David, Tamar Thanks for your help. I'm a bit further forward. | > 1. I just left the machine for 10-15 mins and lo! the shell windows | opened up. It just took a loooong time. | | I could be something with Active Directory. Cygwin (upon which is | MSYS2 based) integrates with AD, but there are numerous (google-able) | reports of huge slowdowns related to this. | > 4. As you mention, I then tried msys2_shell.cmd. It worked -- with | a noticeable delay of 5 seconds or so. | | May still be AD-related. Let's suppose it is AD. Do you have any idea what I can do about it? | If the post-install script for `filesystem` were able to run, it would | inform you that `*_shell.bat` are deprecated and were removed. I see | you have `msys2-launcher-git` installed -- you can then use | `C:\msys64\mingw64.exe` (and even pin it to the taskbar). OK... so forget msys2_shell.cmd and use mingw64.exe instead. I'll try that. | > * how can I debug what's happening with | > that long delay | | `/etc/nsswitch.conf` allows for some configuration. See | <https://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/ntsec.html#ntsec-mapping-nsswitch- | pwdgrp>. OK.. I see that page. Now what? What might I do with nsswitch.conf that might help fix or give insight? Simon