Methods To Open Windows Terminal On Windows 11

Windows Terminal is a great addition to Windows 10 and Windows 11, which offers numerous improvements over the old Windows Console Host. It provides a unified user interface to access all the Windows shells in a central location with a tabbed UI. Windows Terminal is modern, fast, and powerful compared to other terminal applications. Windows 11 provides several methods to open Terminal, please choose and learn one of them.

Methods to Open Windows Terminal on Windows 11

Method 1: Open Windows Terminal From the Start Menu

Windows Terminal can be launched from the Start Menu, just like any other app. Click the Start button or hit the Windows key, type windows terminal into the search box, then click Open.

If you want to launch Terminal as administrator, click the small arrow on the right side of the Start Menu to expand the Terminal options, then click Run as Administrator.

Method 2: Open Windows Terminal From the Power User Menu

The Power User Menu is probably the most underused menu in Windows. You can access most of the essential tools you need from it, including Windows Terminal.

Right-click the Start button or hit Windows+X, then click Windows Terminal or Windows Terminal (Admin).

Method 3: Open Terminal From the Run Box

Press Windows+R to open a run prompt, then type wt into the box. You can hit Enter or click OK to launch the terminal with normal privileges or press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to launch Windows Terminal with administrative privileges.

Method 4: Open Terminal From the Task Manager

The Task Manager has an option to open programs from a run prompt similar to the Run window you can access by hitting Windows+R.

1. Press Windows+X, then choose Task Manager from the Power User Menu.
2. Click on File, then click Run New Task.
3. Type wt into the text box next to Open, then hit Enter. Tick the Create this Task with Administrative Privileges box if you want to run Terminal as an administrator.

Method 5: Open Terminal From File Explorer

File Explorer got a rework between Windows 10 and 11, and one of the ways you could open PowerShell in Windows 10 was removed in Windows 11. You can still launch Terminal from within File Explorer, though.

Click on the File Explorer address bar, type wt into the field, then hit Enter.

File Explorer in Windows 10 would open PowerShell or Command Prompt to the current directory when launched via the address bar. Windows 11 did not carry that feature over into the new Terminal, disappointingly.

Method 6: Open Terminal From the Desktop Shortcut

1. Right-click an area of your desktop wallpaper to select the New and Shortcut context menu options.
2. Then input %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\WindowsApps\wt.exe within the item location text box.
3. Click Next to bring up the name box.
4. Type Windows Terminal within the text box.
5. Select Finish to add the shortcut to the desktop.
6. Now click the desktop shortcut to bring up Windows Terminal.

You can configure the shortcut to always run Windows Terminal as an administrator, which might be necessary for certain commands. To do that, right-click the desktop shortcut and select Properties. Select the Run this program as an administrator checkbox on the Compatibility tab shown directly below. Then click Apply, and select OK to close the properties window.

Method 7: Open Terminal From the Keyboard Shortcut

Pressing a hotkey is an even more direct way to open Windows Terminal than clicking a desktop shortcut. If you set up a desktop shortcut, you can add a hotkey. Just follow these steps to set up a Terminal keyboard shortcut.

1. First, add a Windows Terminal shortcut to the desktop as outlined for the sixth method.
2. Right-click the Terminal desktop shortcut and select Properties.
3. Click inside the Shortcut key box. Then press the W keyboard key to establish a Ctrl + Alt + W hotkey.
4. Select the Apply option.
5. Press the Ctrl + Alt + W hotkey to open Windows Terminal.

Conclusion

The above are the methods to open Windows Terminal on Windows 11 shared in today’s article. In addition to these methods, what other convenient methods do you know to open the Terminal, welcome to leave them below!