Is there a way to open a script file ($profile or otherwise) from within the IDE's command environment (PS> prompt), such that it loads in the IDE itself?
# loads the current user/current host profile in Notepad (probably because .PS1 is associated w/ Notepad.exe)
PS > ii $profile
# same for any random script file
PS > ii .\Foo.ps1
Instead of Invoke-Item, just use ise. When run from the ISE, it will load the file.
PS> ise myscript.ps1
To make Invoke-Item behave like you want (as well as double-clicking from Explorer), you can associate .ps1 files with powershell_ise.exe. Here is a blog post explaining how to do this if you need it.
Related
Hi I have a script on a memory stick that I want to be able to run in cmd line before a computer has windows fully installed. (the stage just after you've connected to a network).
Cmd used to run the script.
Start > Run D:\pscript\Intune.ps1
This only opens a .txt file, while researching I've found that the reason this happens is due to security, is there anyway to override this bar changing the default file type out.
Unlike batch files (.cmd, .bat) associated with cmd.exe (the legacy Command Prompt), PowerShell's .ps1 script files are by default not directly executable from outside PowerShell.
Instead, they are treated as documents that are by default associated with either Notepad or the (obsolescent) Windows PowerShell ISE, depending on the , and invoking them therefore opens them for editing, which applies to the following contexts:
Invoking a .ps1 file from cmd.exe
Invoking a .ps1 file from Start Menu's Run dialog, as in your case (which you can invoke with WinKey+R, for instance)
Opening (double-clicking) a .ps1 file from File Explorer or Desktop.
To execute a .ps1 script from outside PowerShell, you must therefore invoke it via PowerShell's CLI, powershell.exe for Windows PowerShell, pwsh for PowerShell (Core) 7+.
In the simplest case, using Windows PowerShell and the -File parameter, as also shown by Mathias R. Jessen in a comment; see the comments below and the linked docs for additional parameters:
# Note:
# * The effective execution policy applies; use -ExecutionPolicy Bypass to bypass.
# * Profiles are loaded; use -NoProfile to suppress.
# * The console window auto-closes when the script terminates; use -NoExit
# to keep the session open.
powershell.exe -File D:\pscript\Intune.ps1
For a comprehensive overview of PowerShell's CLI, see this post.
It is possible - though not advisable - to configure your system to execute .ps1 files by default - see this answer.
So I've just downloaded Visual Studio Code to use as my default IDE for learning Python. I'm running on a 64-bit machine so I made the default terminal windows powershell.
The place where I'll be saving most of my files is about 8 folders deep which all show up in the terminal before any commands can be written. Is there any way to hide or shorten the file path in the terminal?
As #Biclops suggested, there is good info here: configure PowerShell to only show the current folder in the prompt
However, I needed more basic info to get this to work. This is a very good resource to get started: Windows PowerShell Profiles. So I first followed the steps suggested there:
[always using vscode's integrated terminal using PowerShell]
test-path $profile (is there a profile set up?)
new-item -path $profile -itemtype file -force (assuming the answer to the above is false)
notepad $profile (opens notepad)
paste in (from the SuperUser answer above)
function prompt {
$p = Split-Path -leaf -path (Get-Location)
"$p> "
}
save (you shouldn't have to chose a location, it is already done for you)
reload vscode - you will probably get an error message about running scripts (or just do next step before reload)
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser (at your integrated terminal PS prompt, also from the SuperUser answer)
reload vscode
You should be good to go!
Great Question and Great Answers.
But this information is dated, and Windows is currently updating from Windows 10 to Windows 11. In addition, the base Windows PowerShell has been incorporated into the new Windows Terminal Preview app. which is being used here.
The solution provided above by Mark and Tarruda23 (above) almost works. But Windows throws an error - described below.
The steps:
First, it was necessary to determine whether a profile existed. Using the Windows Explorer, the following path was checked. If a profile already exists, this path shows where an existing profile should be found. On this PC, no profile ( .ps1 ) file existed and this folder was empty. Don't close the Explorer.
C:\Users\prior\OneDrive\Documents\WindowsPowerShell
Since no file exists, a new file needed to be created. This new file must be saved with a specific name - shown below.
Navigate to the empty folder and open PowerShell. The .ps1 profile must be created and saved in this folder. Use the Powershell's build-in text editor to create the new file. Type:
ISE
Then type or paste the following into the empty text file:
function prompt {
$p = Split-Path -leaf -path (Get-Location)
"$p> "
}
Save this file with the following name:
Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1
Use the PowerShell to open Notepad and check that .ps1 file. This demonstrates the Windows system has found the new .ps1. Next close the Notepad.
Notepad $profile
Now the PowerShell is probably displaying an error message in red text. This error message reads in part:
\Microsoft.PowerShell _profile.ps1 cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled on this system.
Run the PowerShell as the Administrator. Type the following.
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
Windows will prompt with a question:
Do you want to change the execution policy?
Type y for yes. This will change and remove the Windows default settings that prevents running script files. Once done, this will remove that error message.
All should be good now. PowerShell will now start and run with shorter and abbreviated PS> prompt that shows either the User name, or the name of the folder where the PowerShell is running.
When you're in file explorer you can click on File > Open Windows Powershell(or its icon in the Quick Access Toolbar) to start an instance of Powershell in the directory that your file explorer is in. I would like to then automatically run a simple command in this directory and close the Powershell window after it is done.
I have tried adding my command to my Powershell Profile but it executes before the path variable has been set and it runs with $pwd being equal to C:\Users\MyUsername (my home directory) or C:\WINDOWS\system32 (seems to be a race condition of some sort, no idea why it does one or the other). To the best of my understanding this is because the file explorer "open in powershell button" opens powershell and THEN cd's to the directory I was in in file explorer. So when the profile.ps1 is ran it is using the only directories it knows if since the cd call hasn't been made yet. This is similar to running the command start powershell.exe in cmd vs start powershell.exe -command "cd 'C:\wherever'". The former correctly runs my profile command while the latter uses the current directory of cmd and not the C:\wherever.
So, obviously the $pwd variable is being assigned at different times in the case of opening it from cmd and opening it from file explorer. Is there some way to delay the execution of a command in the profile until after the shell has fully loaded? Simply sleeping the script doesn't help.
Alternatively, if anyone knows how to edit the registry so that I can change the behavior of clicking File > Open Windows Powershell (since it must have access to some variable storing the current directory and I assume it calls the Powershell executable with this variable as an argument being cd'd to), that would work too.
Then again I could be incredibly naive about how File > Open Windows Powershell and the Powershell instantiation process works.
Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you!
I figured it out in the most hacky, gross way ever, but without easy access to Windows internals this is the only working method I could find. I set up my powershell profile to make my window title my prompt like so:
function Prompt
{
$host.ui.RawUI.WindowTitle = $(get-location)
“PS> “
}
Then I set up a task in the Task Scheduler that was triggered by powershell reaching its prompt (there are 3 possible hooks, when the console is starting up, when it starts an IPC listening thread, and when the console is ready for input). I used the Event Viewer to do this (I was going to post screenshots but I don't have 10 reputation yet).
Then, I set the action on this task to run the script shown below, which reads from the window title of my first instance of powershell
Start-Sleep -s 1
$A = Get-Process -Name powershell | Where-Object -FilterScript {$_.Id -ne $PID}
$B = $A.MainWindowTitle
& C:\Program` Files\MyProgram\MyProgram.exe "$B"
stop-process -Id $A.Id
stop-process -Id $PID
This whole menagerie of events properly runs my program with the current file explorer directory as an argument (and then closes powershell) when I click the little powershell icon on the quick access toolbar in file explorer.
Found a much cleaner and faster way to do this. All I had to do was set up my profile to look like this, no tasks or second instance of powershell required
function Prompt
{
& C:\Program` Files\MyProgram\MyProgram.exe "$pwd"
stop-process -Id $PID
}
I have a need within a .bat file to change to a certain directory which is referenced by an environment variable. Something along these lines:
cd %TMP%
And this works fine from Windows CMD shell. However if I try to run the bat within a Powershell terminal window, it appears that the command simply doesn't work. This does though:
cd $Env:TMP
So I'm trying to figure out how to keep things to one .bat file but still allow users to run it under both the CMD prompt and the PS prompt. I can think of some hacky ways to check to see if I'm under CMD (as opposed to PS) but I'd like to know if there's a better solution.
One thing I noticed is that the PROMPT environment variable is present with CMD but not with Powershell but, as I say, that seems a bit hacky and potentially error-prone.
I'm not trying to pad my rep so if this has already been asked and answered, please point me to it. I just want to find something less hacky than trying to figure out which shell the bat is being run in and changing the cd command to suit it.
By the way, since it may make a difference, I'm running under Powershell 4. I could probably use a .cmd file if that would make any difference but I'd be surprised if it did.
EDIT:
I guess maybe I wasn't as clear as I could be. I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to get the value of an environment variable that will work within a .bat file that will work regardless of whether or not the .bat file is run under the cmd shell or the powershell shell.
Running batch files from PowerShell works just fine. However, since the batch files run in a different interpreter (running .\your.bat is basically the same as running cmd /c .\your.bat), changing the working directory via cd %TMP% in the (CMD) child process doesn't change the working directory for the (PowerShell) parent process.
The syntax you use for variables in batch files is always %variable%.
Demonstration:
PS C:\> $PWD.Path
C:\
PS C:\> Get-Content .\test.bat
#echo off
echo before: %CD%
cd %TMP%
echo after: %CD%
PS C:\> .\test.bat
before: C:\
after: C:\Users\me\AppData\Local\Temp
PS C:\> $PWD.Path
C:\
The batch file echoes the path of the current working directory (%CD%) before and after changing the working directory to %TMP%. The working directory of the parent process (PowerShell) remains unchanged ($PWD.Path).
I want to have several (more than one) PowerShell profiles which will create different environments.
More specifically I need way for start separate PowerShell ISE for work with TFS and other PowerShell ISE instance for regular work. 'TFS' environment require loading some additional snappins, modules, modify prompt and so on. I do not want all this stuff will be executed for regular PowerShell ISE sessions but only when I want to.
I found that I can automatically load arbitrary script through command line parameter -File, but it does not executed automatically..
I do it by creating a shortcut for PowerShell ISE with a default directory :
In the default Directory (here called D:\TFS) I create a .PS1 file called local_profile.ps1.
In the beginning of the current profile file (C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\profile.ps1) I add :
# Try to load local profile
Get-ChildItem "local_profile.ps1" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | %{.$_}
You just have to add your initialization code to D:\TFS\local_profile.ps1.
powershell ISE has a profile too.
Probably is something like:
E:\Users\UserName\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShellISE_profile.ps1
Or you can open powershell ise and look at $profile variable.
After locate your profile file, write your modules import and custom scripts in it.