In order to use Unix Commands in Windows, you will need to download CoreUtils from GnuWin32 (Sourceforge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnuwin32/ | Direct Download). Install it and add it to your Windows Path Library.
Adding to your Path:
1. Open the Run command (Windows + R) or go to Start > Run
2. Enter sysdm.cpl
3. Go to Advanced
4. Environment Variables
5. Using a 64bit OS, you would need to add “C:\Program Files (x86)\GnuWin32\bin” using a 32bit OS, you add “C:\Program Files\GnuWin32\bin”
Step 5 is dependent on where you installed CoreUtils, just browse for it and find the bin directory – that’s what you are going to use in the Path environment variables.
That’s it ! You can use basic unix commands now in Windows.
Why you might need this? You have a host and uploaded a large file, you need to know if both the files match. One way to do this is to do a checksum. Now most hosting providers are Unix based, so you simply use “cksum <filename>” on your Windows machine and compare it to the checksum on the Unix environment. To do this, you need SSH access to your webhost, which most current providers have (most of them disable these by default, but the option to enable is usually there – Bluehost, Godaddy and Concentric are three I know of that have SSH access from personal experience). SSH..another topic on it’s own! But one of the first things I check when I look for a webhost.
This article is referencing the following:
http://www.askstudent.com/tips/how-to-use-unixlinux-commands-at-the-windows-command-prompt/
