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SSHells is a lightweight Windows utility developed by dzonder that addresses a common annoyance faced by administrators and developers who rely on OpenSSH: once a remote connection is established, the system often defaults to an unintended command interpreter. The program intercepts the initial SSH handshake and presents a concise graphical prompt that lets the user choose which installed shell—PowerShell, CMD, Git Bash, WSL, or any other registered executable—should be launched inside the remote session. Version 0.1.5, the fifth public iteration since the project’s debut, refines the selection dialog with clearer labels and a 200 ms faster startup time, while still occupying less than 300 KB on disk and requiring no elevated rights. Typical use cases include automated deployment pipelines that need PowerShell on some hosts and Bash on others, classroom labs where students’ default shells vary, and hybrid Windows-Linux environments that share a common jump server. Because the utility edits only the client-side SSH configuration folder, it leaves no footprint on the remote machine and can be rolled out or revoked without administrative access. The tool sits in the System Utilities / Remote Computing category and is distributed as a portable EXE plus an optional MSIX bundle; both artifacts carry the same 0.1.5 build stamp and are signed with the publisher’s EV certificate. Earlier releases (0.1.0–0.1.4) remain archived for regression testing, but the maintainer recommends staying on the current branch to benefit from tightened argument escaping and compatibility with OpenSSH 9.x. The software is available for free on get.nero.com, with downloads provided via trusted Windows package sources (e.g. winget), always delivering the latest version, and supporting batch installation of multiple applications.
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