Changing the Location of the Windows Terminal Settings File

Windows Terminal stores its settings in a configuration file that resides in the Windows user profile. This article explains how to move settings.json to any directory of your choice.

Where is the Settings File Located?

The location of the Windows Terminal settings file is hard-coded. The exact location depends on the app variant you installed, but it’s always in the user profile:

• Stable release: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\settings.json
• Preview release: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminalPreview_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\settings.json

Changing the Location of the Windows Terminal Settings File

Windows Terminal doesn’t provide an option to store its configuration file in a different location. We can easily work around that limitation, though, by moving the file to its desired location and creating symbolic links that point from the old to the new location.

Move Procedure

1. Quit Windows Terminal.
2. Move (don’t copy) the existing settings file settings.json from your user profile to its new location.
3. Create a symbolic link from the original config file location to the new location with mklink:

Move Script

The following simple script implements the procedure:

# New location. Modify TARGETPATH as needed.
# Do NOT put quotes around the path.
set TARGETPATH=d:\Data\Windows Terminal

# Create the link
mklink "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\settings.json" "%TARGETPATH%\settings.json"

Notes

• mklink requires admin rights.
• Adjust the source path in the mklink command according to the app variant you installed (see above).
• PowerShell enthusiasts might prefer New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink over mklink.
• state.json should remain where it is. Only settings.json needs to be moved.