in the toolbar. In the Storage Tree to the left click “Empty” and on the right under “CD/DVD Device” click on the folder icon with a green up arrow. This will bring up a Virtual Media Manager window. In it, click Add and navigate to your downloaded iso file, select and open it. Select that in the Virtual Media Manager window and click “Select” to choose it.

Now you can exit the settings window and press the “Start” button in the toolbar to start the virtual machine. It will boot up the installation process of FreeBSD onto your virtual hard drive.

If you’re completely new to UNIX however I would suggest you download and try Ubuntu instead. Just replace BSD and FreeBSD above with Ubuntu, and as an OS instead of BSD select Linux.

savitha

hi, i want unix os inside my windows xp os…. can u pls guide me to download unix os through BSD… i couldnt understand when i followed above instructions

Will.Spencer

Originally posted by Baljit Singh: “I want to download the closest easiset most useful version of UNIX for someone(me) who is also interested in learning the Visual C++/ C#/ Basic languages.”

I’d say that Ubuntu is the easiest most useful desktop Linux distribution at this time, with Fedora running a close second.

However, Visual C++ is a Microsoft product and will not run under Unix. You can run it if you install Windows in a virtual machine solution such as VirtualBox.

Baljit Singh

I have XP Pro sp3 with an old 32bit tower PC. I want to download the closest easiset most useful version of UNIX for someone(me) who is also interested in learning the Visual C++/ C#/ Basic languages. I know BASIC from my teens. Ok with MS DOS. V.good with XP Pro & MS Server Technologies & Cisco Routing/Switching.

Daniel Memenode

You’re right rogue_spider, of course, though the article does at least mention FreeBSD and OpenBSD which really are UNIX. Also, Linux is an UNIX derivative even if it’s not UNIX itself, and people looking for the UNIX experience will likely find going with Linux the easiest.

Ubuntu is the best 😀

AccurateFilms

@ Justino Jimenez
Yes, Ubuntu is probably the best choice. It is not a “program”, it is an entire operating system, easy to use and free. It can be installed side-by-side with Windows, and it will let you choose between them on startup.

Justino Jimenez

I want lo leran about Unix. I have an i3 processor laptop with Window 7, 64 bits. Can I download one of the above programs and use it on my laptop.
Than you very much
Justino

doug c

I use openSuse linux and Ubuntu and I know and think Suse is the best Linux on the market and has more to offer to program your system to your specs over any other Linux out there and the tools to fix problems and write what you need I will NEVER go back and downgrade my system to windows ever again I will remain a Linux and Unix user