diff --git a/confluent_client/bin/nodeconsole b/confluent_client/bin/nodeconsole
index 0479100f..d04b6e61 100755
--- a/confluent_client/bin/nodeconsole
+++ b/confluent_client/bin/nodeconsole
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ argparser.add_option('-l', '--log', action='store_true', default=False,
 argparser.add_option('-w','--windowed', action='store_true', default=False,
                      help='Open terminal windows for each node.  The '
                           'environment variable NODECONSOLE_WINDOWED_COMMAND '
-                          'must be set, which should be a text string corresponding '
+                          'should be set, which should be a text string corresponding '
                           'to a command that can be used to open a windowed console,'
                           ' omitting the "nodeconsole <noderange>" part of the '
                           'command, for example, to open a set of consoles for a '
@@ -55,7 +55,9 @@ argparser.add_option('-w','--windowed', action='store_true', default=False,
                           'nodes in separate Windows Terminal windows, with the '
                           'title set for each node, set NODECONSOLE_WINDOWED_COMMAND'
                           ' to "wt.exe wsl.exe -d AlmaLinux-8 '
-                          '--shell-type login".')
+                          '--shell-type login".  If the NODECONSOLE_WINDOWED_COMMAND '
+                          'environment variable isn\'t set, xterm will be used by'
+                          'default.')
 (options, args) = argparser.parse_args()
 if len(args) != 1:
     argparser.print_help()
@@ -73,9 +75,9 @@ if options.log:
 if options.windowed:
     envstring=os.environ.get('NODECONSOLE_WINDOWED_COMMAND')
     if not envstring:
-        print("NODECONSOLE_WINDOWED_COMMAND not defined and -w specified.  Exiting...\n")
-        sys.exit(1)
-    envlist=os.environ.get('NODECONSOLE_WINDOWED_COMMAND').split(' ')
+        envlist=["xterm", "-e"]
+    else:
+        envlist=os.environ.get('NODECONSOLE_WINDOWED_COMMAND').split(' ')
     nodes = []
     sess = client.Command()
     for res in sess.read('/noderange/{0}/nodes/'.format(args[0])):
diff --git a/confluent_client/doc/man/nodeconsole.ronn b/confluent_client/doc/man/nodeconsole.ronn
index 22fc5ab4..c9246e7f 100644
--- a/confluent_client/doc/man/nodeconsole.ronn
+++ b/confluent_client/doc/man/nodeconsole.ronn
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ a new session.
 * `-w`, `--windowed`:
   Open terminal windows for each node.  The
   environment variable **NODECONSOLE_WINDOWED_COMMAND**
-  must be set, which should be a text string corresponding
+  should be set, which should be a text string corresponding
   to a command that can be used to open a windowed console,
   omitting the `nodeconsole <noderange>` part of the
   command, for example, to open a set of consoles for a
@@ -43,8 +43,9 @@ a new session.
   environment, to open a set of consoles for a range of
   nodes in separate Windows Terminal windows, with the
   title set for each node, set **NODECONSOLE_WINDOWED_COMMAND**
-  to `wt.exe wsl.exe -d AlmaLinux-8
-  --shell-type login`.
+  to `wt.exe wsl.exe -d AlmaLinux-8 --shell-type login.  If the
+  NODECONSOLE_WINDOWED_COMMAND environment variable isn't set,
+  xterm will be used bydefault.
 
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