Windows Terminal is the new all-in-one terminal application that Microsoft has been working on for a few years. It's the new central way to work with PowerShell, the Windows Subsystem for Linux, and old command-line applications, and Microsoft has continued to roll out new features since the first release. Windows Terminal Preview 1.12 is now available, with new features for people on both Windows 10 and 11.

The main new feature that Microsoft announced is that Windows Terminal can now be set as the default terminal emulator for your system, as long as you're using the Windows Insider Program Dev Channel or regular Windows 11. That means opening any command-line application will run in Windows Terminal, instead of Cmd.exe or PowerShell. The new option is accessible from the 'Startup' section of the Windows Terminal settings page, or in the 'Privacy & security' section of the Windows Settings app.

Default terminal application setting in Windows Terminal
Default terminal application setting

Another addition is profile matching, which means if you're opening an executable file with the same name as one of your customized profiles, the executable will run in that profile. There's also a new window restoration setting, which allows you to restore your previous tabs and panes after relaunching Windows Terminal — similar to the restoration features that web browsers have offered for years.

Other changes include a full transparency background option, automatically-generated profiles for Visual Studio Developer Command Prompt and Visual Studio Developer PowerShell, a new shield icon for elevated terminal windows, and a handful of bug fixes. You can download Windows Terminal Preview from the Microsoft Store or the GitHub releases page, and if you're on the stable Terminal channel, most of these updates should roll out to you within a few weeks.

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