Systeminfo was the first command I ever ran on Windows, and I felt like a hacker the day I tried it. Ever since, any opportunity I get to use a command-line tool, I take it. Then, in 2019, Windows introduced Terminal, which brought Command Prompt and other command-line tools, such as PowerShell and Azure Cloud Shell, into one place. For a lot of people, including myself, it came with a new learning curve.

Terminal introduced plenty of changes and useful features, but out of the box, it wasn’t configured the way I like to run commands. So, I made a few tweaks.

Set Command Prompt as the default profile

Start with the command-line tool I’ve used for years

I grew up using Command Prompt long before it became part of Windows Terminal. I’m comfortable with its commands, familiar with its interface, and often prefer it for the basic troubleshooting tasks I perform on my PC. But Windows Terminal opens PowerShell by default.

While PowerShell is more powerful and supports plenty of useful features, I don’t always need what it offers. We could argue that Command Prompt is still a dedicated app on Windows (even though it launches in Terminal), so I could easily open it directly.

But I’ve gotten so used to Terminal now that whenever I need to run a command, my first instinct is to search for “terminal” and not “cmd.” So, I changed Terminal’s default profile by clicking the dropdown arrow next to the new tab button and selecting Settings.

Under the Startup section, you’ll find the Default profile option and change it from PowerShell to Command Prompt. After saving the change, new Terminal sessions open Command Prompt automatically. This doesn’t remove PowerShell or prevent me from using other profiles. They remain available in the dropdown menu whenever I need them. It just means I don’t have to change profiles manually every time I launch Terminal.

Allow Windows Terminal to always run as admin

Skip the extra steps when a command needs elevated permissions

Most of the commands I run these days require admin privileges. But every single time I want to open Terminal, I have to right-click it, select Run as administrator, and approve the User Account Control prompt. It’s not a huge inconvenience, but repeating that process throughout the day gets old quickly.

Thankfully, Windows Terminal lets me configure it to launch with administrator privileges automatically. To enable this, open Settings, click Defaults, then turn on the Run this profile as Administrator toggle switch.

That setting applies to every Terminal profile. If you want to set it for a particular profile, select the profile from the list and toggle on the Run this profile as Administrator switch there.

Windows will still display a User Account Control prompt whenever you launch Terminal, so this doesn’t eliminate every security confirmation. And for everyday basic commands, a standard terminal is enough. But since I regularly need elevated permissions, this setting saves me an extra step when working on my PC.

Bring back PowerShell’s classic blue background

Give PowerShell a familiar look instead of using the same dark background everywhere

Before Windows Terminal brought different command-line tools together, PowerShell had a distinctive blue background. That was its signature and one of the things that differentiated it from Command Prompt. But with the move to Windows Terminal, PowerShell had to follow the default dark appearance, making all the profiles more consistent.

However, even though I don’t use it a lot, I still miss that old look. You can say I’m a sucker for nostalgia. Well, Windows Terminal allows you to choose different colors for individual profiles.

This way, I can change PowerShell’s background color without affecting Command Prompt or any other shell I use. Just open Settings, select the Windows PowerShell profile, navigate to its Appearance settings, and you can choose a color that resembles the classic PowerShell look.

Change the default startup window size

Open Terminal with enough room to work comfortably

By default, Windows Terminal opens at 120 columns by 30 rows, giving the shell a noticeably rectangular layout. That’s perfectly fine for short commands, but I mostly work with commands that display several columns of results. So, I find myself resizing the window every single time.

That’s not really a problem, but it’s a small annoyance I can avoid by tweaking the Terminal startup setting. All I have to do is open Settings, go to Startup, select Launch size, and increase the columns and rows.

I know I could just use the maximize button to view Terminal in fullscreen. But I don’t necessarily need a massive window because I’m often working with other windows while using Terminal.

Change the font for better readability

Choose a font that makes commands and output easier to scan

When you spend a lot of time writing commands in the terminal, readability matters more than you’d expect. A font that’s too small can make long sessions uncomfortable, while poorly distinguished characters can make commands harder to read.

This can become a huge problem when filenames, paths, and command output contain similar-looking letters and numbers. Windows Terminal uses Cascadia Mono by default, which is already a good choice for command-line work. But I like having the option to change the font and size to suit my preferences.

Terminal lets me configure both through each profile’s appearance settings. To change them, I open Settings, select the profile I want to customize, and go to Appearance. There, I can choose a different font face and adjust the font size. If I want the same font across Command Prompt, PowerShell, and other profiles, I can also apply the settings to all profiles using the shared defaults in the configuration file.

These small changes make Windows Terminal feel more personal

Windows Terminal brings Command Prompt, PowerShell, Azure Cloud Shell, and other command-line environments together in a single window. However, its default configuration won’t suit everyone, especially if you’ve spent years using a particular shell or prefer a specific workflow.

But gladly, we’re not locked to the default options. There are a lot of customization options to change how Terminal functions and looks. Although most of the changes I made are pretty minor, they make Terminal feel more like me so I can actually focus on running commands.