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PowerShell FAQ

What is PowerShell?

PowerShell is a task automation and configuration management framework from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language.

Why use PowerShell?

✔️ It's powerful - fully control your computer

✔️ It's easy to learn - see the tutorial at: https://www.guru99.com/powershell-tutorial.html

✔️ It's cross-platform - available for Linux, Mac OS and Windows

✔️ It's open-source and free - see the Github repository at: https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell

✔️ It's fully documented - see the PowerShell documentation at: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/

How to install PowerShell?

▶️ On Windows it's preinstalled, but the script execution policy is restricted (forbidden) by default! To change this: open the Windows PowerShell (Administrator) console and enter:

 PS> Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope CurrentUser

NOTE: the group policy object (GPO) settings of your organization might disallow changes. In that case contact your system administrator for help.

▶️ On CentOS, Debian, Docker, Fedora, macOS, openSUSE, Red Hat, Ubuntu visit https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell for installation.

▶️ On Linux supporting Snaps execute:

 $ snap install PowerShell
 $ ln -s /snap/bin/pwsh /usr/bin/pwsh
How to get the PowerShell scripts?
How to execute PowerShell scripts in Windows?
  1. In the Windows desktop: right-click the script and select: Execute with PowerShell
  2. In a command-line interface (CLI, e.g. Windows Terminal, either local or remote via SSH) by typing: ./<FILENAME_OF_SCRIPT>.
  3. By connecting a context menu item with a script.
  4. By voice control, e.g. see repo talk2windows for more information.
  5. By using automation software, e.g. Jenkins.
  6. Automatically on login (see AutoStart folder)/logoff/daily/etc.
How to execute PowerShell scripts in Windows context menus?

  • to enable "right-click > New > Windows PowerShell Script" execute Add_ps1_to_New_context_menu.reg in subfolder Data/

  • to disable this execute Remove_ps1_from_New_context_menu.reg in subfolder Data/

How to execute PowerShell scripts in Jenkins?

Install the 'PowerShell plugin', it allows Jenkins to invoke PowerShell as build scripts. It uses PowerShell.exe on Windows and pwsh on Linux.

What about security?
Why do some scripts show gibberish characters?

Your current terminal application doesn't support Unicode characters used by those PowerShell scripts. Use a modern one such as Windows Terminal, please.

How to configure PowerShell as my default shell on Linux?

Make sure PowerShell is installed, then execute: chsh -s /usr/bin/pwsh USERNAME. In case you experience an "invalid shell" error, add "/usr/bin/pwsh" to /etc/shells.

How to install a custom PowerShell profile?

Execute: ./set-profile.ps1 in the Scripts subfolder, this will install my-profile.ps1 as your PowerShell profile. It's a nice looking base profile, but can easily be changed to your needs.

How to add the scripts to the search path?

Want to use the PowerShell scripts everywhere on the command-line? Then you need to add the Scripts/ subfolder to the search path:

  • On Linux using Bash: edit .profile in your home directory and add the line: PATH="$PATH:/path/to/PowerShell/Scripts"
  • On Windows: open Settings > System > About > Advanced system settings > Environment Variables, edit the user's variable "Path", and add the full path to the Scripts/ directory.
Which editor to use for PowerShell scripts?
  • Visual Studio Code - it supports syntax highlighting, on-the-fly problem checking and an integrated PowerShell Console (available for free on Linux, Mac OS and Windows, now recommended by Microsoft).
  • PowerShell ISE (Integrated Scripting Environment) - the former official PowerShell development environment included with Microsoft Windows.
  • PowerShell Studio - a powerful PowerShell IDE with module, help, and user interface development tools, high DPI support and regular updates.
  • PowerShell Plus - an all in one IDE.
  • Atom package - an add-on with PowerShell language support for Atom.
  • SublimeText package - an add-on with PowerShell language support for Sublime Text.
  • or your favorite text editor as an alternative.
How to write good PowerShell scripts?

Good PowerShell scripts are both user-friendly and platform-independent. As a starting point I recommend the following:

  • Use the <verb>-<object>.ps1 scheme to name the script.
  • Use UTF-8 BOM encoding to support Unicode characters in the script.
  • Add a comment-based help at the beginning with: .SYNOPSIS, .DESCRIPTION, .PARAMETER, .EXAMPLE, .LINK, and .NOTES.
  • Check the requirements for the script, e.g. #Requires -RunAsAdministrator, or #Requires -Version 3
  • Prefer command-line options, else ask the user for help
  • Recommended is Set-StrictMode -Version Latest to enable additional error checking.
  • For readibility use UpperCamelCase for variables and functions, lowerCamelCase for everything else.
  • Set execute file permissions for Linux: chmod a+rx <filename>
  • On success exit with error code 0 (exit 0), otherwise print the error with keyword "ERROR:" (to support log parsers) and exit the error code (mostly 1)
Where's the Star History of this repo?

Star History Chart

How to contribute or how to report a bug?

If you find something bad (like a bug, error, or any issue), please report it here by opening an Issue. Or even better: Fork the repository, add or fix the script and submit a pull request, so others can participate too.

What if my question is not answered here?

Just send your question to: markus.fleschutz [at] gmail.com