DefaultShell

Before configuring DefaultShell, ensure that the following prerequisites are met

• OpenSSH installation path is in system PATH.
  • If not already present, amend system PATH and restart sshd service.

Follow these steps:

• On the server side, configure the default ssh shell in the windows registry.
  • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH\DefaultShell - full path of the shell executable
  • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH\DefaultShellCommandOption (optional) - switch that the configured default shell requires to execute a command, immediately exit and return to the calling process. By default this is -c.

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Powershell cmdlets to set powershell bash as default shell

• New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" -Name DefaultShell -Value "C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -PropertyType String -Force

• New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" -Name DefaultShellCommandOption -Value "/c" -PropertyType String -Force

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Example - If you are configuring the powershell.exe/cmd.exe/WSL-bash.exe as default ssh shell, your registry should look like this.