Docs / Obsidian Remote / During a session

Remote terminal

The terminal gives you a command line on the remote PC, without the picture: handy for a quick command, for a script, or over a slow connection.

Open a terminal

• During a remote-control session, click Terminal on the toolbar.
• Or, without the picture, use the Terminal button under the box in the main window.

The terminal window runs PowerShell on the remote PC. The + button (Another terminal) at the top right opens more windows over the same session: New powershell window, New pwsh window (PowerShell 7, if it is installed on the remote PC) or New cmd window (Command Prompt).

The terminal window needs the Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime on your PC. It is built into Windows 11. On Windows 10 without it, the window says the terminal could not start and asks whether the WebView2 runtime is installed; install the Evergreen WebView2 runtime from Microsoft.

When you type exit, the window says The shell ended.

Who the commands run as

The terminal runs as the person signed in at the remote PC, with their rights: what they can't do at that PC, the terminal can't do either.

If nobody is signed in at the remote PC, the terminal is refused, unless that PC's administrator has turned on Allow a terminal at the sign-in screen (runs as SYSTEM) in its Settings > Security. That option runs the terminal with the PC's system account, which can do anything on the PC, so it is off unless an administrator turns it on, and only an administrator can.

Allowing it

The remote PC must allow Terminal for your session. Its owner or your administrator can turn it off for everyone (see Policies), and the person at the PC can untick it when they accept you. If you never use the terminal, turning it off is a good idea.