Windows Terminal is a modern host application for the command-line shells that include Command Prompt, PowerShell, and bash (via Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)). Unlike the previous shell apps in Windows, Windows Terminal comes with many features including multiple tabs, panes, Unicode and UTF-8 character support, a GPU-accelerated text rendering engine, and themes customization with text, colors, backgrounds, and shortcuts. By default, Windows Terminal will now open when certain command functions are executed in Windows 11. You can change what you see when Windows Terminal starts. This setting has two options:

Open a tab with the default profile Open windows from a previous session

Below is how to change that.

What should be shown when Windows Terminal starts in Windows 11

As described above, Windows Terminal allows users to select what should be shown when the first terminal is created. There are two options you can choose from:

Open a tab with the default profile Open windows from a previous session

Below is how to change that. First, open Terminal by clicking on Start => and searching for Terminal, and selecting the Terminal app. Once the app opens, click on the down arrow button on the top bar, select Settings on the context menu, or press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl +, (comma). On the Settings pane, under Startup, change the When Terminal starts option to one of the following:

Open a tab with the default profile Open windows from a previous session

Make your selection and save your changes. That should do it! Conclusion: This post showed you how to change Windows Terminal start behavior in Windows 11. If you find any error above or have something to share, please use the comment form below.