SUA on Vista

Q. How do I install the Microsoft Windows Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (SUA) on Windows Vista?

A. Both Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Vista Ultimate include the SUA feature, which provides platform services for UNIX-based applications. SUA isn’t brand new to Windows Vista; it’s also available in Windows Server 2003 R2. In addition, Windows Services for UNIX 3.5 (SFU), which precedes SUA, is available in previous OSs. SFU includes the POSIX subsystem; POSIX was available as an add-on OS service before SFU. The Vista version of SUA includes new features such as

--64-bit support

--Support for connection to Oracle through the Oracle Call Interface (OCI) standard and to Microsoft SQL Server through the ODBC standard for database applications (known as mixed mode)

--SVR-5 and BSDI UNIX environment support

--Additional utilities to layer on top of SUA, including base and SVR-5 utilities, a base and GNU software development kit (SDK), GNU utilities, UNIX Perl, and a Visual Studio Debugger add-in; you can download these utilities from the “Utilities and SDK for Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications in Microsoft Windows Vista” Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=93ff2201-325e-487f-a398-efde5758c47f&displaylang=en).

To install SUA on Vista, perform the following steps: 1. Log on as a user with administrative credentials. You’ll encounter problems if you try to install SUA without the correct privileges. 2. Start the Control Panel Programs and Features applet. 3. Select the Turn Windows features on or off option in the left-hand pane. Then, select the Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications checkbox and click OK. SUA facilitates Windows integration with UNIX and Linux environments by letting administrators use UNIX-type tools and utilities on the Windows platform.