Windows Terminal can now be the default Windows 10 console

Windows 10 will soon let you configure Windows Terminal as the default terminal application to launch console and PowerShell programs.

When you launch a command-line console program in Windows 10, the operating system will automatically launch it in a Windows Console or PowerShell console displayed by the Windows Console Host (conhost.exe), as shown below. 

An application running in a Windows 10 console

With today's release of the Windows 10 Preview build 21390, both PowerShell and console programs can be configured to automatically launch in Windows Terminal rather than using the Windows Console Host.

To use this feature, Windows Terminal Preview must be installed on the latest Windows 10 Preview 'Dev' build.

Once installed, users will see an option titled 'Default Terminal Application' in a console's properties that lets you choose whether to use the Windows Console Host or Windows Terminal to run programs.

Default Terminal Application selection in the console properties

Windows users can also configure the default terminal application from within Windows Terminal Preview by going to Settings > Startup and configuring it from there.

Configuring the default terminal application in Windows Terminal

It should be noted that Microsoft is still developing this feature and that there are some issues with its implementation.

For example, you can't configure different default terminal applications for PowerShell or the Windows Console, and whatever you select will be used for both consoles.

In addition, no matter what you set as your default terminal application, launching programs that require administrative privileges will launch in their regular consoles.

For example, if you run a console program or PowerShell as an Administrator, it will not be launched in Windows Terminal but rather in the Windows Console or the PowerShell console.

While still needing some work, this is an excellent addition for those who want a single console application, such as Windows Terminal, to manage all of their console applications.

To track this features development process and its open issues, you can follow the Area-DefApp issues tag on the project's GitHub repository.