Change Git Bash Launch Position on Windows

Whenever you launch Git Bash, it always starts somewhere at the upper left corner of the screen.

If you don’t like that and want to change the position, you have to drag it every time ☹

In this step-by-step tutorial, I’ll show you how to change the Git Bash launch position and set it exactly where you want it on the screen.

Let’s get started 😃

🎥 Prefer a video instead? I got you covered:

Check Git Bash’s emulator

First, you have to check what terminal emulator Git Bash is using under the hood.

This is an option that pops up during the Git installation, but if you don’t remember what you’ve selected, don’t worry, we’re going through that right now.

To check if Git Bash is using MinTTY or another terminal emulator, you can examine the $TERM environment variable.

To do that, open Git Bash and run the following command:

echo $TERM

If it says xterm, you are likely using the MinTTY terminal emulator.

If it says something else, such as xterm-256color, it might indicate another terminal emulator or console, like the default Windows CMD.

If you’re still not sure, you can also check the emulator/console by right-clicking on the top of Git Bash and selecting Properties.
If it says cmd.exe, then you’re using Windows’ default console, the CMD.

If the window doesn’t have the Properties menu but the Options… menu and has the M logo, then it’s using MinTTY.

We will now go through both options, MinTTY and CMD, and see how to change the launch position.

MinTTY

Open the C:\Users\<username>\.minttyrc file. If you don’t have the file, you can go ahead and create it.

Next, specify the X and Y positions in two new lines like this:

X=700
Y=350

I want the terminal to open by default somewhere in the middle of the screen. You can adjust the X and Y values as you like.

Windows’ CMD

Let’s see how to change the position of Git Bash when it’s using the Window’s CMD interpreter.

Right-click on the top of the Git Bash window and select Properties.

Then go to Layout, then Window’s Position, and change the Left and Top positions as you like.

That was it, happy coding 💜

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