By default Command Prompt is set to 80 characters width in Windows. It’s not constrained to that width, but it has been like that from the DOS days where CRT displays were 80 characters wide. PowerShell has a width of 92 characters with buffer size width of 120. If you find these widths are preventing you from seeing all the information in an easy to read format on the console, here’s you can change it:
Increase Command Prompt and PowerShell Window Width
You can’t simply drag and re-size these console windows like all other windows. What you need to do is set a specific width in the program’s settings. Both the consoles settings are changed in the same way, so below instructions will work on both:
- Find Command Prompt or PowerShell by searching for it in the Start Menu search box, and launch it.
- Right-click on the program’s border and select Properties
- Inside the Properties window, switch to Layout tab and change the Window Size width to the exact width you want
- Click OK to save your changes
You should be able to see the changes immediately.
By changing only the Screen Buffer Size Width value, you can accommodate more text in a line with the default window size intact. This will give you a scrollable & resizable window.
Increase Command Prompt and PowerShell Line History
Another setting you can change in the Layout tab is the line history. By default Command Prompt is set at 300, and PowerShell at a whopping 3000 lines. If you’d like to see more command line history, increase Screen Buffer Size Height value to what you want.
By changing these two settings to your current screen resolution, you can have a full-screen maximized console window.
These settings work on Windows XP and above operating systems.