Can't get msys2 to open windows home directory on startup

Question

See this Github issue. Basically, I am trying to launch the msys2 shell and have the startup folder (and $HOME) refer to my Windows user home directory. Things I've tried:

• I tried changing the /etc/nsswitch.conf, prepending env windows to db_home but that didn't do anything.

• I tried opening the shell in cmder with the following command:

  set MSYSTEM=MSYS & set MSYSCON=conemu64.exe & "%ConEmuDrive%\etc\msys2\usr\bin\bash.exe" --login -i" -new_console:C:"%ConEmuDrive%\etc\msys2\msys2.ico"  -new_console:d:"%USERPROFILE%"
  

• Modifying /etc/profile and adding HOME=/c/Users/$USERNAME to the bottom of the file. This changed the value of ~ to what I wanted, but msys2 still starts up in the old home directory.

Git-bash does this fine, and I'm wondering if there is something that git-bash is doing that I haven't set for msys2, but I can't figure it out. Any help would be great.