WinUnix

Linux/Unix command-line tools natively compiled for Windows 11

WinUnix brings the most-used Linux process and system tools to Windows — built from scratch in C++ using the native Windows API. No WSL, no Cygwin, no dependencies. Just drop the .exe files in your PATH and go.

> uname -a
Windows DESKTOP 10.0.26100 #1 SMP (Windows Build 26100) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 Windows_NT

> free -h
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           15.7Gi       8.4Gi       7.3Gi          0B          0B       7.3Gi
Swap:           8.5Gi       3.4Gi       5.1Gi

> pstree -p
explorer(8432)
├─Copilot(7812)
├─ms-teams(14200)
│ └─msedgewebview2(14380)
│   └─4*[msedgewebview2]
└─WindowsTerminal(14472)
  └─powershell(13472)

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Tools

Tool	Description	Key flags
ps	Snapshot of running processes	-e -f -ef aux -l -C -p --sort
pstree	Process tree with Unicode/ASCII drawing	-p -n -u -A -c -h -H
top	Live process monitor (batch & interactive)	-b -n -d -o -p -u -i
htop	Color interactive process viewer	-d -u -p -s -t --sort-key
df	Disk space usage by drive	-h -H -T -t -x -l -k -P
du	Directory/file size on disk	-sh -a -c -d -h -b -k -m --exclude
free	RAM and swap usage	-h -b -k -m -g -t -w -s -c
uname	OS and hardware information	-a -s -n -r -v -m -p -i -o

All tools accept the same flags as their Linux counterparts.

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Installation (from release)

1. Download WinUnix-v1.1.zip from the Releases page.

2. Create a tools folder and extract:

mkdir C:\tools

Extract all .exe files from the zip into C:\tools.

3. Add to PATH permanently (run as Administrator):

setx /M PATH "%PATH%;C:\tools"

4. Restart your terminal, then verify:

uname -a
free -h
ps aux

The /M flag sets the PATH system-wide. Omit /M to set it for the current user only.

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Building from Source

Requires Visual Studio 2019 or 2022 with the "Desktop development with C++" workload.

git clone https://github.com/NoCoderRandom/WinUnix.git
cd WinUnix
build.bat

Compiled binaries are placed in bin\. The build script auto-detects your VS installation and compiles with /MT (statically linked CRT — no runtime DLL dependencies).

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Usage Examples

# System info
uname -a
uname -r

# Memory
free -h
free -h -t
free -s 2          # refresh every 2 seconds

# Disk
df -h
df -h -T           # include filesystem type
du -sh C:\Windows
du -h --max-depth=1 .

# Processes
ps aux
ps -ef
ps aux --sort -%cpu
ps -C explorer     # find by name

# Process tree
pstree
pstree -p          # with PIDs
pstree -A          # ASCII drawing characters
pstree -n          # sorted by PID

# Live monitor (batch)
top -b -n 1
top -b -n 5 -d 2 -o mem

# Interactive
top                # press q to quit, P/M/T/N to sort
htop               # press q to quit, F6 to sort
htop -t            # start in tree view
htop --sort-key=CPU

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Notes

• No dependencies — statically compiled, works on any Windows 10/11 machine.
• TTY column shows ? — Windows has no TTY/pts concept.
• buff/cache and shared show 0 in free — Windows does not expose these kernel buffers separately.
• df shows drive letters (C:, D:) instead of /dev/sda1 — this is the Windows equivalent.
• Run your terminal as Administrator to see all system processes in ps, top, and htop.

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License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.