How to restore the classic blue PowerShell in Windows Terminal on Windows 11

• Windows Terminal uses a unified dark theme by default across all profiles, but you can restore the legacy PowerShell colors.
• Changes can be made using the Settings UI or the settings.json file, and selecting the “Campbell PowerShell” scheme restores the familiar blue background.

On Windows 11, Windows Terminal ships with a unified set of default visual settings, including a dark background applied across all command-line profiles. This design choice helps create a consistent experience when switching between Command Prompt, PowerShell, and other shells inside the same window.

For long-time users, however, that consistency can also be a drawback. When Command Prompt and PowerShell were separate apps, PowerShell’s distinctive blue background acted as an immediate visual cue, making it easy to tell which environment you were working in at a glance. Now, since the Windows Terminal applies the same dark theme everywhere, that instant visual cue is lost, which can lead to confusion.

If you prefer the classic blue PowerShell look, the Terminal lets you restore it. You can assign a legacy-style color scheme specifically to the PowerShell profile either through the graphical settings interface or by editing the settings.json file directly. This lets you preserve the modern experience while restoring the familiar visual.

In this guide, I’ll teach you how to change the default PowerShell color scheme for the Windows Terminal app on Windows 11.

• Restore the classic PowerShell colors using the Terminal settings UI
• Restore the classic PowerShell colors by editing the Terminal settings.json file

Restore the classic PowerShell colors using the Terminal settings UI

To bring back the blue background to PowerShell with the settings UI, use these steps:

1. Open Windows Terminal.

2. Open the main menu and choose the Settings (Ctrl+,) option.

3. Click on Windows PowerShell (or PowerShell if you use PowerShell 7) from the left pane.

4. Click the Appearance settings on the right side.

5. Select the Campbell PowerShell option in the “Color scheme” setting.

   

6. Click the Save button in the bottom-right corner.

Once you complete the steps, open a new PowerShell session, and it should now appear with the traditional blue background.

Restore the classic PowerShell colors by editing the Terminal settings.json file

To change the color scheme for PowerShell to bring back the legacy colors with the settings.json file, use these steps:

1. Open Windows Terminal.

2. Open the main menu and choose the Settings (Ctrl+,) option.

3. Click the “Open JSON file” option from the bottom left corner.

4. Under the “profiles” section, inside the brackets for PowerShell, type the following command to change the background color and other elements of the UI:

   "colorScheme": "Campbell Powershell"

   

   Quick tip: If you have more than one line of code inside the bracket, make sure all the lines end with a comma (,) except for the last line. Otherwise, the settings may not save correctly.

5. Use the Ctrl + S keyboard shortcut to save the file.

Once you complete the steps, the command-line tool will use the same blue background as the traditional version of PowerShell.