The terminal program under Windows has always been a problem. The default CMD is old and has a single function and poor usability. Although it has been replaced by the more powerful PowerShell, it is still not friendly enough, and even modifying its font is a troublesome thing. If you are looking for an alternative to CMD and PowerShell, then ConEmu is a rare terminal alternative for Windows.

ConEmu (short for Console emulator) is a free, open-source and highly customizable advanced terminal emulator for Windows, originally created by Zoin from Russia, then developed by Maximus5 from Germany. It aims to be a convenient, comprehensive, fast and reliable Windows console emulator. Although the default ConEmu has a gap compared to the Cmder customized version, we can make it as powerful as Cmder through personalized configuration.

As a simple, easy-to-use and powerful DOS system emulator that integrates CMD and PowerShell that comes with Windows, ConEmu provides rich customization options, is compatible with the original DOS commands, supports multi-tab switching, shortcut key operation, window splitting, allows functionality to be extended using plugins, and more. Furthermore, you can simultaneously open CMD, PowerShell, MSYS2 bash, WSL, etc. in ConEmu, and host any console application developed for Window API (CMD, PowerShell, Far Manager) or Unix PTY (Cygwin, MSYS, WSL bash) in it .

Key Features

  • Smooth and friendly window resizing;
  • Tabs for editors, viewers, panels and consoles;
  • Run simple GUI apps like PuTTY in tabs;
  • Windows 7 Jump Lists and Progress on Taskbar buttons;
  • Easily run old DOS applications (games) in Windows 7 or 64-bit OS;
  • Thumbnails and tiles in Far Manager;
  • Normal, maximized and full screen graphical window modes;
  • Window font anti-aliasing: standard, ClearType, disabled;
  • Window fonts: family, height, width, bold, italic, etc.;
  • Chinese versions of Windows supported;
  • Using normal/bold/italic fonts for different parts of the console simultaneously;
  • Using 24-bit colors in Far Manager 3.x;
  • ANSI X3.64 and Xterm 256 colors;
  • Cursor: standard console (horizontal) or GUI (vertical);
  • Optional per-application settings (e.g. palette);
  • Vertical console buffer scrolling using the keyboard (BufferHeight mode);
  • Show full output (1K+ lines) of last command in Far Manager's editor/viewer;
  • Customizable Far Manager right click behavior (long click opens context menu);
  • Drag and drop (explorer style) of files and folders in Far Manager;
  • Limited support of BDF fonts;
  • User friendly text and block selection;
  • Transparency and desktop mode;
  • Customizable starting tabs;
  • Configurable and clickable status bar;
  • And more, and more...

Related Links

Download URLs

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