Make iTerm2 launch with Zsh

Question

I've been digging through iTerm2's settings but I can't seem to find a way to make it launch Zsh instead of Bash, does anybody know the proper way to do this inside iTerm2?

I ask this because I come from Mac Terminal, and it easily lets you choose what to run at startup, but I can't seem to find something straight forward with iTerm2.

I searched Google for it, but for some reason I can only find oh-my-zsh references, nothing related to un-modded iTerm2.

I appreciate any help you can provide, thanks. :)

score 192 · Accepted Answer · edited May 06 '19 at 08:49

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Change your default shell to /bin/zsh by running the chsh -s /bin/zsh command.

edited May 06 '19 at 08:49

Nishant

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answered Nov 20 '12 at 15:17

Adam Batkin

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Excellent! That worked, I used `chsh -s /bin/zsh` for those wondering. – greduan Nov 20 '12 at 15:26
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`chsh -s \`which zsh\`` is perhaps a little better – nikola Jan 26 '14 at 19:10
Where is the setting? – tusharmath Apr 01 '14 at 19:32
@Tushar What setting? – Adam Batkin Apr 01 '14 at 19:48
Forgive me for my ignorance. Running the command the way you explained works perfectly. – tusharmath Apr 01 '14 at 20:13
To make this work, I had to add `/usr/local/bin/zsh` (or wherever your binary is) to `/etc/shells` as described here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/453236/how-to-set-my-default-shell-on-mac#26321141 – alistaire May 07 '18 at 21:46
Make sure `/usr/local/bin/zsh` is listed in `/etc/shells` – hpaknia Sep 27 '18 at 01:04
For me, it only worked if I run this command in the Terminal app. If I run it in iTerm, it won't work for some reason. – glyuck May 29 '19 at 12:35
Brilliant in its simplicity. – Spencer Williams Aug 20 '19 at 15:55

Thomas Fankhauser · Answer 2 · 2015-07-09T12:04:05.297

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Although the change with chsh -s $(which zsh) worked perfectly for me, my iTerm2 wouldn't automatically open new terminals with zsh.

Instead I went to iTerm2 -> Preferences -> Profiles -> Default and in the General Tab set the Command to /usr/local/bin/zsh instead of Login shell.

Update: With the current version of iTerm (as of 2.1.1) it perfectly worked for me by changing the default shell (shown above) only.

edited Jul 09 '15 at 12:04

answered Jul 28 '14 at 08:43

Thomas Fankhauser

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I voted this up because the hint is nearly complete. Anyway the command has to be `login -fp [username]`. Substitute [username] with your local user. Otherwise iTerm will quit immediately after start. – Marschal Feb 28 '15 at 22:15
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@Marschal You are correct. I also did the same mistake and upvoted the above answer and my iTerm started quitting the moment I made the change. – Hussain K Jul 09 '18 at 11:30
Saved the day. I had accidentally `rm -rf /usr` and so bash was gone, I was able to get a shell to try to fix the ordeal. – Ismail Jan 20 '20 at 08:28
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DO NOT USE THIS ANOTHER IMMEDIATELY! CRASH! I restore my default profile at[~/Library/Preferences/com.googlecode.iterm2.plist] by my TimeMachine. And thanks to @Marschal give the right answer. – fish Oct 05 '21 at 02:23
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I had to use `/bin/zsh` instead of `/usr/local/bin/bash` to avoid iterm from crashing – Sukanya Pai Oct 14 '22 at 19:21

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 27 '20 at 02:52

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The following also worked for me:

Preferences -> Profiles -> General Tab -> Command -> Choose "Custom Shell" -> write "zsh"

Restart iTerm2.

I still keep bash for Terminal as the default shell.

answered Oct 27 '20 at 02:52

T_T

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score 5 · Answer 4 · answered May 11 '16 at 19:35

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Similar to above answer: Editing my zsh profile that I created, on General tab, in the "Send text at start:" field, I have "clear; pwd; ls; zsh;" this leaves me with a window showing me what I want to see and lastly starting zsh.

answered May 11 '16 at 19:35

Jeff Hacker

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Make iTerm2 launch with Zsh

4 Answers4