Microsoft Windows Services for UNIX

Microsoft Windows Services for UNIX ( SFU ) is a software package from Microsoft that has since been discontinued and provides a Unix subsystem and other components of a Unix environment based on the POSIX standard on Windows 2000 to Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 . This subsystem is known as Interix . The POSIX subsystem can be regarded as the predecessor product and the Windows subsystem for Linux as the successor product .

overview

Like the Microsoft POSIX subsystem in Windows NT and the popular Cygwin package , Interix is not an emulation of a Unix kernel, but merely an implementation of a user mode subsystem which, in contrast to Cygwin, is directly based on the NT kernel . This makes fork () / exec () considerably faster than with Cygwin, but access to Windows drivers is not possible.

The latest version of Services for UNIX (SFU) includes:

More than 350 Unix utilities like vi , ksh , csh , ls , cat , awk , grep , kill
The GCC -3.3 compiler, include files and libraries (where the libc is Microsoft-specific)
A cc-like "wrapper" for the command line versions of the compilers in Microsoft Visual Studio
The GNU debugger
NFS server and client
Various X11 utilities and libraries
A program that, in conjunction with Microsoft's Active Directory , can take on an NIS server function
Some Windows and Unix programs for synchronization of passwords and access rights

In Services for UNIX programs not included can be downloaded as binary versions from different sources and be installed separately. Programs that rely on the SCSI drivers cannot use these drivers.

Although X11 clients, libraries, and application programs are provided, Services for UNIX does not include an X server. Any other X server can be used.

Subsystems for UNIX-based applications (SUA)

The subsystem for UNIX-based applications (SUA) is the successor product to the SFU. In contrast to the SFU, it is also available for 64-bit versions of various Microsoft operating systems and in principle also supports the execution of 64-bit applications. However, the GCC compilers included in the SDK only support the creation of 32-bit applications. To create 64-bit applications, e.g. B. a wrapper for the Microsoft Visual Studio compiler can be used.

Official versions

The last version of the SFU bears the number 3.5 . The publication date is given as September 21, 2006. The latest version of the SUA is 6.2 . The publication date is stated as October 31, 2012.

Windows Server 2003 R2 includes most of the SFU components, particularly Microsoft Services for Network File System (NFS) , Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (Interix), and Identity Management for UNIX .

Windows Vista and Windows 7 in the editions Enterprise and Ultimate also contain components from Services for Unix .

Microsoft has no plans to create any further separately installable versions of the SFU. However, it is still available for free download. General customer support was guaranteed until 2011. The extended support expired on April 8, 2014. The SUA was replaced in 2016 by the Windows Subsystem for Linux .

Official Microsoft name	alternative ( Interop Systems )	Supported Operating Systems
Services for Unix 3.5	Interix 3.5	Windows XP , Windows Server 2003 (32-bit version only)
Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications 5.2	Interix 5.2	Windows Server 2003 R2 (64-bit version only)
Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications 6.0	Interix 6.0	Windows Server 2008 , Windows Vista (Enterprise and Ultimate)
Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications 6.1	Interix 6.1	Windows Server 2008 R2 , Windows 7 (Enterprise and Ultimate)
Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications 6.2	Interix 6.2	Windows Server 2012 , Windows 8 (Enterprise)

Operating systems supported by the current version

Microsoft Windows Services for UNIX can be installed on the Windows versions Server or Professional ; an installation on the Home versions is neither provided nor supported.