Console2: A better command prompt for Windows

I found out about Console2 from Scott Hanselman’s blog and haven’t looked back. On Windows, it’s a great replacement for vanilla cmd.exe. It supports tabs and can host multiple shells, including cmd, Powershell, Msysgit and Cygwin. Even if you prefer the Windows command line over these Unix-inspired shells, you should still use Console2 to launch cmd sessions.

Scott’s blog tells you how to set up Powershell on Console2, but I use it primarily with the version of Bash that comes with standard Git for Windows installer.

Here’s how I set up a new install of Console2:

1. Download and install Git for Windows. Preferably to c:\bin\git
2. Download and unzip Console2 somewhere. Preferably to c:\bin\console2
3. Launch Console2
4. Go to Edit → Settings → Tabs
5. Rename the default Console entry to Windows. This points to cmd
6. Add a new tab
   • Title: Git
   • Icon: c:\bin\git\etc\git.ico
   • Shell: c:\bin\git\bin\sh.exe --login -i
   • Startup dir: c:\
7. If you prefer to use this as your default shell, like I do, move Git to the top of the list.
8. Press OK and you’re done!

I also like to edit a few other settings. These are all personal preferences:

• Open Edit → Settings
• Under Behavior, check the Copy on Select option
• Under Hotkeys
  • Set New Tab 1 to Ctrl-T
  • Set New Tab 2 to Ctrl-Shift-T
  • Set Paste to Ctrl-V

Cheers!