Scribbles for my bad memory

I use the Wubi-pinyin input method on macOS and Linux systems by installing the Rime input method framework. On a Windows system, Rime is also available if you have the Administrator privilege. Unfortunately, I am only a standard user on my laptop at work. So I have to find a not-bad alternative and the built-in Microsoft Wubi looks like a good choice.

It actually tastes delicious. No compatible issue, it is Wubi-pinyin compatible, and very fast. The only thing I might complain about is that you cannot press Enter key to send out the code you input onto the screen, but pressing the Shift key twice did the trick.

In total, it is a good choice, and most importantly, it is built-in.

You might be surprised why I am using MSYS2 so much these days. In short, my new job doesn't allow me to use Linux at work. I cannot bear the CMD.EXE and PWSH.EXE, they might be great tools for someone else, but definitely not for me.

1. If you visit a shared folder like /c/vagrant, you will get the infamous Too many levels of symbolic links error message. Fortunately, we have a solution: add a new user Environment variable MSYS=nonativeinnerlinks. I assume you know how to add a user environment to the windows system. If it doesn't take effect, save your current work and reboot. I didn't reboot my Windows 11 VM, but I did have restarted the Windows terminal application to ensure the new MSYS2 terminal will work with the links!
2. If you prefer using Git for windows in MSYS2 but don't want to install GitBash because GitBash is also built on MSYS2, Install Git for windows inside MSYS2 will help you! BTW, git_bash_for_windows_is_based_on_msys2_why_not is another very good reference for this topic. I actually got the previous link from the latter article.
3. Change the home directory to /c/Users/your-name. If you copy from the following, don't forget to change david.wei to your Windows username.

$ cat /etc/nsswitch.conf
# Begin /etc/nsswitch.conf
passwd: db
group: db
db_enum: cache builtin
#db_home: cygwin desc
db_home: env windows /c/Users/david.wei
db_shell: cygwin desc
db_gecos: cygwin desc
# End /etc/nsswitch.conf

4. If you run cmd.exe in a msys2 terminal, that %PATH% environment will inherit from the PATH environment in the current bash session.
5. put export MSYS="winsymlinks:lnk" into your .bashrc to get a similar behaviour when you do ln -s Reference

1. Stop Leaving the Terminal when you press the Escape key. It is really annoying when you are a vim fan like me! here's the solution

Go to "Settings | Tools | Terminal" and click "Configure terminal keybindings".

Find "Plug-ins | Terminal | Switch Focus To Editor" action and change its keyboard shortcut (by default "Escape") via the context menu.
Keybindings are IDE-wide, so there is no need to change them for each project.

2. Using msys2 bash as the embedded terminal: at Settings > Tools > Terminal

Environment Variables: CHERE_INVOKING=1
Shell path: c:\msys64\usr\bin\bash.exe --login

Unfortunately, the environment variables above work only on the current project; It is definitely a tedious process that you have to repeatedly set it up for every project. So I eventually found a better way to achieve the same goal without setting up the Environment variables in Rider. Here is the answer Reference:

Shell path:  C:\msys64\msys2_shell.cmd -defterm -here -no-start

TBC...

One of my old classmates asked me to fix the issue that her computer cannot print anything. Thanks to TeamViewer, I could connect to her computer then fix the issue. I found that the Printer Spooler service is down and could not start. When you start it, it started and then automatically shuts down in 2 seconds. Google helped me.

For this case, in short: Remove all files in C:\Windows\system32\spool\PRINTERS directory

After that, the service could start, and all printers came back and worked.