Create PowerShell Profile File

Introduction to Windows PowerShell’s Profile Path

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.

PowerShell User Profile Topics

• Mission to Create a Basic PowerShell Profile File
• Enabling PowerShell Scripts
• Locating the Path to the Profile File
• Viewing Microsoft.PowerShell_profile with Explorer
• Alternative Method for Creating the Profile File
• Killer Reason For Mastering the PowerShell Profile

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Mission to Create a Basic PowerShell Profile File

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.

Enabling PowerShell Scripts

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:

Or to be more securely:

Note 1: Investigate further with: Get-Help Set-ExecutionPolicy -full.

Locating the Path for the PowerShell Profile File

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:

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:

Note 4: Once more, we can use PowerShell to edit this crucial configuration file Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.

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.

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Viewing Microsoft.PowerShell_profile with Windows Explorer

Preparation:  Navigate to your Windows directory called,
Users
or
‘Documents and Settings’.
Now find 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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Alternative Method for Creating the Profile File

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.

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.

Killer Reason For Mastering the PowerShell 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.

Note 8: For this to actually work you need to download and install the snapin.  See more about PowerShell Snap-Ins.

Note 9: Another popular way of increasing the range of PowerShell commands is to import modules.

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PowerShell Profile Trap

Beware, if you use profile.ps1 to heavily modify your working environment, for example with $PSDefaultParameterValues, then your scripts may not work on other machines.  To see if this is occurring launch PowerShell with the -noProfile parameter, then see if your own scripts work as designed.

Alternative Locations for Profile.ps1

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 see, one of the commands I used in profile.ps1 was cls.  Actually, cls is an Alias for clear-host.  Time to find out more about PowerShell’s Alias?

Summary of Windows PowerShell Profile

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.

See more Microsoft PowerShell tutorials

• PowerShell Tutorials  • Methods  • Cmdlets  • PS Snapin  • Profile.ps1  • Exchange 2007

• Command & Expression Mode  • PowerShell pipeline (|)  • PowerShell ‘where‘  • PowerShell ‘Sort’

• Windows PowerShell Modules  • Import-Module  • PowerShell Module Directory 

If you see an error of any kind, do let me know.  Please report any factual mistakes, grammatical errors or broken links.