Windows Terminal is a modern host application for running side-by-side command-line shells like Command Prompt, PowerShell, and bash (via Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), among others. This guide will show you how to install Windows Terminal, set a default terminal app, set a default terminal profile, and more.
Install Windows Terminal
First, you need to install Windows Terminal. Not much has changed since we last pointed out that you can install Windows Terminal from the Microsoft Store. However, there are several additional ways to download and install Windows Terminal, including:
1. If you don’t have access to the Microsoft Store, you can also download Terminal builds from the GitHub releases page. But keep in mind that these versions will not be updated automatically.
2. You can try the advanced preview features available if you install Windows Terminal Preview.
3. Windows 11 users only: Use winget
to install Windows Terminal using the following command in Command Prompt or PowerShell: winget install Microsoft.WindowsTerminal
Of course, you can use other package managers like Chocolately or Scoop if you prefer, but in my opinion, winget
is easier to use for downloading and installing applications than even the Microsoft Store.
Set default terminal app (Windows 11 only)
To open any command line application with Windows Terminal, set it as your default terminal application by doing the following:
- Open Windows Terminal and navigate to Settings. You can also use the Ctrl + , keyboard shortcut in the application to be redirected directly to the Windows terminal Settings.
- Click on start and choose “Windows Terminal” like Default Terminal Application in the drop-down menu.
- Click on to safeguard to save your changes when you’re done.
That’s it, you’re done! You could probably fix it even faster by using the Parameters Ctrl + , in-app keyboard shortcut, but once it’s set, Windows Terminal is now your default terminal app on Windows 11.
Set Default Device Profile
When you first open Windows Terminal, the default profile is set to “PowerShell”. If you want to change it, here’s what you need to do.
- Open Windows Terminal and navigate to Settings > Startup. Use Ctrl + , keyboard shortcut in the app to take directly there. start is the first tab in Windows Terminal Settings, so it opens first when you use the hotkey.
- Below startchoose the command line tool you want to use like Default profile you want to use from the drop-down menu.
- Click on to safeguard to save your changes.
When you are done making changes, you can close Settings in the windows terminal.
Add a new profile
Windows Terminal automatically creates profiles if you have installed WSL distributions or multiple versions of PowerShell. Your command line Profiles are listed in the left pane under Settings.
- To add a new profile, under ProfilesClick on Add a new profile.
- You can choose to create a New empty profile Where Duplicate to copy a profile that already exists. Use the drop-down menu to select the profile you want to copy before clicking Duplicate.
- Click on to safeguard when you are done making changes.
Open a new tab
If you want to open a new tab, you can click the plus sign + next to your current tab to open a new tab.
Otherwise, you can use the Ctrl+Shift+T keyboard shortcut to open a new tab. To open a different command-line tool profile, select the arrow button next to the plus sign to select a different profile to open a new tab with.
Open and close a pane
You can even run multiple shells side by side using Windows Terminal Panes. It may seem daunting at first, but it’s easy once you learn. Here are five keyboard shortcuts I use daily in Windows Terminal:
- To open a vertical pane: Alt+Shift++ (plus button)
- To open a horizontal pane: Alt + Shift + – (minus button)
- To open a duplicate pane: Alt + Shift + D
- To close a selected pane: Ctrl+Shift+W
- Switch between panes: Alt + arrow keys
So if you want to view Windows PowerShell, Command Prompt, PowerShell, and bash side-by-side in Windows Terminal, here’s what you need to do.
- With a Terminal window open with your default profile (for this example, “Windows PowerShell”), press and hold Other on your keyboard and click the arrow next to the plus button to select a different profile to add to your existing pane.
- In this example, with Other pressed, I selected “Command Prompt”.
- The command prompt will now appear next to Windows PowerShell in Windows Terminal.
You can repeat these steps to add as many profiles as you want. Don’t forget to hold Other down while you choose a different profile, otherwise a new tab will open instead of a pane.
Hold down Alt + arrow keys to move between panes. If you want to change the keyboard shortcuts you use through the Shares section in the windows terminal settings.
Call up the command palette
You can access most Windows Terminal features by invoking the command palette. The default keyboard shortcut for the command palette is Ctrl+Shift+P.
Settings JSON file
For those who don’t want to use a graphical user interface (GUI), you can configure your Windows terminal settings in code, by editing the settings JSON file. You can do this by clicking Here’s what you need to do.
The path to your Windows Terminal JSON file is in one of the following directories on your PC.
- Terminal (stable/general version):
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\settings.json
- Terminal (Preview):
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminalPreview_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\settings.json
- Terminal (unwrapped: Scoop, Chocolately, etc.):
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows Terminal\settings.json
You can still access the Settings JSON file from Windows Terminal Settings by selecting Open JSON file in the left pane of terminal settings.
If you encounter any issues or bugs using Terminal, be sure to check the troubleshooting options here before going to GitHub to report a new issue.
What scares you the most about Windows Terminal? Let us know in the comments.