How to Add or Remove Windows Terminal Shield Icon

Method 1Easy Settings Adjustment

1. Open Windows Terminal. Click Start, type Terminal, and open Windows Terminal. A terminal window opens with a prompt.

2. Open Settings⚙️. Click the small dropdown arrow next to the tabs at the top of the window, then choose Settings. You can also press Ctrl + , (the Control key and the comma key together). A Settings tab opens with a list of options on the left.

3. Click Appearance in the list on the left side. The appearance options for the window show on the right.

4. Find the option named Display a shield in the title bar when Windows Terminal is running as Administrator. If you don’t see it, scroll down the page. If it is missing altogether, your Windows Terminal is probably an older version, so update it from the Microsoft Store.

5. Click the switch next to this option to set it to On or Off.

   • On shows the shield icon, which confirms that Windows Terminal is running with administrator rights.
   • Off hides the icon and gives you a cleaner title bar.

6. Click Save if the button is shown at the bottom of the page, then close the Settings⚙️ tab. Recent versions save changes automatically, and you don’t need to restart Terminal.

To undo the change, open the same page and flip the switch back. To test it, right-click Windows Terminal in the Start menu and choose Run as administrator. The shield should appear or stay hidden according to your setting.

Method 2Using the Registry Editor

Registry Editor lets you turn the Windows Terminal shield icon on or off by changing specific system values. This method gives you direct control over the title bar display. Follow the steps carefully, because a wrong edit in the registry can cause system errors.

1. Open Registry Editor. Press Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type regedit and press Enter. If a User Account Control prompt asks for permission, click Yes. The Registry Editor window opens with a folder tree on the left.

2. Go to the right key. In the folder tree on the left, navigate to this location: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\settings.json

   If you don’t see a folder named Settings inside the Windows\Terminal folder, create it. Right-click the Windows\Terminal folder, select New, and then choose Key. Name the new key Settings.

3. Create a new value. With the Settings folder selected, right-click the empty space on the right side. Choose New, and then select DWORD (32-bit) Value. A new entry appears in the list with its name highlighted for editing.

4. Name the value. Type showAdminShield exactly and press Enter. Check the spelling and capitalization, because Windows will ignore a value with the wrong name.

5. Set the value. Double-click the showAdminShield value you just created. A small window opens. In the Value data field, enter one of these:

   • Enter 1 to show the shield icon when running as administrator.
   • Enter 0 to hide the shield icon when running as administrator.

   Click OK when you are finished.

   To change the setting later, come back to this value and switch the number between 1 and 0. A value of 1 displays the icon when Windows Terminal runs as an administrator, while 0 hides it. To remove your change completely, right-click the value, choose Delete, and confirm.

6. Close and restart. Close the Registry Editor. Then close all Windows Terminal windows and open Terminal again. The change should now be active.

Method 3Using PowerShell

PowerShell gives you a quick way to control the Windows Terminal shield icon with a command. It updates the same registry value as the previous method without opening any graphical menus, which makes it a good fit for fast changes.

1. Open PowerShell. Click Start, type PowerShell, and press Enter. A PowerShell window opens. For this setting, administrator rights are usually not needed. If a command returns an access-denied error, close the window, right-click PowerShell in the search🔍 results, select Run as administrator, and try again.

2. Enter the command. Type or paste one of the following commands into the PowerShell window and press Enter. These commands change the same registry setting as in Method 2.

   To show the shield icon:

   💻Code

   Copy

   "showAdminShield": true

   To hide the shield icon:

   💻Code

   Copy

   "showAdminShield": false

   Explanation: This command tells PowerShell to set a specific property (Set-ItemProperty) at a certain location (-Path) with a new data value (-Name) and type (-Value). If PowerShell prints an error in red, check the command for typos. If it prints nothing, the command worked.

3. Restart Windows Terminal. Close all open Windows Terminal windows and then open it again. Your chosen setting should now be applied.

   Copy and paste the commands instead of typing them. This avoids typing mistakes and makes sure the command for the title bar’s admin shield icon runs correctly. To undo the change, run the other command from the previous step and restart Terminal again.

Summary

The Windows Terminal shield icon is a visual indicator that shows when the application is running with administrator rights. You can control its appearance through the Terminal’s own settings, which is the easiest route, or by making changes in the Windows Registry with the Registry Editor or PowerShell.