Open Shell Here

Open PowerShell, Command Prompt, or Git Bash in any folder — straight from the VS Code Explorer context menu.

Why this exists

The built-in VS Code terminal depends on ConPTY, a Windows feature introduced in Windows 10 1809 / Windows Server 2019 (build 17763). On older systems the terminal panel fails to start with:

The terminal process failed to launch: A native exception occurred during launch
(Cannot launch conpty). Winpty has been removed.

This affects Windows Server 2016 (build 14393) and Windows 10 1607. VS Code 1.109 removed the Winpty fallback, so on those systems the built-in terminal does not work at all.

Other terminal extensions do not solve this, because they still spawn the shell through node-pty — the same library that needs ConPTY. The same limitation applies to extensions that render a webview terminal: the display is replaced, but the process creation path is identical.

This extension takes a different approach: it calls child_process.spawn on the shell executable directly. No PTY is involved, so it works regardless of the OS age.

Features

• Context menu entries in the Explorer for PowerShell, Command Prompt, and Git Bash
• Automatic detection of installed shells, including PowerShell 7 (pwsh)
• Custom shell profiles through a single setting
• Diagnostics in an Output channel, for machines where the terminal is the thing that is broken
• No telemetry, no network access, Windows-only

Requirements

• Windows
• VS Code 1.90.0 or later
• At least one of: PowerShell 7, Windows PowerShell 5.1, Command Prompt, or Git for Windows

Usage

Explorer context menu

Right-click any folder in the Explorer and choose one of:

• Open Shell Here: PowerShell
• Open Shell Here: Git Bash
• Open Shell Here: Command Prompt

The new window opens with that folder as its working directory.

Command Palette

The same commands are available from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P). With no Explorer selection, they fall back to the first workspace folder.

Configuration

Custom profiles

Add this to your settings.json to launch your own shells:

{
    "openShellHere.profiles": {
        "My pwsh": {
            "path": "C:\\Program Files\\PowerShell\\7\\pwsh.exe",
            "args": ["-NoLogo", "-NoExit"]
        },
        "WSL": {
            "path": "C:\\Windows\\System32\\wsl.exe",
            "args": ["--cd", "${workspaceFolder}"]
        }
    }
}

Each key becomes its own Open Shell Here: <name> command. When this setting is non-empty it replaces the built-in defaults.

Diagnostics

If a shell fails to launch, open the Output panel (Ctrl+Shift+Y) and select Open Shell Here. It logs the resolved executable, arguments, working directory, any spawn error, and the launcher's exit code.

Differences from the integrated terminal

This opens a separate OS window rather than a panel inside VS Code. So there is no terminal tab bar, no split panes, no shell integration, and no in-editor path detection. It is a workaround for an OS limitation, not a replacement for a working integrated terminal.

If your OS supports ConPTY (Windows 10 1809+ or Server 2019+), you do not need this extension — the built-in terminal works fine.

Development

git clone https://github.com/parismiguel/open-shell-here.git
cd open-shell-here
node --check extension.js     # syntax check
.\install.ps1                # install into the local VS Code

Then run Developer: Reload Window in VS Code.

Project layout

License

MIT — see LICENSE.