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OS: Windows 10 Version 10.0.19045 Build 19045

I moved from MacOS to Windows 10. I'm missing a lot the shells I had there (bash and zsh) as well as the terminal emulator (iTerm2). I'm looking for a good substitute, which allows me to connect to remote Linux servers in SSH. I'm asking a single question, instead of one for the shell and one for the terminal, because it looks like on Windows some apps ship both a terminal and a terminal. Anyway, answers pointing to a combination of two different apps X and Y are fine, as long as terminal X can run shell Y.

Strict requirements

  • easy to install (no compilation from source!)
  • free, preferably open source
  • the shell must be bash or zsh, with the usual features (tab completion, reverse-i search, etc.)
  • SSH connection to remote servers, file transfer, possibility to add a private SSH key so that I don't need to enter my password every time I connect to the remote server
  • tabs
  • copy/paste text using mouse, inside the terminal and from the terminal to the Windows clipboard
  • compatible with Windows 10 and Windows 11

Nice to have

  • fast rendering (I used Hyper years ago, and 😨)
  • configure the prompt using Oh-my-zsh or something similar
  • splits windows, tab tearout
  • being able to copy text from a tmux session on the remote server, to the Windows clipboard. This would actually be a requirement, but I had a hard time finding a terminal which allowed this even on MacOS (basically, the only one was iTerm 2), so I decided to put it as a nice to have.
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  • What have you tried so far? Windows comes with WSL/WSL2 environment so you have a real Linux with file-system access to Windows files.
    – Robert
    Commented Aug 30, 2023 at 15:19
  • Any particular reason for Windows 10 and not 11? as mentioned by @Robert above, WSL2 is the best way to utilize it.
    – Lockszmith
    Commented Aug 30, 2023 at 15:48
  • @Lockszmith WSL2 works fine with Windows 10 and 11, so no need to use 11.
    – Robert
    Commented Aug 30, 2023 at 16:00
  • Sorry about that, you are correct @Robert, I rememberd incorrectly, WSL2 was a major upgrade, and was introduced after a Windows 10 and 11 major upgrade (21H1 and 21H2). Apologies... it has been over 2 years now since that point - getting old.
    – Lockszmith
    Commented Aug 31, 2023 at 13:14

2 Answers 2

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Try use Windows Terminal + GitBash, or setup WSL2 option on Windows. In 1 variant - you will work in windows core, in 2 - in ubuntu linux os.

This is my terminal on GitBash

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  • As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please edit to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.
    – Community Bot
    Commented Dec 31, 2023 at 3:10
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Like CygWin?

https://www.cygwin.com/

And as far as tabbed terminal, W11 does this native now, and openssh built in, makes tabbed ssh sessions seamless.

Possibly tabby if stuck in W10 world. https://tabby.sh/

You may find some alternatives in the WSL as well, think of it like a quasi VM / Reverse Wine. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about

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  • I second this, these are excellent options. I would add that Tabby is probably a better option even in Windows 11, with its SSH plugin with support for tunneling and SCP file transfer, and it's profile/config synchronization options.
    – Lockszmith
    Commented Aug 30, 2023 at 15:55

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