For Cygwin, create the ~ / .mavenrc file and place the following text inside:
MAVEN_OPTS="-Dmaven.repo.local=c:\documents and settings\user\.m2\repository"
export MAVEN_OPTS
Alternatively, you can create a file under /etc/.mavenrc
Another option is to create an NTFS connection between .m2 under your windows and your cygwin profile.