Terminal: startingDirectory works with Ubuntu 18.04, but not Ubuntu 20.04

[henriksen]

Environment

Windows build number: Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.19041.0
Windows Terminal version (if applicable): 1.0.1401.0 and 1.0.1402.0 (Preview)

Any other software?
Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 20.04, both running on WSL 2

Steps to reproduce

Install Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04 on WSL 2.

Install Windows Terminal

I have the following entries in my Terminal settings:

      {
        "guid": "{7f586916-8357-53d4-bb2b-ca96f639898a}",
        "hidden": false,
        "name": "Ubuntu",
        "source": "Windows.Terminal.Wsl",
        "startingDirectory": "\\\\wsl$\\Ubuntu\\home\\glenn"
      },
      {
        "guid": "{392ab1ad-dce3-4251-8b7a-d2d4b25ecb1b}",
        "hidden": false,
        "name": "Ubuntu-20.04",
        "source": "Windows.Terminal.Wsl",
        "startingDirectory": "\\\\wsl$\\Ubuntu-20.04\\home\\glenn"
      },

Expected behavior

When starting one of those profiles, I'd expect my home directory (~/) to be my starting directory.

Actual behavior

When I start Ubuntu, my home folder is ~/ (/home/glenn). When I start Ubuntu-20.04, my home folder is /mnt/c/Users/glenn (my Windows home folder).

If I remove the startingDirectory entry, the starting folder is /mnt/c/Users/glenn on both distros. Using other folders than /home/glenn gives the same result. Works in Ubuntu, not in 20.04.

If I use Powershell, cd to \\wsl$\ubuntu-20.04\home\glenn and run wsl -d Ubuntu-20.04 from that folder, I start in the correct folder, ~/. The same for Ubuntu so here they behave the same.

If I start the Ubuntus from the Start Menu they behave the same, the both start in ~/.

Only when starting Ubuntu 20.04 from the Windows Terminal profile I get the wrong starting folder.

[paulomanrique]

Mine is working fine. One workaround is to include a "cd" in the end of your ~/.bashrc

[zadjii-msft]

Huh, this is a real thinker. @benhillis / @craigloewen-msft any ideas why this might be? Maybe something weird with the windows<->//wsl$/ interop?

I honestly have no idea why it would work for one distro and not the other.

[henriksen]

One workaround is to include a "cd" in the end of your ~/.bashrc

Yeah, I did that (just to the /etc/bash.bashrc file). Still weird how it works on some distroes and not on others.

[henriksen]

(edited the OP from WLinux to Ubuntu since I copy/pasted the wrong entry from settings. WLinux behaves like Ubuntu, it respects the startingDirectory setting)

[henriksen]

Tried it on another, fresh machine. This time with Ubuntu as 20.04 and Ubuntu-18.04. Both worked as expected and started with my home dir as the current path. As specified. Just a freak thing I guess.

[warpdesign]

It doesn't seem to work for me either.

Here is my profile for Ubuntu-20.04:

        {
            "guid": "{07b52e3e-de2c-5db4-bd2d-ba144ed6c273}",
            "hidden": false,
            "name": "Ubuntu-20.04",
            "cursorShape": "underscore",
            "source": "Windows.Terminal.Wsl",
            "colorScheme": "One Half Dark",
            "padding" : "5, 5, 5, 5",
            "fontSize": 11,
            "closeOnExit" : true,
            "startingDirectory": "/home"
        }

Instead of opening in /home it opens in the default which is ~.

[DHowett]

@warpdesign Since Terminal is a Windows application, it expects paths in Windows format.

To open in /home for Ubuntu-20.04, you'll want //wsl$/Ubuntu-20.04/home.

[warpdesign]

It does not work with //wsl$/Ubuntu-20.04/home either: it still opens in ~.

Also tried with "\\\\wsl$\\Ubuntu-20.04\\home\\" without luck.

Btw since the source is set to Windows.Terminal.wsl, shouldn't it accept linux paths?

Note: I tried to do the same with the wt.exe command but it still fails to change the startup directory.

wt -p Ubuntu-20.04 -d \\wsl$Ubuntu-20.04home

[warpdesign]

@henriksen I think I found the "problem": Ubuntu-20.04 automatically changes the directory to the user's home in .bashrc:

cd ~

So the startingDirectory option actually works but directory is changed back to the user's home when .bashrc is executed.

Removing this line obviously fixes the problem.

[warpdesign]

Hmm.. after some more digging there is actually a problem that seems to be related to the status of the WSL distro:

• if it is running, startingDirectory works as expected
• if it is not running, startingDirectory becomes %USERPROFILE% (/mnt/c/Users/xxx)

On this video the distro is not running when I first open an Ubuntu tab and the starting directory becomes my Windows user profile (not expected). But when I open a new Ubuntu tab, the distro is running, and the starting directory is the expected (set in the settings file) one: ~/Dev.

[DHowett]

Can you share .bashrc?

[msftbot[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has been marked as requiring author feedback but has not had any activity for 4 days. It will be closed if no further activity occurs within 3 days of this comment.

[henriksen]

Can you share .bashrc?

Both .bashrcs are here: https://gist.github.com/henriksen/4ebbf1e5b38c23da68f5dfe987d507b8
No cd in any of them as far as I can see.

[henriksen]

Hmm.. after some more digging there is actually a problem that seems to be related to the status of the WSL distro:

Makes no difference in my case.

[pcolmer]

I'm seeing the same problem but, in my case, I've pinned it down to the source config entry. If I have two Ubuntu entries:

            {
                "guid": "{c6eaf9f4-32a7-5fdc-b5cf-066e8a4b1e40}",
                "hidden": false,
                "name": "Ubuntu",
                "source": "Windows.Terminal.Wsl",
                "commandline": "wsl.exe ~"
            },
            {
                "guid": "{daaee0d5-f525-4b10-98d1-d0ed1ede9f72}",
                "hidden": false,
                "name": "Ubuntu-no-source",
                // "source": "Windows.Terminal.Wsl",
                "commandline": "wsl.exe ~"
            },

then the "Ubuntu-no-source" will always go into ~/ whereas "Ubuntu" will always go into "/mnt/c/users/phili":

The above shows that it doesn't matter which order I open them in either.

[paulomanrique]

@warpdesign you need to add your username directory, not only "home". Mine is:

"startingDirectory": "//wsl$/Ubuntu-20.04/home/paulo"

[zadjii-msft]

Hey so this thread is pretty old at this point. If I'm reading it all correctly:

• OP's (@henriksen) original issue about the distros treating the starting directory differently went away on its own.
• @warpdesign is having a different issue, where subsequent seemingly open in different directories (https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/issues/6022#issuecomment-640911570).
• @pcolmer is having yet another issue with the commandline and the starting directory

To try and untangle this mess, @warpdesign & @pcolmer, could you move your issues to another thread, so we can track that one independently? I'm betting that there's some weird bashrc/profile/whatever-other-config hijinks going on, but I'd rather not further muddle this thread.

Thanks all (and sorry for the delayed replies)!