[PR #6860] Build and ship an actual binary named wt that just launches WT #26801

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opened 2026-01-31 09:18:14 +00:00 by claunia · 0 comments
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Original Pull Request: https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/pull/6860

State: closed
Merged: Yes


Due to a shell limitation, Ctrl+Shift+Enter will not launch Windows
Terminal as Administrator. This is caused by the app execution alias and
the actual targeted executable not having the same name.

In addition, PowerShell has an issue detecting app execution aliases as
GUI/TUI applications. When you run wt from PowerShell, the shell will
wait for WT to exit before returning to the prompt. Having a shim that
immediately re-executes WindowsTerminal and then returns handily knocks
this issue out (as the process that PS was waiting for exits
immediately.)

This could cause a regression for anybody who tries to capture the PID
of wt.exe. Our process tree is not an API, and we have offered no
consistency guarantee on it.

VALIDATION

Tested manual launch in a number of different scenarios:

  • start menu "wtd"
  • start menu tile
  • powertoys run
  • powertoys run ctrl+shift (admin)
  • powershell inbox, "core"
  • cmd
  • run dialog
  • run dialog ctrl+shift (admin)
  • run from a lnk with window mode=maximized

Fixes #4645 (PowerShell waits for wt)
Fixes #6625 (Can't launch as admin using C-S-enter)

**Original Pull Request:** https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/pull/6860 **State:** closed **Merged:** Yes --- Due to a shell limitation, Ctrl+Shift+Enter will not launch Windows Terminal as Administrator. This is caused by the app execution alias and the actual targeted executable not having the same name. In addition, PowerShell has an issue detecting app execution aliases as GUI/TUI applications. When you run wt from PowerShell, the shell will wait for WT to exit before returning to the prompt. Having a shim that immediately re-executes WindowsTerminal and then returns handily knocks this issue out (as the process that PS was waiting for exits immediately.) This could cause a regression for anybody who tries to capture the PID of wt.exe. Our process tree is not an API, and we have offered no consistency guarantee on it. VALIDATION ---------- Tested manual launch in a number of different scenarios: * [x] start menu "wtd" * [x] start menu tile * [x] powertoys run * [x] powertoys run ctrl+shift (admin) * [x] powershell inbox, "core" * [x] cmd * [x] run dialog * [x] run dialog ctrl+shift (admin) * [x] run from a lnk with window mode=maximized Fixes #4645 (PowerShell waits for wt) Fixes #6625 (Can't launch as admin using C-S-enter)
claunia added the pull-request label 2026-01-31 09:18:14 +00:00
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Reference: starred/terminal#26801