Update: MSysGit has been re-named to "Git for Windows". You can find the updated download link here. I'm not sure at this point what the differences will be, but am currently working on a series that will cover command line basics, in which I'll be using Git for Windows. Stay tuned.

In this video we are going to install the MSysGit bash. This is preferred over the default Windows bash, and will make your work with Drush (as well as Git and Unix web servers) more seamless.

The MSysGit shell is not required to use Drush, but it is highly recommended. In fact, when you go to drush.org to download the Drush installer for Windows, you’ll see it recommended there. I’ve actually never utilized Drush on a Windows computer without using MSysGit, so I can’t verify what you’ll be missing without installing it.

• You can find a link to download MSysGit at drush.org/drush_windows_installer. (We’ll talk about the Drush installer in a later video, but we need MSysGit for both of the Drush installation options I’m going to show you.)
• Click the link “Full installer for official Git” (This will take you straight to the MSysGit downloads page)
• Click the top link (the latest Featured Beta of the Full Installer)
• Click the link to download the file
• Open up the .exe file, choose “Run”, and click “Yes” in the pop-up
• Click “Next” five times
• Then you’ll be asked how you’d like to use Git. I’d recommend the first option. This has to do with Git, rather than Drush. But, for the best stability of your system, this is the option to choose. So, I’ll click “Next”
• Then you’ll be asked how you’d like to handle line endings. Again, this has to do with Git, rather than Drush. But, since I’m working on a Windows machine, and most servers run some form of Unix, I’m going to leave the default selected, and click “Next”.
• Once the installation is complete, I’ll uncheck the option to view the release notes, and click “Finish”

Now, we can go to “All programs => Git” and click on “Git Bash”. At this point, we don’t have drush installed, but MSysGit does come with Git, and we can see that by simply typing “git” and pushing enter.

Now, I’ll show you two ways to install Drush. In the next video, we’ll install Acquia Dev Desktop, which is an entire AMP stack (which stands for Apache, MySQL and PHP, and you’ll need these in order to develop sites locally.) Acquia Dev Desktop also installs Drush, so if you go this route, you do not need to watch the video following that. If you do already have an AMP stack installed, like WAMP, you can skip that video, and just watch “Installing Drush on Windows”.