windows-terminal

How to install Windows Terminal on Windows Server 2022

jpann

Jan 7, 2022 • 2 min read

Updated 1/30/2022 using VCLib installation notes from https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/issues/3097#issuecomment-1345242698

Microsoft recommends installing the Windows Terminal through the Windows Store, but if you are using a server where you do not wish to login to the Windows Store application, you can install Windows Terminal using the MSIX bundle provided on Windows Terminal GitHub repository or by using Chocolatey.

You can use these same steps to install Windows Terminal on Windows 10.

Prerequisites

You must be running Windows 1903 (build >= 10.0.18362.0) or later to run Windows Terminal.

Install MSIX using PowerShell

Get MSIX Bundle

You can download the Windows Terminal MSIX bundle manually from GitHub or you can download it using a PowerShell cmdlet.

Download Windows Terminal MSIX bundle from GitHub: https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/releases

PowerShell cmdlet to download MSIX bundle:

$tempWinTermAspxPath = Join-Path $HOME "Downloads\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_Win10_1.16.10261.0_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle"

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/releases/download/v1.16.10261.0/Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_Win10_1.16.10261.0_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle `
    -Outfile $tempWinTermAspxPath

1/30/2022: Error: A Prerequisite for an install could not be satisfied

If you receive the error message below when trying to install the msixbundle, you may need to to install the C++ UWP Desktop framework package. I found this issue mentioned on GitHub.

Add-AppxPackage : Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073CFD, A Prerequisite for an install could not be satisfied.
Windows cannot install package Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_1.16.10262.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe because this package is not
compatible with the device. The package requires OS version 10.0.22000.0 or higher on the Windows.Desktop device
family. The device is currently running OS version 10.0.20348.1487.

This PowerShell is from the issue comment on GitHub.

$tempVCLibsPath = Join-Path -Path $HOME -ChildPath "Downloads\Microsoft.VCLibs.x64.14.00.Desktop.appx"

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://aka.ms/Microsoft.VCLibs.x64.14.00.Desktop.appx" -OutFile $tempVCLibsPath

Add-AppxPackage -Path $tempVCLibsPath

Install MSIX Bundle

If you're using PowerShell 7+, you will need to run Import-Module Appx -UseWindowsPowerShell before executing Add-AppxPackage.

Add the MSIX bundle and install Windows Terminal using PowerShell by executing this in a UAC elevated PowerShell console:

# If you're using PowerShell 7+, then import Appx
Import-Module Appx -UseWindowsPowerShell

Add-AppxPackage -Path .\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_<versionNumber>.msixbundle

In our example, we downloaded the v1.16.10262 version, so our cmdlet would look like this:

$tempWinTermAspxPath = Join-Path $HOME "Downloads\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_Win10_1.16.10261.0_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle"

Add-AppxPackage -Path $tempWinTermAspxPath

Note: When you install the Windows Terminal manually like this, it will not automatically update itself.

Install through Chocolatey

If you're using Chocolatey as your package manager, Windows Terminal also has a chocolatey package.

Install Chocolatey

Execute this PowerShell cmdlet in a UAC elevated PowerShell console:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

Install Windows Terminal

choco install microsoft-windows-terminal -y

Update Windows Terminal

choco upgrade microsoft-windows-terminal