Command Prompt hasn't meaningfully changed its window in decades — no tabs, barely any resizing options, and copy-paste that used to require right-clicking through a menu. Windows Terminal is Microsoft's replacement app, free, open source, and pre-installed by default on Windows 11 (and available as a Store download on Windows 10). It doesn't replace Command Prompt or PowerShell themselves — it's a better window that can host either of them, plus WSL and any other shell you have installed, side by side in tabs.
What You're Actually Getting
- Tabs and panes — open Command Prompt, PowerShell, and a WSL Linux shell as separate tabs, or split a single tab into panes, without juggling separate windows.
- Real copy-paste — Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V work like they do everywhere else, no more right-click-menu round trips.
- GPU-accelerated rendering — noticeably smoother scrolling on long output compared to the legacy console host.
- Per-profile customization — different background colors, fonts, and starting directories for each shell type, so you can tell PowerShell and WSL apart at a glance.
Getting It
On Windows 11, it's already the default when you open "Terminal" from the Start menu — Command Prompt and PowerShell shortcuts now open inside it automatically. On Windows 10, search the Microsoft Store for "Windows Terminal" and install it there rather than trying to find a standalone installer, since the Store version updates itself.
Setting a Default Profile
- Open Windows Terminal, click the dropdown arrow next to the tab bar (or press Ctrl+,) to open Settings.
- Under "Startup," pick which shell opens by default — Command Prompt, Windows PowerShell, PowerShell 7 if installed, or a WSL distribution.
- Each profile listed on the left has its own settings for color scheme, starting directory, and font — changes here only affect that one shell type.
Splitting Panes and Managing Tabs
Alt+Shift+D splits the current pane in half; Alt+Shift+- and Alt+Shift+= split horizontally or vertically depending on version. Ctrl+Shift+T opens a new tab with your default profile, and holding Alt while clicking the new-tab dropdown lets you pick a specific shell for that tab instead. Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab cycle between open tabs, and tabs can be dragged to reorder them or torn off into their own window.
Color Schemes and Fonts
The Settings panel includes several built-in color schemes (Campbell, One Half Dark, Solarized, Tango, and more) applied per-profile rather than globally, so PowerShell and Command Prompt can look visually distinct even when you're switching between them quickly. Font changes support any monospaced font installed on the system, including ones with programming ligatures if you have them installed — useful if you also do any scripting work and want consistent rendering with an editor.
Running It as Administrator
Right-click the Terminal icon (or use Win+X on Windows 11, which opens Terminal as Admin directly from the power-user menu) to launch an elevated session. You can also set a specific profile to always open elevated by default in its settings, though Windows will still show the UAC prompt each time — that confirmation step isn't something Terminal can skip.
Where the Old Console Still Shows Up
Some older applications and installers still launch their own separate console window rather than routing through Windows Terminal, particularly software written before Windows 11 shipped. This is normal and not a sign anything is broken — Windows Terminal is a host for interactive shells you open yourself, not a universal replacement for every console window an application might create on its own.
Quake Mode: A Dropdown Terminal
Set a global hotkey (Win+backtick by default, configurable under Settings → Actions) to summon a terminal window that slides down from the top of the screen and slides away again on a second press, regardless of what application currently has focus. It's a separate window from your regular tabs, meant for quick one-off commands you don't want to dig through open windows to reach — check disk space, ping something, glance at a running process — without leaving whatever you were doing.
Editing settings.json Directly
Everything in the graphical Settings panel is backed by a plain JSON file, opened by clicking "Open JSON file" at the bottom of the Settings sidebar. Editing it directly is faster once you know the schema, and it's the only way to reach a handful of options the GUI doesn't expose, like custom key-binding chords or per-profile startup commands with arguments. Changes save and apply live the moment you save the file — no need to restart Terminal to see them take effect.
Terminal vs. Registry Edits and Scripting
Windows Terminal is just the window — it doesn't add new commands or capabilities to PowerShell or Command Prompt themselves. If you're looking to actually automate tasks rather than just have a nicer place to type commands, see our guide to AutoHotkey automation scripts for GUI-level automation, or, if your work involves editing system settings directly, our guide on using the Registry Editor safely covers the risks worth knowing about before making changes through any shell.
Microsoft's own documentation, including the full keybinding reference and JSON settings schema, is at learn.microsoft.com/windows/terminal.