What is the latest on backup and restore for Windows Terminal settings

hsehestedt said:

Let's look at this from a slightly different angle since I am not familiar with saving settings from Terminal...

When you say that you are going to rebuild your system, how do you mean? Are you going to upgrade / replace hardware or do you simply want to reinstall Windows from scratch?

If it is hardware that you are changing, why not simply create a disk image using something like Macrium Reflect and then restore it on the new hardware? Restoration of an image can be done to different hardware, you may simply need to update some drivers and you are good to go with the exception of programs that may need to be deactivated then reactivated on the new hardware.

If your goal is to simply reinstall Windows, why not consider using the "Fix problems using Windows Update" option since this will keep all of your settings?

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SonicMojo said:

This is a full rebuild. New hardware. New OS. New everything.

And yes I do have Macrium here - but I won't be trying to replicate my existing 2021 Windows 10 layout to a machine that will be moving to Win 11.

On the Terminal question - just did a bit more testing - and strangely - I think I spoke too fast. Backing up and restoring these three files DOES seem to work. Given the almost nonexistant text within this Settings.json - I still cannot figure out how these files know to turn these sliders to specific positions etc - but as sparse as these files appear to be - it works.

Good enough for me.

S

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hsehestedt said:

Glad to see that you got it sorted out, but for reference, you can easily restore an image to completely different hardware. Works flawlessly. There may be rare cases where it does not work, but if you still have the old machine, no harm, no foul.

However, I can understand if your preference is to do a clean install. That is also my personal preference, but only because I have processes in place that can get me from bare metal to fully configured including all apps, settings - everything - in under 40 minutes.

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hsehestedt said:

Maybe not in 40 minutes in your scenario, but you could always do the disk image, restorte it to the new machine, install proper drivers, then do an upgrade to 11 which will preserve all your apps, etc. I guess that's only really good if you have tons of customizations, and apps and it would simply be too much of a hassle to install from scratch.

But I really like the fact that you are planning this out very carefully. Too many people rush into things without any proper planning. I'm sure the results will be worth it.

Are you completely new to Win 11 or have you played with it at all?

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SonicMojo said:

I am about to rebuild my machine for the first time since 2021 and I am creating a VERY detailed deployment guide to ensure I am back up and running in the most orderly fashion possible.

Right now - I am auditing my Windows Terminal layout - which is heavily customized across the usual different areas:

View attachment 124040

Now - I have searched out and read all I can on what appears to be "typical" backup/restore for these settings - by copying all three files from here:

%LocalAppData%\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState

state.json
settings.json
elevated-state.json

to a safe location - and then simply copying these 3 back into the default folder above AFTER a new install.

However - I have examined all three of these files in VS Code - and there ain't a lot in here.

Certainly no where near the settings to ensure that say - sliders like this:



Are set correctly during a restore.

Do not see any reference to my color schemes or actually anything in the settings.json file.

So - what am I missing here?

Is it even possible for a 100% failsafe restore - where I can clean install Terminal, apply a backup, open Terminal and have all settings to be exactly where I am right now on my current machine?

S

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