mkcd 1.0.4

Get Linux utilities like tail,head,cat,cd,ls,cp,mv,rm in Windows directly without needing to manage WSL

MKCD - Linux Utilities for Windows

Tired of switching between PowerShell and WSL just to use basic Linux commands? MKCD brings over 70 essential Linux utilities directly to your Windows command line. No virtual machines, no containers, no hassle.

Why MKCD?

Working on Windows but miss the power of Linux command-line tools? You're not alone. Whether you're a developer who needs grep for quick searches, a sysadmin who relies on tail for log monitoring, or anyone who finds Windows equivalents just don't cut it, MKCD has you covered.

MKCD provides native Windows executables for all your favorite Linux utilities:

• Text processing: grep, sed, awk, cut, sort, uniq
• File operations: ls, cp, mv, rm, find, chmod
• System monitoring: ps, top, df, du, stat
• Archive handling: tar, gzip, gunzip, zip
• And many more: head, tail, cat, wc, diff, which, whereis

No learning curve. No compatibility issues. Just the Linux tools you know and love, running natively on Windows.

Installation

Getting started with MKCD is straightforward, but there are a few important steps to follow:

Step 1: Install the Package

pip install mkcd

Step 2: Run the Installer

mkcd-install

This will:

1. Launch a User Account Control (UAC) dialog asking for administrator privileges
2. Click "Yes" to grant permission (required to modify system PATH)
3. Open a new elevated command window
4. After the installation completes and shows "Operation completed. Press any key to close this window...", press Enter
5. The elevated window will close automatically

Step 3: Open a New Terminal

Important: You must open a completely new terminal window for the changes to take effect. Simply opening a new tab in Windows Terminal may not work - you need to close and reopen the entire application.

If commands still aren't recognized after opening a new terminal, a system restart may be required.

Quick Start

Once installed, you can immediately start using Linux commands in any Windows terminal:

# List files with details and colors
ls -la

# Search for text in files
grep "error" *.log

# Monitor log files in real-time
tail -f application.log

# Find files by name
find . -name "*.txt"

# Count lines, words, and characters
wc myfile.txt

# Extract archives
tar -xzf archive.tar.gz

Colorized Output

MKCD automatically enables colorized output for ls and grep commands, making your terminal experience more pleasant and easier to read.

Troubleshooting

Commands Not Found After Installation

• Make sure you opened a completely new terminal (not just a new tab)
• Try restarting your computer
• Check if the installation succeeded by running mkcd-install again

UAC Prompts

The installer needs administrator privileges to modify your system PATH. This is normal and safe - we only modify environment variables to make the Linux utilities available system-wide.

Uninstalling

To remove MKCD utilities from your PATH:

mkcd-uninstall

To completely remove the package:

pip uninstall mkcd

What's Included

MKCD includes over 70 Linux utilities compiled for Windows, including:

Category	Commands
File Operations	cp, mv, rm, mkdir, rmdir, ls, chmod, chown
Text Processing	grep, sed, gawk, cut, sort, uniq, tr, wc
File Viewing	cat, head, tail, less, more
Archive Tools	tar, gzip, gunzip, bzip2, bunzip2, xz, unxz
System Info	ps, top, df, du, stat, uname, whoami, which
Text Utilities	diff, comm, join, paste, column, fmt, fold

And many more! Each command works just like its Linux counterpart, with the same options and behavior you expect.

Requirements

• Windows 10 or later
• Python 3.9 or higher
• Administrator privileges (for installation only)

License

MKCD is released under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.