Visual Studio Code, how to switch from powershell.exe to cmd.exe

Question

I would like to switch from powershell.exe to cmd.exe in the terminal, but how can I do so?

I provided a screenshot for clarification.

Dacha

code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/integrated-terminal – Mackintosh

what's the problem? You want to switch the default terminal profile? From the screenshot, it's obvious you know how to change the current profile. But that's what it seems like you're asking how to do from the rest of what you've written. – Sergio

Answer 1

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + P to show all commands.
2. Type profile in the displayed text box to filter the list.
3. Select Terminal: Select Default Profile.
4. You will be prompted to Select your preferred terminal shell, you can change this later in your settings or follow the same process as we do now
5. Select Command Prompt (cmd.exe)
6. Click the Delete Icon in the shell pane to remove the existing terminal.
7. Press Ctrl + ` (or menu View → Terminal in menu) to open a new terminal pane.

Weidman

To take effect, requires VS Code to be shut down and relaunched on Windows 10. – Train

@Train Right. Also you can click on + button to add new terminal. After adding you can select cmd from drop down. – Dutyfree

In VSCode 1.55.2, I could not find an option called "Terminal: Select Default Shell". However, I did find "Terminal: Select Default Profile" which seems to do the same thing. – Suazo

When I try to debug (using F5) it still uses PowerShell, any idea how I can solve this? – Leifeste

@JoginderMalik My company's security suite blocks PS, which was the default, and the terminal panel disappears almost immediately after it opens. So there was not enough time to click the + drop down. This fixed it. – Rousseau

Answer 2

2021 Update:

Hit Ctrl + Shift + P

Type/Paste: Terminal: Select Default Profile

Select the command prompt from the drop down list.

Wrac

Answer 3

Add this user setting to your menu File → Preferences → User Settings

// Place your settings in this file to overwrite the default settings
{
    "terminal.integrated.shell.windows": "C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe",

}

Departure

For me, this is was the solution {"terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "Git Bash"} – Padraic

This setting is deprecated (circa version 1.57) see code.visualstudio.com/docs/terminal/profiles. – Sergio

Answer 4

I found two different ways to switch from PowerShell to the command prompt in Visual Studio Code.

The very simple steps I found myself are as below:

The first one is also simple and handy for all developers.

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + P to show all commands.
2. Type shell in the displayed text box to filter the list.
3. Select Terminal: Select Default Shell.
4. You will be prompted to Select your preferred terminal shell. You can change this later in your settings or follow the same process as we do now
5. Select Command Prompt (cmd.exe)
6. Click the Delete Icon in the shell pane to remove the existing terminal.
7. Press Ctrl + ` (or menu View → Terminal in menu) to open a new terminal pane.

---

The second one is a very simple way:

1. Press Ctrl + ` (or menu View → Terminal in menu) to open a new terminal pane.

2. Click terminal selection dropdown and click 'Select Default Shell'.

3. Choose the terminal type Command Prompt or PowerShell

4. Now delete the current opened terminal or open a new terminal.

Now, Command Prompt will be your default shell in Visual Studio Code.

Graphics

I initially missed that drop down list that appears below the menu. If you click anywhere it will disappear. But this worked for me. – Lody

Answer 5

Open settings (Ctrl + <comma>)

Find terminal.integrated.shell.windows

Replace its value with C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe.

Whitewall

This setting is deprecated (circa version 1.57) – Sergio

Answer 6

In the current terminal, simply type Cmd and Enter. And you are done.

Sleepy

Only on a Mac, presumably? – Hartsfield

Answer 7

I also faced this problem when I clicked on the terminal. It was showing PowerShell, but not Command Prompt, so I did the following steps to get Command Prompt in Visual Studio:

1. Menu View → Command palette → Toggle Integrated Terminal
2. Open terminal by shortcut Ctrl + ` or menu View → Terminal
3. Write the command as cmd.exe and run

Photodrama

Answer 8

From Visual Studio if you have PowerShell set as your default integrated terminal, after you call it with Ctrl + ` (control + backtick) - that toggles from the terminal to your files panel and back. Call the terminal, It will show as 1: pwsh in the dropdown box. From the PowerShell command line type bash and enter. You have your bash prompt $. In the dropdown you now see 1: Bash.

You can type cmd from either the ps C: or the $ Bash prompt and open the Windows command prompt. C:> and exit to exit them.

You can open up multiple terminals. Say PowerShell (pwsh) is your default one. A new terminal will show as 2: pwsh which you can change to a cmd one. The same if you open a third. Change it to Bash. You now have three terminals 1: pwsh, 2: cmd, and 3: bash. You can select whichever one you want to work with from the dropdown. You can of course exit any of them.

No doubt you've seen that when you are running Node.js, the terminal becomes node.

Tuttle