Old timers can remember configuration files such as AutoExec.bat and
Config.sys to control the startup environment, and more modern Microsoft operating systems need boot.ini
or bcdedit. Well, the purpose of this page
is to configure the equivalent PowerShell start-up file:
Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.
When I installed my Windows PowerShell it did not configure the profile.ps1 file automatically. A little research revealed that the key folder is
called 'WindowsPowerShell'. I want to
spare you the grief I suffered in finding and creating my profile file.
Remember that the purpose of these Microsoft PowerShell profile files is
to control the initial settings, for example, set the working directory and
add PowerShell snap-ins.
Profiles.ps1 is a script file; by default you cannot run any scripts; this is because at install
the executionpolicy is set to Restricted. Without making the following configuration change you may get an error message: 'The execution of scripts
is disabled'. Incidentally, this is the same command that allows all PowerShell's scripts to run.
The best method is to employ PowerShell's very own commands to manipulate the registry:
Set-Executionpolicy Unrestricted.
Or to be more securely:
Set-Executionpolicy RemoteSigned
Note 1: Investigate
further with: Get-Help Set-ExecutionPolicy -full
Guy
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access, then displays the results in a nifty desktop dashboard!
Think of all the frustration that this free utility saves when you are
troubleshooting authorization problems for users access to a resource.
Before we can configuring settings in profile.ps1, or
Microsoft.PowerShell_profile, we must find it! Another problem could
be that none of the possible profile files exist. For a solution,
let us employ PowerShell's own
Test-Path cmdlet:
# Check path of PowerShell profile file Test-Path $Profile
Note 2: $Profile is an environmental variable.
Note 3: If the result is 'False' then we can use
PowerShell itself to create the file, thus:
# Command to create a PowerShell profile New-Item -path $profile
-type file -force
Note 4: Once more, we can use PowerShell to edit this
crucial configuration file Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.
# PowerShell command to edit profile Clear-Host If ((Test-Path $Profile) -eq "True") {Notepad
$Profile}
Else {Write-Host "Still no profile file"}
Simple ideas for your profile file I like to use my
Microsoft.PowerShellISE_profile file to set the path to my PowerShell
scripts. If you use the code below please change D:\PowerShell to reflect YOUR
script store. The welcome message is just a bit of fun, it also
helps in testing to be sure that the edit has worked. Close, then
re-open PowerShell to see the message.
Set-Location D:\Powershell Clear-Host
# Welcome message "You
are now entering PowerShell : " + $env:Username
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Preparation: Navigate to your Windows directory called,
Users or 'Documents and Settings'. Nowfind a sub folder called: %username%\My Documents\WindowsPowerShell e.g. C:\Users\YourName\My Documents\WindowsPowerShell N.B. This folder is now called WindowsPowerShell (not PSConfiguration)
PowerShell Profile in Windows 7
Note 5: Observe the above filenames:
Microsoft.PowerShell_profile is for the command-line, while the GUI version
has ISE in the filename.
PowerShell
Profile Location in XP
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Import users from a spreadsheet. Just provide a list of the
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There are also two bonus tools in this free download, and all 3 have been approved by Microsoft:
As an alternative to using PowerShell itself to create the file, you
could launch notepad and create a files called,
Microsoft.PowerShell_profile, Microsoft.PowerShellISE_profile and
profile.ps1. Make sure
that you have the correct file extension, .ps1 and not .txt. To
recap; you should now see the file and folder in the above screen shots.
C:\Users\%username%\My Documents\WindowsPowerShell\profile.ps1
or C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\My Documents\WindowsPowerShell\profile.ps1
Note 6: The name of this file is 'profile' - singular
(Or Microsoft.PowerShell_profile, Microsoft.PowerShellISE_profile).
Edit your profile: In
the file that you created called profile.ps1, add instructions to configure your command shell. I
begin by adding a simple phrase to prove that it's my profile.ps1 which is active and not the default profile.ps1. "You are
now.....". PowerShell also supports the $env:Username variable.
Set-Location d:\powershell Clear-Host
# Welcome message "You
are now entering PowerShell : " + $env:Username
Check your message: Now launch PowerShell.
Once you have succeeded in placing your profile.ps1 in the correct path, then you should see
a similar command line to the screen shot to the right.
Note 7: As ever, my mission is to get you started, however, if you are interested, you can research more flashy commands to enter into this
startup configuration file: profile.ps1.
Launching Snap-ins automatically is the killer reason for mastering
PowerShell Profile.ps1. A PowerShell snapin contains extra cmdlets,
usually for a specialist purpose such as Quest's Active directory family of
cmdlets. The trick is wire-up PowerShell Profile.ps1 to load these snap-ins
at startup.
# PowerShell Profile for PSSnapin Set-Location e:\powershell\ Add-PSSnapin quest.activeroles.admanagement # Welcome
message $Guy = $env:Username.ToUpper() Write-Host "You are now
entering PowerShell: $Guy"
It is possible to configure the profile.ps1 at other locations:
%windir%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\profile.ps1 The
above profile applies to all users and all shells.
%windir%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\ Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1 The above profile applies to all users, but only to the
Microsoft.PowerShell shell.
As you are likely to spend a great deal of time at the PowerShell command line, it makes sense to spend time configuring the startup folder and appearance of shell. The first step is to locate the
location(s) where the key file called Microsoft.PowerShellISE_profile is kept. Once you have found the correct folder, then you can add instructions to the profile file.
If you like this page then please share it with your friends
If you see an error of any kind, do let me know. Please report any factual mistakes, grammatical errors or broken links, I will be happy to not only to correct the fault, but also to give you credit.
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