Visual Studio 2022 on Windows 11 reuses the same console window on successive runs, overwriting the previous output

Question

I have VS 2022 Community installed on Windows 10 on another machine and it does not have the same behavoir. As the title says, on Windows 11, when running a c++ project that uses /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE, with or without debugging (F8), successive runs do not open a new console window. Instead, they clear the existing one and use that to output stdio.

I can change this behavoir by adding system("pause"); at the end of the program or any other user-input IO function that prevents exiting of main(), but I want to know what is causing this very anoying issue.

I've looked all through the VS options and project settings, as well as the Windows 11 Control Panel Terminal Settings, with no luck. This is happening on a brand-new computer and install of VS 2022. The issue happens with both project types under "Create a new project" > "Console App" or "Empty Project". It also happens if I create a Windows Desktop Application, replace everything in the source cpp file with int main() {}, and change /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS to /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE.

Answer 1

Even though this is a known bug confirmed by Microsoft, I had to solve it myself. Here is a work-around that I hope is useful to others.

Create an External Tool:

1. Select: Tools > External Tools > Add
2. Title: RunWithoutDebugging
3. Command: cmd.exe
4. Arguments: /c "$(TargetName) & pause" (Or, one can drop the & pause and deselect "Close on exit")
5. Initial directory: $(TargetDir)

Create a shortcut key:

1. Select: Tools > Options > Environment > Keyboard
2. Type Tools.ExternalCommand in Show commands containing:
3. Select Tools.ExternalCommandX, where X is the menu item number of the RunWithoutDebugging Tool.
4. Click Press shortcut keys: and use CTRL-F11 to make it act just like the built-in "RunWithoutDebug" command, or use another key combination of your choice.