How do I open a BASH shell?

[John_Devron]

I'd like to apply some commands to Sourcetree from a bash shell but don't know how to successfully open a bash shell.  I've tried methods I found in the internet, but they didn't work. I'm using Windows 10. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[dmmanley]

Hi John,

It appears that this requires an optional developer tool not installed by default but available within Windows settings - "Windows Subsystem for Linux".

Via Google...

1. Navigate to Settings -> Update & Security -> For Developers and select "Developer mode"
2. Control Panel -> Programs and Features and click "Turn Windows Features on or off" on the top left pane
3. In the dialog box, check "Windows Subsystem for Linux" and click Ok
4. Reboot machine
5. Search for "bash" and click on it, it should open a command prompt and ask you if you want to install "Ubuntu on Windows", continue with "y"
6. After installation it will ask to create a UNIX username and password
7. You are now ready to use the bash shell

Hope that helps!