Gow (Gnu On Windows) is the lightweight alternative to Cygwin.
Publisher’s description
What is Gow?
Gow is a proprietary program for Windows from bmatzelle. It is written in NSIS.
Installation and requirements
Official installers exist for 64-bit as EXE. Installation asks for administrator rights. The installer supports unattended (silent) installation.
Popularity and file types
The Chocolatey package has been downloaded 47,524 times. The source code on GitHub (bmatzelle/gow) has 6,648 stars.
Project description on GitHub: “Unix command line utilities installer for Windows.”
Pros / Cons
Pros
- Documented silent install
- Large user base
Cons
- Proprietary licence: check the terms and price
- No native ARM64 build
- Installation needs administrator rights
- No update for more than a year
In short: Gow is a Windows tool for 64-bit PCs. Updates have slowed down. Administrators can deploy it unattended.
Is Gow safe to download?
- The file is served by github.com, the publisher’s own domain
- The download link uses HTTPS
- A SHA256 hash is published, so you can verify the file:
9B06E0F9471D61D1019BF4D133C0ED23A4CCEE27B6B8758A922D681469B82E42· Open the VirusTotal report for this hash - The link has not been checked yet
- ExeAtlas does not host, wrap or modify installers
Related guide: How to check a file’s SHA256 hash on Windows
Recent versions
All 1 versions ›| Version | Date | Size | Files |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.8.0Latest | February 15, 2014 | — | 64-bit EXE |
Install from the command line
Silent install ›winget install --id bmatzelle.Gow -echoco install Gow -yscoop install main/gowGow-0.8.0.exe /SRelated guide: How to use winget: install and update apps
Information
- Publisher
- bmatzelle
- Licence
- Copyright (c) 2006-2010 Brent Matzelle
- Price
- See the publisher’s site
- Source code
- github.com/bmatzelle/gow
- Written in
- NSIS
- Requires
- Windows 11 / 10
- Architecture
- 64-bit
- Installer
- EXE
- Version
- 0.8.0
- Released
- February 15, 2014
- Added to the catalogue
- May 19, 2021
- Versions listed
- 1
- Chocolatey downloads
- 47,524
- GitHub stars
- 6,648
- GitHub forks
- 365
- Website
- github.com
- winget ID
- bmatzelle.Gow
- Chocolatey package
- Gow
- Scoop package
- main/gow
Ratings and reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to rate it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gow free?
Gow is proprietary (closed-source) software (licence: Copyright (c) 2006-2010 Brent Matzelle). Whether it costs money depends on the edition: check the publisher’s site for prices and free tiers.
Is Gow safe to download?
The download comes from github.com, which belongs to the publisher; ExeAtlas does not host or change the file. Compare its SHA256 hash with the one shown here, or open the VirusTotal report for that hash.
How do I install Gow with winget?
Open PowerShell or Windows Terminal and run the winget command shown on this page. winget downloads the official installer and checks its SHA256 hash before running it.
Can Gow be installed silently?
Yes. The silent install page lists the exact command for each installer.
Does Gow run on ARM (Windows on Arm)?
There is no ARM64 build; Windows 11 on Arm can run the 64-bit version through emulation.