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Allowing headless mode (running in the background) prevents Windows Terminal from opening again #23208

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opened 2026-01-31 08:35:23 +00:00 by claunia · 0 comments
claunia commented 2026-01-31 08:35:23 +00:00
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Originally created by @oliver-leung on GitHub (Apr 26, 2025).

Windows Terminal version

1.22.11141.0

Windows build number

10.0.26100.0

Other Software

No response

Steps to reproduce

  1. Open Windows Terminal
  2. Go to Settings > Compatibility, and turn on "Allow Windows Terminal to run in the background"
    1. Alternatively, open settings.json and set "compatibility.allowHeadless": true
  3. Save settings
  4. Close Windows Terminal
  5. Attempt to open Windows Terminal

Expected Behavior

Windows Terminal opens

Actual Behavior

Windows Terminal does not open

In order to get out of this situation, I need to do one of the following:

Option 1

  1. Reboot my PC
  2. Open Windows Terminal (this will only work for the first attempt after booting)
  3. Go to Settings > Compatibility, and turn off "Allow Windows Terminal to run in the background"
  4. Save settings

Option 2

  1. Open settings.json and set "compatibility.allowHeadless": false
  2. Reboot my PC (importantly, this must be done after disallowing headless mode)

I suspect that the issue is that, after allowing headless mode, there is a background process for Windows Terminal running. The fact that this process is running prevents any new Windows Terminal windows from opening. However, I can't figure out which background process is responsible.

Originally created by @oliver-leung on GitHub (Apr 26, 2025). ### Windows Terminal version 1.22.11141.0 ### Windows build number 10.0.26100.0 ### Other Software _No response_ ### Steps to reproduce 1. Open Windows Terminal 2. Go to Settings > Compatibility, and **turn on** "Allow Windows Terminal to run in the background" 1. Alternatively, open *settings.json* and set `"compatibility.allowHeadless": true` 3. Save settings 4. Close Windows Terminal 5. Attempt to open Windows Terminal ### Expected Behavior Windows Terminal opens ### Actual Behavior Windows Terminal does not open --- In order to get out of this situation, I need to do one of the following: #### Option 1 1. Reboot my PC 2. Open Windows Terminal (this will only work for the first attempt after booting) 3. Go to Settings > Compatibility, and **turn off** "Allow Windows Terminal to run in the background" 4. Save settings #### Option 2 1. Open *settings.json* and set `"compatibility.allowHeadless": false` 2. Reboot my PC (importantly, this must be done **after** disallowing headless mode) I suspect that the issue is that, after allowing headless mode, there is a background process for Windows Terminal running. The fact that this process is running prevents any new Windows Terminal windows from opening. However, I can't figure out which background process is responsible.
claunia added the Issue-BugResolution-Duplicate labels 2026-01-31 08:35:24 +00:00
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Reference: starred/terminal#23208
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