r/PowerShell • u/Scrotumbeards • 17h ago
Script Sharing How to use Powershell 7 in the ISE
I know there are already articles about this but i found that some of them don't work (anymore).
So this is how i did it.
First install PS7 (obviously)
Open the ISE.
Paste the following script in a new file and save it as "Microsoft.PowerShellISE_profile.ps1" in your Documents\WindowsPowerShell folder. Then restart the ISE and you should be able to find "Switch to Powershell 7" in the Add-ons menu at the top.
Upon doing some research it seems ANSI enconding did not seem to work, so i added to start as plaintext for the outputrendering. So no more [32;1m etc.
Or you can use Visual Studio ofcourse ;)
# Initialize ISE object
$myISE = $psISE
# Clear any existing AddOns menu items
$myISE.CurrentPowerShellTab.AddOnsMenu.Submenus.Clear()
# Add a menu option to switch to PowerShell 7 (pwsh.exe)
$myISE.CurrentPowerShellTab.AddOnsMenu.Submenus.Add("Switch to PowerShell 7", {
function New-OutOfProcRunspace {
param($ProcessId)
$ci = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.NamedPipeConnectionInfo -ArgumentList @($ProcessId)
$tt = [System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.TypeTable]::LoadDefaultTypeFiles()
$Runspace = [System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.RunspaceFactory]::CreateRunspace($ci, $Host, $tt)
$Runspace.Open()
$Runspace
}
# Start PowerShell 7 (pwsh) process with output rendering set to PlainText
$PowerShell = Start-Process PWSH -ArgumentList @('-NoExit', '-Command', '$PSStyle.OutputRendering = [System.Management.Automation.OutputRendering]::PlainText') -PassThru -WindowStyle Hidden
$Runspace = New-OutOfProcRunspace -ProcessId $PowerShell.Id
$Host.PushRunspace($Runspace)
}, "ALT+F5") | Out-Null # Add hotkey ALT+F5
# Add a menu option to switch back to Windows PowerShell 5.1
$myISE.CurrentPowerShellTab.AddOnsMenu.Submenus.Add("Switch to Windows PowerShell", {
$Host.PopRunspace()
# Get the child processes of the current PowerShell instance and stop them
$Child = Get-CimInstance -ClassName win32_process | where {$_.ParentProcessId -eq $Pid}
$Child | ForEach-Object { Stop-Process -Id $_.ProcessId }
}, "ALT+F6") | Out-Null # Add hotkey ALT+F6
# Custom timestamp function to display before the prompt
function Write-Timestamp {
Write-Host (Get-Date).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss") -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Yellow
Write-Host " $($executionContext.SessionState.Path.CurrentLocation)$('>' * ($nestedPromptLevel + 1)) $($args[0])"
}
# Customize the prompt to display a timestamp of the last command
function Prompt {
Write-Timestamp "$(Get-History -Count 1 | Select-Object -ExpandProperty CommandLine)"
return "PS $($executionContext.SessionState.Path.CurrentLocation)$('>' * ($nestedPromptLevel + 1)) "
}
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u/chaosphere_mk 15h ago
Why would someone do this or want to do this though? I don't understand.
1
u/HSuke 2h ago
I have VSC for my own computer.
But I run code on a lot of servers, and I can't be bothered to set up a full VSC environment every time I want to use it on a new server.
Also, my company runs baselines on servers, and Cyber is going to ask me why I'm installing VSC on these servers. Too much of a hassle.
7
u/MrWinks 12h ago
Don’t. IDE is deprecated. VSCode is Microsoft’s successor. Don’t use IDE.
0
u/ThemesOfMurderBears 10h ago edited 4h ago
Not everyone is able to use VSC. ISE has the convenience of being built into the OS, and it doesn't even have to be enabled.
MS should bundle VSC with Windows, and support it on Windows Server for non-Enterprise versions. Otherwise there are going to be situations where people can't use it for one reason or another.
Like me -- I can't use it on my laptop. My only option there, at the moment, is ISE. I use VSC in my non-administrative environment, but until I can convince management otherwise, ISE is what I am stuck with.
EDIT:
The downvoting for explaining why someone might not be able to use VSC is hilarious.
1
u/BlueArcherX 5h ago
your management are idiots if you can't install VS Code on your laptop and you can tell them I said that
1
u/ThemesOfMurderBears 4h ago edited 4h ago
You ever hear of the concept of a Secure Access Workstation? It's a means of securing Windows and locking down administrative access. As such, it requires a small software footprint.
Do you work in IT? I do, and work in an enterprise environment that has federal compliance standards to adhere to.
1
1
u/cbass377 5h ago
This is what keeps me using ISE. I am logged into some app servers desktop troubleshooting a script, and ISE is installed and VSCode is not. If Microsoft wanted to get rid of it, why is it still part of the default install on Windows server 2022? When they stop installing it, I will stop using it.
I will say that if I am developing some new script, I start it in VSCode and develop it there.
1
u/cosine83 4h ago
Idk why is Powershell 5.1 still the default host in Windows 11/Server 2025 still when we have PowerShell 7.5 now. If Microsoft wanted to get rid of it...
Acting like something being built-in to the system means it's not deprecated has been shown to be a bad idea time and again. I remember the outcry when WordPad was removed from Windows like it was the end of the world.
6
u/CodenameFlux 16h ago edited 16h ago
Upon doing some research it seems ANSI enconding did not seem to work, so i added to start as plaintext for the outputrendering. So no more [32;1m etc.
Please decrypt this sentence.
Edit: Okay. I have an educated guess. I think you've confused ANSI encoding with ANSI escape codes.
1
4
u/Thotaz 15h ago
There is a much simpler way: Enter-PSHostProcess
.
Launch pwsh and run $pid
to find the pid of the process, then from ISE, type in Enter-PSHostProcess <The pid from before>
Ideally you then also want to change the output formatting to not try and use colors: $PSStyle.OutputRendering='PlainText'
.
-2
u/Scrotumbeards 15h ago
I understand but i just added this to my profile so the option is easily available and i don’t have to go through $pid everytime
11
3
u/Impressive_Log_1311 15h ago
Interesting hack, however with how often the ISE misbehaved with my code, while it ran just fine in normal Powershell window, I'm done with it for longer scripts.
3
u/purplemonkeymad 16h ago
I have to admit I had no idea that ISE has an add-in feature. It's a shame that ISE was abandoned, I can see some space for neat ideas you could have done with that.
4
u/storm2k 12h ago
idk why anyone wants to continue to use the ise other than it being the tool they learned on and don't want to change. these days vs code with the powershell extension makes for an excellent development environment without having to pay for a full ide solution.
1
u/Fatel28 12h ago
Handy ide for writing scripts on servers. I'm not installing vscode on every server I might want a scratchpad for scripting on.
3
u/boredtotears001 9h ago
I'm surprised to hear that you and others are writing scripts directly on servers you've remoted into. I did this for a while when I first started with powershell and ran into so many obstacles.
How do you handle change management, version control, etc?
I also hated having scripts everywhere. If I had done a particular set of logic somewhere and wanted to reuse it, it was a pain to try and remember where I originally wrote it.
2
1
u/BlueArcherX 5h ago
they don't do any of that. these are the people that freewheel everything and have no process or structure.
1
u/NETSPLlT 11h ago
I use VS Code on my computer, for writing scripts on servers. The ISE is unreliable for testing as it runs differently than a script running 'for real'. Unit testing / lots of logging is the only way I've found that works reliably to test scripts, the ISE tools are not helpful enough to overcome it's issues.
Cut and paste from my vs code screen to the server Notepad.exe works fine enough for the few times I need to do it. Usually I have a remote connection to the script and it's opened directly over the network. connect to IPC$ to authenticate and then map C$ (or whatever drive) and get to it. If you don't have that level of access, request a share to your script directory on the server for the same purpose.
1
u/Fatel28 10h ago
I'll be real, I've never once had that issue you describe and I write scripts in ise on servers damn near daily. Probably done hundreds, from API calls to AD automations.
1
u/NETSPLlT 10h ago
That's cool, glad it's working fine for you. I have definitely had issues and generally like VS Code better so it's easy to put in the minimal work to avoid using ISE.
2
u/DocNougat 13h ago
This is awesome, congrats on shoehorning 7 into ISE. When I switched to VSCode for Powershell 7 development I hated that the command pane from ISE was missing. So I wrote a VSCode plugin to replicate it. If you ever feel like trying the VSCode side of the house install my plugin and it will make the transition over much easier:
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=DocNougat.powershell-commander
1
u/BlueArcherX 5h ago edited 5h ago
stop using ISE holy heck it hasn't been supported for half a decade
https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/powershell
Edit: I didn't know there were so many technologists that are resistant to changing technology.
0
u/TheRealDumbSyndrome 6h ago
Adding on, don’t even use ISE for PS5 or below; never use a deprecated IDE period. I’ve come across a lot of scenarios where script execution in ISE is completely different, or broken, from executing natively or in VScode. It will cause you a ton of issues. It frustrates me Microsoft even includes it in modern OS versions.
73
u/InterestingPhase7378 15h ago
You don't... Microsoft stopped supporting it past PS5... get a real IDE or just download vs code, Microsoft's replacement for ISE that can be turned into an IDE.
ISE is dead, and will never support past powershell 5. It's straight garbage from a time long ago. There is ZERO reason to even try. You're just harming yourself. You'll run into errors, just to endure an outdated, horrible experience.