How to launch Windows Terminal with Multiple Tabs?

Question

I am attempting to use startupActions to launch a second tab when Windows Terminal launches with no luck.

My default shell is WSL, so I have the following in my settings.json:

  "startupActions": "; new-tab -p PowerShell",

I've tried it without the semi-colon and without the -p flag as well.

Here is the settings.json minus the color schemes:

 {
    "$help": "https://aka.ms/terminal-documentation",
    "$schema": "https://aka.ms/terminal-profiles-schema",
    "actions":
    [
        {
            "command":
            {
                "action": "copy",
                "singleLine": false
            },
            "keys": "ctrl+c"
        },
        {
            "command": "paste",
            "keys": "ctrl+v"
        },
        {
            "command": "find",
            "keys": "ctrl+shift+f"
        },
        {
            "command":
            {
                "action": "splitPane",
                "split": "auto",
                "splitMode": "duplicate"
            },
            "keys": "alt+shift+d"
        }
    ],
    "centerOnLaunch": true,
    "copyFormatting": "none",
    "copyOnSelect": false,
    "defaultProfile": "{2c4de342-38b7-51cf-b940-2309a097f518}",
    "initialCols": 98,
    "initialRows": 24,
    "showTerminalTitleInTitlebar": false,
    "startupActions": "; new-tab -p PowerShell",
    "useAcrylicInTabRow": true,
    "profiles":
    {
        "defaults":
        {
            "colorScheme": "Dracula",
            "cursorShape": "filledBox",
            "elevate": true,
            "font":
            {
                "face": "MesloLGS NF",
                "size": 12
            },
            "startingDirectory": null
        },
        "list":
        [
            {
                "antialiasingMode": "cleartype",
                "experimental.retroTerminalEffect": false,
                "guid": "{0caa0dad-35be-5f56-a8ff-afceeeaa6101}",
                "hidden": false,
                "name": "Command Prompt",
                "opacity": 75,
                "useAcrylic": true
            },
            {
                "guid": "{b453ae62-4e3d-5e58-b989-0a998ec441b8}",
                "hidden": true,
                "name": "Azure Cloud Shell",
                "opacity": 75,
                "source": "Windows.Terminal.Azure",
                "useAcrylic": true
            },
            {
                "antialiasingMode": "cleartype",
                "experimental.retroTerminalEffect": false,
                "font":
                {
                    "size": 12
                },
                "guid": "{2c4de342-38b7-51cf-b940-2309a097f518}",
                "hidden": false,
                "name": "Ubuntu",
                "opacity": 75,
                "scrollbarState": "visible",
                "source": "Windows.Terminal.Wsl",
                "startingDirectory": "\\\\wsl$\\Ubuntu\\home\\steve",
                "suppressApplicationTitle": true,
                "tabColor": "#BD93F9",
                "tabTitle": "Ubuntu 20.04",
                "useAcrylic": true
            },
            {
                "antialiasingMode": "cleartype",
                "experimental.retroTerminalEffect": false,
                "font":
                {
                    "face": "Fira Code Retina"
                },
                "guid": "{574e775e-4f2a-5b96-ac1e-a2962a402336}",
                "hidden": false,
                "name": "PowerShell",
                "opacity": 75,
                "source": "Windows.Terminal.PowershellCore",
                "tabColor": "#6272A4",
                "useAcrylic": true
            }
        ]
    }
}

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 14 '22 at 19:37

1

"elevate": true is your culprit here. You can't have mixed-elevation of tabs in the same window. Admin and non-admin windows need to stay separate. So when you launch those startupActions, the Terminal automatically creates a new admin window to host the powershell tab (which you've set to always run as admin).

Removing that setting from your powershell profile should work.

answered Oct 14 '22 at 19:37

zadjii

529
2
4

So the only way I was able to get it to work was by removing `"elevate": true` from each one. Is that the only way this will work? If they are all elevated then there isn't a mix, but that isn't working for me. I tried adding the elevate property to each terminal setting and also just in the defaults section. – Stephan Oct 14 '22 at 22:49
I updated my post with the full settings.json – Stephan Oct 14 '22 at 22:57

How to launch Windows Terminal with Multiple Tabs?

1 Answers1