How to Customize Windows Terminal Like a Pro

Windows Terminal is a handy tool that comes installed in both Windows 10 and Windows 11. Everyone, from professionals like developers to power users, takes advantage of its vast functionality and text-to-command approach. It is an essential part of Windows. It recently gained immense popularity when Microsoft updated it with huge performance improvements and a new look with Windows 11. In my opinion, this is the biggest update that any Microsoft app has had in years.

In my opinion, there are still a lot of things a power user could take advantage of to either simplify their own workflow or save time and effort by using tools like VScode and Azure Cloud that Microsoft has integrated with the terminal. The biggest question that arises now is: how can someone take full advantage of such a powerful tool and use all its capabilities?

The right answer is to customize it according to their own needs. Unlike the old days when Terminal had no customization options or some very limited customization options, the new Windows Terminal can be personalized and customized very easily. In this blog, we will share all the steps that you can follow to customize your Windows Terminal like a pro. So that you can take full advantage of its capabilities.

Install Terminal if it’s not already there

Microsoft has pushed Windows 11 to millions of devices, and all of them already come pre-installed with the terminal. If you are using Windows 10 or any other version of Windows, like Tiny 11, you need to install the terminal from the Microsoft Store.  Here is how to install Terminal from the Microsoft Store

• Hit the Windows key on your keyboard and search for Store.
• Click on the search result (Microsoft Store).
• Click on the search bar in the Microsoft Store and search for Terminal.
• Click on the following search result:.
• Now, click on the Get button to install the Terminal app.

Note: You don’t have to follow the above steps if the terminal app is already installed.

Things we are going to customize

There are mainly 2 things that we are going to customize in the terminal. These include adding more themes, activating themes, and adding new fonts and activating them. Why only 2 things to personalize the Terminal? Well, Windows Terminal could be a very work-dependent space for some people, and playing with the core functionality-based features could muddle up the whole workflow of the user.

In this blog, we will be changing the look of your terminal from a normal and plain-looking black screen and white text to something that looks completely different and will help you go through the command-line interface with ease.

We will be using Windowsterminalthemes.dev to give the terminal a better look than it deserves and nerd-fonts to install better-looking fonts that come with tons of new icons for different things. We will also make sure if Winget is installed on your Windows PC or laptop or not.

Let’s change the look of the Windows Terminal

We will be using Windows Terminal Themes to change the look of the Windows terminal, but before that, you need to understand that there is already a theming option built inside the terminal that lets you use different themes. For this, you don’t need to download anything; just follow these simple steps to change the look of the terminal.

• Hit the Windows key on your keyboard and search for Terminal.
• Click on the following search result to open the Terminal app.
• Now open the Windows Terminal settings by hitting the down arrow, and click on settings.
• On the left-hand side, click on the Appearance tab.
• Scroll down and enable this option: use acrylic material in the tab row.
• Hit the save button.

This will make the top of the terminal transparent.

• Now go to the color schemes tab and choose between the pre-installed color schemes.
• Now you need to scroll down and click on Set color scheme as default to set the theme.

Here, you can also add or even create your own color scheme. Here is how to create your own color scheme.

• Click on the add new button, and then click on the edit button.
• Here, you can select from the given colors below and even name your desired theme.

This is the best way to apply new themes to the terminal. If you want more customization options or more themes that are already built, you just need to apply them. You can use Windowsterminalthemes.dev

This is a free tool that thousands of people use to add more theme options to the Windows Terminal. You get options for both black and white themes, and these themes apply in the form of JSON files inside the terminal. Let’s see how we can install these themes inside our terminal to give it a new look.

• Visit the website and start using the previous and next buttons to see all the themes.
• Once you find the theme that suits your terminal window perfectly, click on Get Theme.
• This should copy the JSON file to your clipboard.
• Now, go back to the Windows Terminal and open settings by clicking on the arrow.
• Now, click on the gear icon (Open jSON file) at the bottom of the terminal window.
• A new Notepad window will open; hit Ctrl+F on the keyboard and search for schemes.
• This will show all the current themes that are installed in the Terminal app.
• Head down toward the last theme with closed curly brackets.
• Add a comma and paste the new theme that we copied earlier.
• Hit Ctrl+S to save and exit this window.
• Now go back to the color schemes section in the terminal once more.
• Scroll down, and you will see a new color theme that we have installed.
• Click on the theme and hit Set as default.
• Now, click on the save button, and your theme will be applied in the terminal.

This is the best way to change the look of the terminal window. You get access to thousands of free themes that you can apply to the terminal window. Now let’s take a look at how to install new fonts.

Installing Fonts in the Terminal Window

Installing fonts will not just increase the appeal of the terminal. It also increases the overall functionality of the terminal. The best part about using an external font is that it comes preinstalled with more than 3600 icons and 50 patched fonts. We will be using nerdfonts. This is an open-source font and comes preinstalled with dev-icons and oct-icons as well. It also supports multiple programming languages, and it is cross-platform as well. Let’s see how to install nerdfonts in the Windows terminal.

First, we need to download nerd fonts

• Open the GitHub link from above, then scroll down and click on releases.
• Here you will see the latest version of nerd fonts. Scroll down and click on Show all assets.
• You can download any font you want from these listed fonts.
• We chose the Cascadia code zip to download.
• Just click on the blue link, and the downloaded zip file will be saved in your downloads folder.

Now, we need to extract all the fonts to install them.

• Right-click on the zip file and click on Extract All.
• Now, select all the fonts by pressing ctrl+a on your keyboard.
• Once done, just cut all the fonts by clicking ctrl+x.
• Create a new folder called Nerd Fonts and paste all the fonts inside it.
• Press ctrl+v to paste all the fonts.
• Once again, select everything by pressing ctrl+a.
• Right-click and click on the Install option.

Once you have followed all these steps, it’s time to hop onto the Windows terminal. If your Windows terminal is already running in the background, make sure to close it and reopen it again.

• Click on the arrow icon on the top bar of the terminal and open the settings page.
• From here, head towards the defaults tab.
• Scroll down and click on Appearance.
• From here, click on the font face, and you will be able to see all the fonts that you have installed.
• You can select any font of your choice from the list.
• Now, click on the save button, and your font will be applied.

This way, you can apply any font inside the Windows terminal, make it more appealing, and increase the overall functionality. But we have so much to do with the terminal; let’s customize it a bit more. For starters, we can add a background wallpaper to the terminal window. We can also use our default Windows wallpaper as a background.

Adding background wallpaper to the Windows terminal

Let’s see how we can change the background of the Windows Terminal.

• Click on the arrow icon on the top bar of the terminal and open the settings page.
• From here, head towards the defaults tab.
• Scroll down and click on Appearance.
• Scroll down again and click on the background image path under the background image section.
• Click on the browse button and select the wallpaper you want as the Windows terminal background.
• Hit the save button to save changes.

This should apply to the wallpaper, but make sure you set the opacity of the wallpaper correctly. Here is how to set the opacity of the wallpaper correctly.

• Under the background image section, scroll down, and you will see a background image opacity section.
• You just need to adjust the slider to set the opacity correctly.
• Around 20% opacity is a good spot.
• Click on the save button to apply changes, and you are good to go.

These are all the customization features that you can use to customize the Windows Terminal. Let’s also make sure that Winget is properly installed.

Installing Winget package manager

Winget is probably one of the best package managers for Windows. It comes pre-installed with all builds of Windows 10 and Windows 11 and is very easy to use. Winget is a free and open-source command-line program with a range of services and features that allow users to install, remove, and update packages and applications. Sometimes Winget won’t work correctly just because it’s either not installed correctly or you are using an older version of Windows 10.

To find out if Winget is properly installed or not, we need to follow these steps:

• Launch a new terminal with administrative privileges.
• Here, type Winget and press Enter.
• You will be able to see all the Winget commands if it is already installed.

In case Winget is not installed, you should install it by now, as it is the most popular package manager on Windows, and it could significantly increase your productivity or even reduce the hassle of installing and uninstalling programs on Windows.

Here is how to install Winget on your Windows PC or laptop.

• Hit the Windows key on your keyboard and search for Store.
• Click on the search result (Microsoft Store).
• Click on the search bar in the Microsoft Store and search for Winget.
• Now you will see an app called App Installer.
• Open the app and click on the get button to install it.
  

  

This is a quick tutorial on the things you can do to customize and personalize your Windows terminal like a pro. These are easy-to-follow steps that will change the look and feel of the boring and sad-looking Windows terminal.

FAQs about Customizing Windows Terminal

1. How do you make your Windows terminal look better?

Terminal is a very powerful tool that can help you maximize your productivity or ease your workflow. But it looks very sad with the default black-and-white theme. If you follow all the above steps correctly, then we can give the Windows terminal a personalized touch that it lacks. All the above steps are easy to follow, and we have also mentioned all the resources needed to customize the terminal.

2. How do I install fonts on a Windows terminal?

Installing fonts on the terminal is a very easy process. You can download the zip file of your favorite fonts, extract it, and install the fonts. Then just follow these simple steps:

• Click on the arrow icon on the top bar of the terminal and open the settings page.
• From here, head towards the defaults tab.
• Scroll down and click on Appearance.
• From here, click on the font face, and you will be able to see all the fonts that you have installed.
• You can select any font of your choice from the list.
• Now click on the save button, and your font will be applied.

3. Which is better, CMD or Windows terminal?

Windows Terminal is a very powerful tool that can do all the tasks that you can do inside the command prompt window. You can even open a CMD tab inside the terminal itself. Which makes terminals way more superior. You can do all the stuff from the Windows terminal that you can do inside the CMD window.

4. Is there any improvement in the functionality of the Windows terminal when we customize it?

Yes, there are some minor functionality improvements in the terminal when we customize it. The main improvements come from installing fonts. There are many fonts that are available right now; we might add new icons and better-looking fonts as well. These new icons could help you visualize things in a better way.

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