Windows Terminal Setup Guide

This article was created collaboratively by the author and AI. The author provided the core content and original rough expression, often in a spoken or fragmented form, and AI helped organize it into clearer written prose, polish the wording, and improve readability. This English version was also translated by AI from the Chinese version, so minor wording differences may exist.

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My personal Windows Terminal setup for a smooth workflow

Prerequisites

• Windows 11 (Windows 10 also works, but steps may differ slightly)
• Scoop installed

MSYS2

A Linux-like Shell environment. No need to learn PowerShell specifically; existing Linux/Mac scripts work directly.

scoop install msys2

Add this environment variable, otherwise MSYS2 won’t recognize Windows PATH:

MSYS2_PATH_TYPE    inherit

Nerd Font

Recommended: JetBrains Nerd Font Mono:

scoop install nerd-fonts/JetBrainsMono-NF-Mono

This will be used in the Windows Terminal font settings later.

Windows Terminal Profile

Sample configuration (JSON):

{
    "altGrAliasing": true,
    "antialiasingMode": "cleartype",
    "closeOnExit": "automatic",
    "colorScheme": "Campbell",
    "commandline": "**********/msys2_shell.cmd -defterm -here -no-start -msys2 -shell bash",
    "cursorShape": "bar",
    "elevate": false,
    "font":
    {
        "face": "JetBrainsMonoNL Nerd Font Mono",
        "size": 12
    },
    "guid": "**********",
    "hidden": false,
    "historySize": 9001,
    "icon": "**********/msys2.ico",
    "name": "MSYS2",
    "padding": "8, 8, 8, 8",
    "snapOnInput": true,
    "startingDirectory": "**********",
    "useAcrylic": false
}

HOME Directory

When MSYS2 is installed via Scoop, the default HOME points to a folder under Scoop. Set it manually:

HOME    C:\Users\<UserName>

Minimize to Notification Area

Minimizes to the notification area, hiding the window. Useful for setting up startup automation:

"minimizeToNotificationArea": true

tmux

pacman -S tmux

Oh My Posh (Optional)

Beautify the Bash prompt:

scoop install oh-my-posh

Add initialization to .bashrc:

eval "$(oh-my-posh init bash --config https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JanDeDobbeleer/oh-my-posh/refs/heads/main/themes/powerlevel10k_classic.omp.json)"

Personal preference: powerlevel10k_classic theme.

Auto-start Quake Mode on Boot (Optional)

1. Win + R, enter shell:startup to open the startup folder
2. Create a new file Terminal.bat with the following:

@echo off

chcp 65001

start "Msys2" /MIN "wt.exe" ^
    -w _quake ^
    --profile Msys2

exit

/MIN launches minimized, and minimizeToNotificationArea: true sends it to the notification area.

Note: Windows Terminal 1.22 has a minimize bug. Consider staying on version 1.21 for now.