How can I remove or deactivate the Windows system32/find.exe?

Question

I am trying to make my Windows System as compatible with existing Makefiles as possible. One great step that is missing is replacing the windows "find" (which is the same as grep) with the GNU find (list of all files in directory and sub directories). Is this possible? (I already have msys find installed and ready to go. Just removing system32/find.exe would probably work, but unfortunately it is not possible that easily)

score 16 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 10 '14 at 13:05

Rather than removing Windows' find.exe, I strongly recommend putting GNU in your path before Windows\System32. For example, with Cygwin, you can use something like:

path c:\cygwin\bin;c:\windows\system32;c:\windows;c:\program files\foo;c:\program files\bar;c:\windows\system32\wbem

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 14 '14 at 17:56

1

You can gain access to all protected files by changing the ownership.

For Windows 7, on the file or folder that you want to edit:

Go to Properties->Security->Advanced->Owner
Change owner to either Administrators or your own User
On Properties->Security grant rights to the new owner

Source: Windows 7 – How to Delete Files Protected by TrustedInstaller

edited Aug 14 '14 at 17:56

Linger

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answered Aug 10 '14 at 12:19

th3falc0n

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How can I remove or deactivate the Windows system32/find.exe?

2 Answers2