Git for Windows, run git bash without mintty?

Question

After upgrading my PC to Windows 10 and doing a reset, I had to redownload all of my programs. When I downloaded Git for Windows, it came with a newer version compared to what I used before. This version looks to use mintty for the terminal, which doesn't seem to support using arrow keys to scroll through options when running certain commands. Example is Yeoman, you're supposed to use the arrow keys to select what you want to do, but the arrow keys just moves the cursor instead of the options list.

So thinking this is a mintty issue, how can I go back to the previous terminal that was being used (sorry don't remember what it was pre-2.5)? Or how to start git-bash without mintty? Or anyone know a way to get mintty to work with arrows properly?

Yes, you’re using the new “Git for Windows” now. If you need the old version, it’s still available here but you should probably be using the new version now. Note that if Git is in the PATH, you can launch it from any console, you don’t need to use the console that ships with it. — poke
I like the mintty terminal, it's easier to see with color coding. And git-cmd looks to work, but I'd rather try and use mintty or whichever terminal 1.9.4 used. — user1795832

ilpssun ilpssun · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-01T09:43:11

I'm using console2 to display my different cmd.exe and bash windows in tabs, so I ran into the same problem. The way I solved it was to call cmd.exe and have it launch the git bash. That seems to do the trick for me. So configure your tool(s) to use a shell like that:

cmd.exe /C "C:\Program Files\Git\bin\bash.exe" --login -i

(Of course you may need to adjust the path.)

Git for Windows, run git bash without mintty?

1 Answers