How can I change the default console host application for Windows?

I have set the default console host application to Windows Terminal using developers section in window settings. However, sometimes I want to run my console applications (currently using c# and dotnet 7) in other hosts, such as cmd.exe or PowerShell. How can I choose where my console applications are hosted on Windows in code? Is there a way to set different hosts for different applications?

I am using Windows 10 version 21H2 and Visual Studio 2022.

Thank you for your help.

I'm not aware of a per-application configuration mechanism, but you can invoke your program via the desired terminal application, conhost.exe (for an old-style console window, via the console host) or wt.exe (Windows Terminal).

Here's a PowerShell example using a cmd.exe sample command (should be easy to adapt to C#):

using namespace System.Diagnostics

# Launch via conhost.exe (console host)
[Process]::Start(
    [ProcessStartInfo] @{
        FileName = "conhost.exe"
        Arguments = "cmd.exe /k `"echo Hi there.`""
    }
)

# Launch via wt.exe (Windows Terminal)
[Process]::Start(
    [ProcessStartInfo] @{
        FileName = "wt.exe"
        Arguments = "cmd.exe /k `"echo Hi there.`""
    }
)

Caveat re trying to capture a launched program's output programmatically, via .RedirectStandardOut and .RedirectStandardError with the above technique:

• With Windows Terminal, that is fundamentally unsupported.

• With conhost.exe, you technically can, but you'll get a preamble with VT escape sequences (expressed as an expandable PowerShell (Core) string):

  • "`e[?25l`e[2J`e[m`e[H`e]0;C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\conhost.exe`a`e[?25h"