Windows Terminal: Open terminal in current folder via single command #620

nphmuller · 2019-05-09T09:57:58Z

Currently I can open cmd and powershell in the current folder via typing cmd or powershell in the address bar of explorer (which opens via CTRL+D, so it's really neat and quick).

It would be great if this was also possible with the new Windows Terminal. But since it's a Windows Store app I can't find an easy way to add it to PATH. It also doesn't respect the current folder when opening. It always starts in the default folder (C:\WINDOWS\system32 for cmd and ~ for Ubuntu).

It would be great if this was possible:

Make it possible to add Windows Terminal to PATH.
Open the command line in the current folder in Windows Terminal.

It would also be nice if it could be opened with a short command.
The executable currently is called WindowsTerminal. Would be nice if we could simply type something like term.

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

joandrsn · 2019-05-09T12:35:26Z

What happens if you use wt.exe ?

https://github.com/microsoft/Terminal/blob/af7316c130059ba15fe16ff0d13608d956a2b449/src/cascadia/CascadiaPackage/Package.appxmanifest#L51

The alias should already launch a WindowsTerminal, but I'm not sure if it launches in the path that you specify

lennylxx · 2019-05-09T12:47:29Z

@joandrsn This is great, I didn't know. Thanks.

nphmuller · 2019-05-09T14:23:47Z

@joandrsn Thanks! It even launches in the current directory!

RehanSaeed · 2019-08-30T11:19:42Z

How do you pass a directory path to wt.exe. Something like this:

wt.exe "C:\GitHub"

CEbbinghaus · 2019-09-11T18:45:08Z

Tried but Always opens in Default folder for both CMD and PowerShell.

I can open the WSL Ubuntu shell in the current folder with ubuntu run. but wt always opens in the default folder

DHowett-MSFT · 2019-09-11T18:53:47Z

Remove startingDirectory from your profiles.json.

mstyura · 2019-09-19T08:27:44Z

Hello @DHowett-MSFT,
is there a way to ask Windows Terminal open new tab in the same folder as current tab? I want the same behavior as exist on Mac OS X: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/178017/how-do-i-open-a-new-terminal-window-for-same-directory-as-the-current-window.
Thanks in advance!

MikenTNT · 2019-09-25T15:02:13Z

Remove startingDirectory from your profiles.json.

@DHowett-MSFT, this doesn't work in the latest version 0.5.2661.0 :(

ScientiaEtVeritas · 2019-09-25T21:20:58Z

Remove startingDirectory from your profiles.json.

For me, it doesn't work either :(

zadjii-msft · 2019-09-25T21:28:17Z

As of v0.5, that actually won't work any longer. You'll need to set "startingDirectory": null for this to work actually. That fix regressed unintentionally in #2515.

itnavigate · 2019-09-30T00:07:54Z

I'd also like to open new tabs in the current directory

payambordbar · 2019-10-03T16:50:26Z

As of v0.5, that actually won't work any longer. You'll need to set "startingDirectory": null for this to work actually. That fix regressed unintentionally in #2515.

@zadjii-msft , this doesn't work in v0.5.2681.0

mantasaudickas · 2019-10-07T06:26:17Z

As of v0.5, that actually won't work any longer. You'll need to set "startingDirectory": null for this to work actually. That fix regressed unintentionally in #2515.

Does not work with 0.5.2762.0 either..
I have tried removing value, setting to null.. both does not change anything..

DHowett-MSFT · 2019-10-07T06:35:18Z

To be clear, removing startingDirectory instead of setting it to null isn’t a feature that’s coming back; we are looking at alternative approaches regarding when exactly to apply startingDirectory, but the setting will always be able to be suppressed by setting it to null.

ozziepeeps · 2019-10-11T15:56:07Z

As of v0.5, that actually won't work any longer. You'll need to set "startingDirectory": null for this to work actually. That fix regressed unintentionally in #2515.

Does not work with 0.5.2762.0 either..
I have tried removing value, setting to null.. both does not change anything..

"startingDirectory": null works for me - it needs to be put under a specific profile, rather than being a root-level element

piotrpalek · 2019-11-18T08:15:50Z

@DHowett-MSFT it seems to me that an approach of having settings in a config file (startingDirectory) which can be overriden by passing in command line params is pretty common in general. Maybe I'm not getting the issue here :)

DHowett-MSFT · 2019-11-18T08:21:33Z

If I recall the conversation from last month, it was:

Clearing the “startingDirectory” setting by deleting it from your user profile (in the specific case of the two or three default shipped profiles), instead of setting it to null to clear it, is not a feature that will be coming back.

#607 specifies that we will support command line arguments, one of which will be the starting directory override.

This seems to be in line with my understanding of your understanding of this conversation. 😄

torpederos · 2019-11-22T23:35:57Z

For me setting "startingDirectory": "." does the job.

carlinmack · 2019-11-26T19:34:07Z

is there another issue for having the terminal default open to say "%USERPROFILE%" but null if launched from windows explorer?

Arcitec · 2019-12-06T17:58:11Z

@carlinmack I don't think that's entirely necessary.

The Windows Terminal defaults to the user's home directory if you launch it via the Start menu shortcut or via typing "wt" in Win+R. Which means that if you use "startingDirectory": "." they still open in the user's home folder (%USERPROFILE%).
If you launch wt from the Windows Explorer address bar, or via something like cmd.exe (or another shell) navigated to a certain folder, then the "startingDirectory": "." will ensure that Windows Terminal opens in the directory you were in.
However... Any additional tabs you open within the Windows Terminal session will open in the "current working dir" from the launch moment, which may be a minor annoyance.

kerams · 2020-02-10T08:38:15Z

The Windows Terminal defaults to the user's home directory if you launch it via the Start menu shortcut or via typing "wt" in Win+R. Which means that if you use "startingDirectory": "." they still open in the user's home folder (%USERPROFILE%).

It defaults to system32 in those case for me.

charlyjose · 2020-02-21T21:43:31Z

Thanks @torpederos

"startingDirectory": "."
"startingDirectory": "%__CD__%"

Checked. Both works fine for me. My solution.

@RickStrahl have written a good blog regarding this issue. Check it out.

ghost · 2020-04-30T16:11:10Z

In my case this worked.

"profiles":
    {
        "defaults":
        {
            "startingDirectory": "."
        },

petref · 2020-11-17T16:01:22Z

How do you pass a directory path to wt.exe. Something like this:
wt.exe "C:\GitHub"

I don't know if you found -d and path

Combo819 · 2020-11-24T02:30:25Z

wt -d .

works well in WSL2

alexandremucci · 2020-11-29T18:44:32Z

You can set up the starting directory using your preferred address, either globally or for a specific profile. To have a context menu to open it in the current folder, create and save a .reg file with the content below. Ps.: change {USERNAME} to your username.


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\windowsterminal]
@="Windows Terminal Here"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\windowsterminal\command]
@="\"C:\\Users\\{USERNAME}\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\WindowsApps\\wt.exe\" -d ."

Double click the saved file to add these entries to the registry.

viceice · 2021-03-22T12:30:15Z

Does anybody know why "startingDirectory": "." in default profil is no longer working on 1.6.10571.0?

Also wt nt will open a new window instead of a new tab.

clicking the + button to open a new tab also no longer reuses the startup directory of the first tab. 😕

zadjii-msft · 2021-03-22T13:30:50Z

Does anybody know why "startingDirectory": "." in default profil is no longer working on 1.6.10571.0?

Nope, you should probably file a new issue so we can follow up with you and figure out what's going on

Also wt nt will open a new window instead of a new tab.

That's how it has always worked - in 1.7 there's windowingBehavior and --window <id> to help control this.

clicking the + button to open a new tab also no longer reuses the startup directory of the first tab. 😕

Pretty sure that's how it's always worked - it'll always use the startingDirectory of the default profile, and if your default profile's startingDirectory is ., then it'll use the directory the terminal was launched from.

viceice · 2021-03-22T13:45:26Z

Does anybody know why "startingDirectory": "." in default profil is no longer working on 1.6.10571.0?

Nope, you should probably file a new issue so we can follow up with you and figure out what's going on

Also wt nt will open a new window instead of a new tab.

That's how it has always worked - in 1.7 there's windowingBehavior and --window <id> to help control this.

clicking the + button to open a new tab also no longer reuses the startup directory of the first tab. 😕

Pretty sure that's how it's always worked - it'll always use the startingDirectory of the default profile, and if your default profile's startingDirectory is ., then it'll use the directory the terminal was launched from.

I'm using the context menu to open wt in a specific folder (using the entry generated by wt). That will open the first tab in that folder, but new tab will open in system32.

Before i used my own context menu entry:

$exe = (Get-Command wt).Source
$ico = Resolve-Path "$PSScriptRoot\wt.ico"

$title = "Windows Terminal here"

New-Item HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\WTOpenHere -Force
Set-Item HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\WTOpenHere $title
New-ItemProperty HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\WTOpenHere -Name Icon -Value $ico -Force
New-Item HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\WTOpenHere\command -Force
Set-Item HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\WTOpenHere\command """$exe"" -d ""%L"""


New-Item HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shell\WTOpenHere -Force
Set-Item HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shell\WTOpenHere $title
New-ItemProperty HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shell\WTOpenHere -Name Icon -Value $ico -Force
New-Item HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shell\WTOpenHere\command -Force
Set-Item HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shell\WTOpenHere\command "$exe"


# Currently not supported until v0.9
#Remove-Item HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\WTOpenHere -Force -Recurse

zadjii-msft · 2021-03-22T14:20:16Z

Yep, that's exactly how it works. You might be interested in #8933

kaaax0815 · 2021-04-29T15:03:29Z

I had the same problem. I fixed it by adding the following line at the end of my .bashrc file.

@manishprivet Is this possible in windows?

manishprivet · 2021-04-30T05:27:40Z

I had the same problem. I fixed it by adding the following line at the end of my .bashrc file.

@manishprivet Is this possible in windows?

@kaaax0815 Yes this is for windows only

kaaax0815 · 2021-04-30T05:57:23Z

@kaaax0815 Yes this is for windows only

@manishprivet But bashrc would be wsl not native windows. Or where should I put it

manishprivet · 2021-04-30T06:05:34Z

@kaaax0815 Yes this is for windows only

@manishprivet But bashrc would be wsl not native windows. Or where should I put it

@kaaax0815 In the WSL's bashrc file actually

kaaax0815 · 2021-04-30T06:08:22Z

@manishprivet the matter has resolved itself. I changed the cmd search shortcut to wt and this fixed the path problem

KSneijders · 2021-06-11T13:09:59Z

You can now just go to settings -> profiles (Powershell / Command prompt).
And check the checkbox: 'Use parent process directory'

rafapaulin · 2021-11-01T18:56:23Z

@KSneijders unfortunately we do not have that on wsl :(

rafapaulin · 2021-11-01T19:02:52Z

actually we do, but it does not work

rafapaulin · 2021-11-01T19:03:42Z

power shell also does not work

pratikbarve09 · 2021-11-12T10:26:19Z

So, none of the above answers worked for my use case. What I'd like to do is open a new tab using alt+shift+- and keep the previous folder. I tried using null, "." and "%__CD__%" as values for "startingDirectory" in different places of the JSON. I'm using version 1.4.2652.0 of Windows Terminal Preview.

One nice solution would be to have a new option like "keepCurrentDirectoryOnNewTab": true or something like that. Other way (that Kitty uses) is having a special value called current when specifying the directory.

I'm using Windows Terminal v1.11.2921.0
this worked for me:

in windows terminal, under default profile, add startingDirectory value to "."
if you are going with explorer, in the address bar type "wt" and it will open your default profile in that directory or right-click and choose "open windows terminal here" option to open the default profile (if you have edited the registry for this)
for every profile add a value of "startingDirectory" to "."

krlvm · 2021-12-17T17:28:43Z

If anyone is looking for a solution without changing startingDirectory, I have placed such a file in %SystemRoot\System32 named wtx.cmd:

@ECHO off
wt -d .
exit /B !ERRORLEVEL!

AEROGU · 2022-07-06T02:20:57Z

Remove startingDirectory from your profiles.json.

Thanks @DHowett-MSFT, I was making VSCode when pressing ctrl+ñ the external console wt.exe appears, because the integrated one has problems with unicode in windows and, when I did it, it always started in my %USERPROFILE%, your solution worked, now runs in my project directory.

For those who are interested, I used wt --window 0 focus-tab so that if I already have a WindowsTerminal window open, it will be raised instead of creating another instance.

ErcinDedeoglu · 2022-08-05T16:15:01Z

You can now just go to settings -> profiles (Powershell / Command prompt). And check the checkbox: 'Use parent process directory'

thank you! this solution is the best solution. and still working

sanayvarghese · 2022-10-09T07:15:22Z

Current directory in Windows terminal using explorer

You can open current directory in Windows terminal using explorer using
wt -d .

jleaders · 2023-03-29T06:16:20Z

Please add wt -d to wt -h

zadjii-msft · 2023-03-29T11:45:25Z

@jleaders the help text is understandably a little confusing in this particular case, because of the implicit new-tab subcommand that's used when no subcommand is provided explicitly. You'll note, -d is under wt new-tab --help

It's just that CLI11 doesn't know how to wire the args for new-tab up to the help message for the root command's help text.

filiSpinelli · 2023-03-31T07:47:44Z

@nphmuller Referring to the first main discussion of thus topic, you can open a new terminal windows, placed in the current working folder, by typing "cmd" and press Enter in the url ##bar.

loan-mgt · 2023-10-29T14:15:10Z

solution wt -d .

6philipp9 · 2024-02-09T14:43:21Z

[ Settings : "Startup" → "standard terminal application" ] change this to windows terminal -> All Terminals open now in the Windows Terminal.

candrapersada · 2024-09-23T10:24:01Z

how to use %USERPROFILE% in start menu if use Use parent process directory for Open terminal in current folder via wt

chrisrodrigue · 2024-10-11T16:50:34Z

The default behavior of cmd.exe, powershell.exe, and pwsh.exe is to start in the current directory when invoked from any shell or the File Explorer address bar, or to open in %USERPROFILE% when invoked elsewhere (such as Run or Start Menu shortcuts).

wt.exe deviates from this behavior. If you have the starting directory set to ., it will still start in C:\Windows\System32 when invoked from a shortcut or the Start Menu. Why?

For those frustrated by this, here's a script you can put on your PATH (or in C:\Windows\System32) that works from any shell, File Explorer, or Run.

wtd opens a normal window in the current directory.

wtd a opens an elevated window in the current directory.

wtd.bat:

@echo off
if "%1"=="a" (
    net session >nul 2>&1 || (
        powershell -c "start -v runas '%~f0'"
        exit
    )
)
wt -d .

DHowett · 2024-10-11T17:08:05Z

When you have Terminal set as your default console host, you can also just go back to launching cmd, powershell or pwsh directly from the file explorer address bar or whichever shell...

chrisrodrigue · 2024-10-11T17:39:32Z

When you have Terminal set as your default console host, you can also just go back to launching cmd, powershell or pwsh directly from the file explorer address bar or whichever shell...

Yeah but all of those are more verbose than typing wt.

Besides, how would you launch Git Bash? Users should be able to invoke their default console host in the current directory when calling wt from that directory in File Explorer.

And it should never, ever default to opening in a system directory such as System32.

nphmuller closed this as completed May 9, 2019

zadjii-msft added the Resolution-Answered Related to questions that have been answered label May 9, 2019

umerf52 mentioned this issue May 30, 2019

When launching the new terminal from address bar, it does not open in the current directory #1065

Closed

prabirshrestha mentioned this issue Dec 9, 2019

add support for windows terminal justinmk/vim-gtfo#53

Closed

FelixZacher mentioned this issue Jan 30, 2020

Choose Terminal Applications files-community/Files#361

Merged

Wason1797 mentioned this issue Feb 19, 2020

Typing "wt" in File Explorer's address bar (while browsing a file folder) opens Terminal but does not browse the current folder. CMD works. #4647

Closed

ayugioh2003 mentioned this issue Feb 20, 2020

Windows Terminal: Open terminal in current folder via single command ayugioh2003/today-i-learned#189

Open

Windows Terminal: Open terminal in current folder via single command #620

Windows Terminal: Open terminal in current folder via single command #620

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Current directory in Windows terminal using explorer

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