Setting up a modern PowerShell+VS experience on Windows

_modern-powershell.md

Install the new Windows Terminal.

Install latest stable PowerShell

Get it from https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/latest . Visual Studio still uses the old PowerShell by default. What you want is PowerShell 7 or greater. This used to be known as PowerShell Core. It's cross-platform, open source, and just better.

Load VS utilities in PowerShell

In order to locate your VS install, grab the VSSetup PowerShell module with Install-Module VSSetup -Scope CurrentUser. Next, from a PowerShell terminal, open $PROFILE in your favorite editor to start improving it.

You can then use the Enter-Vs function in my sample $PROFILE to put yourself in a VS dev environment. This takes a couple of seconds, so I only run it when I need it. But if you prefer to always have VS command line tools ready, just add a call to Enter-Vs at the end of your $PROFILE.

Ergonomics

If you're used to unix shells, you may also consider installing PSReadLine and adding the following to your profile:

Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key UpArrow -Function HistorySearchBackward
Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key DownArrow -Function HistorySearchForward
Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key Tab -Function Complete

You can install PSReadLine like so:

Install-Module -Name PSReadLine -AllowPrerelease -Scope CurrentUser -Force -SkipPublisherCheck

Next Steps

Make stuff prettier if you like following instructions from https://www.hanselman.com/blog/HowToMakeAPrettyPromptInWindowsTerminalWithPowerlineNerdFontsCascadiaCodeWSLAndOhmyposh.aspx

I've attached my PowerShell profile and Windows Terminal settings files for reference.

Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1

Import-Module posh-git
Import-Module oh-my-posh
Set-PoshPrompt -Theme Paradox

Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key UpArrow -Function HistorySearchBackward
Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key DownArrow -Function HistorySearchForward
Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key Tab -Function Complete

function Enter-Vs
(
    [switch]$Prerelease
)
{
    Import-Module VSSetup

    $vsInstall = Get-VSSetupInstance -All -Prerelease:$Prerelease | Select-VSSetupInstance -Require 'Microsoft.Build' -Latest

    if (-not $vsInstall) {
        Write-Error "No matching VS environment found; check installer"
        return
    }

    # # Or, if you don't want to install VSSetup:
    # $vsInstalls = . "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vswhere.exe" -format json | ConvertFrom-Json
    # $vsInstall = $vsInstalls[0]

    Import-Module (Join-Path $vsInstall.installationPath "Common7" "Tools" "Microsoft.VisualStudio.DevShell.dll")
    Enter-VsDevShell $vsInstall.instanceId
}

settings.jsonc

// To view the default settings, hold "alt" while clicking on the "Settings" button.
// For documentation on these settings, see: https://aka.ms/terminal-documentation

{
    "$schema": "https://aka.ms/terminal-profiles-schema",

    "defaultProfile": "{574e775e-4f2a-5b96-ac1e-a2962a402336}",

    "profiles": {
        "defaults":
        {
            "fontFace": "Cascadia Code PL",
            "fontSize": 10
        },
        "list": [
            {
                "guid": "{574e775e-4f2a-5b96-ac1e-a2962a402336}",
                "hidden": false,
                "name": "PowerShell Core",
                "source": "Windows.Terminal.PowershellCore",
                "fontFace": "Cascadia Code PL"
            },
            {
                // Make changes here to the powershell.exe profile
                "guid": "{61c54bbd-c2c6-5271-96e7-009a87ff44bf}",
                "name": "Windows PowerShell",
                "commandline": "powershell.exe",
                "hidden": false
            },
            {
                // Make changes here to the cmd.exe profile
                "guid": "{0caa0dad-35be-5f56-a8ff-afceeeaa6101}",
                "name": "cmd",
                "commandline": "cmd.exe",
                "hidden": false
            },
            {
                "guid": "{b453ae62-4e3d-5e58-b989-0a998ec441b8}",
                "hidden": false,
                "name": "Azure Cloud Shell",
                "source": "Windows.Terminal.Azure"
            },
            {
                "guid": "{07b52e3e-de2c-5db4-bd2d-ba144ed6c273}",
                "hidden": false,
                "name": "Ubuntu-20.04",
                "source": "Windows.Terminal.Wsl"
            }
        ]
    },

    // Add custom color schemes to this array
    "schemes": [],

    // Add any keybinding overrides to this array.
    // To unbind a default keybinding, set the command to "unbound"
    "keybindings": [
        {
            "command": {"action": "splitPane", "split": "auto", "splitMode": "duplicate"},
            "keys": "alt+shift+d"
        },
        {
            "command": "closePane",
            "keys": "ctrl+w"
        },
        {
            "command": "find",
            "keys": "ctrl+shift+f"
        }
    ]
}