How to launch PowerShell (not a script) from the command line

Question

I am new to PowerShell and am struggling with what I assume should be a simple operation—I am trying to launch a PowesShell window from the command line.

If I launch a command line instance and type either powershell or start powershell, I am getting a PowerShell instance within the command line interface, i.e. the typical black background with white text. What I would like is for the typical PowerShell interface to launch—blue background with white text? I am running Windows XP with PowerShell 2.0 installed.

Answer 1

If you go to C:\Windows\system32\Windowspowershell\v1.0 (and C:\Windows\syswow64\Windowspowershell\v1.0 on x64 machines) in Windows Explorer and double-click powershell.exe you will see that it opens PowerShell with a black background. The PowerShell console shows up as blue when opened from the start menu because the console properties for shortcuts to powershell.exe can be set independently from the default properties.

To set the default options, font, colors and layout, open a PowerShell console, type Alt-Space, and select the Defaults menu option.

Running start powershell from cmd.exe should start a new console with your default settings.

Answer 2

Set the default console colors and fonts:

http://poshcode.org/2220
From Windows PowerShell Cookbook (O'Reilly)
by Lee Holmes (http://www.leeholmes.com/guide)

Set-StrictMode -Version Latest

Push-Location
Set-Location HKCU:\Console
New-Item '.\%SystemRoot%_system32_WindowsPowerShell_v1.0_powershell.exe'
Set-Location '.\%SystemRoot%_system32_WindowsPowerShell_v1.0_powershell.exe'

New-ItemProperty . ColorTable00 -type DWORD -value 0x00562401
New-ItemProperty . ColorTable07 -type DWORD -value 0x00f0edee
New-ItemProperty . FaceName -type STRING -value "Lucida Console"
New-ItemProperty . FontFamily -type DWORD -value 0x00000036
New-ItemProperty . FontSize -type DWORD -value 0x000c0000
New-ItemProperty . FontWeight -type DWORD -value 0x00000190
New-ItemProperty . HistoryNoDup -type DWORD -value 0x00000000
New-ItemProperty . QuickEdit -type DWORD -value 0x00000001
New-ItemProperty . ScreenBufferSize -type DWORD -value 0x0bb80078
New-ItemProperty . WindowSize -type DWORD -value 0x00320078
Pop-Location

Answer 3

The color and window sizing are defined by the shortcut LNK file. I think I found a way that will do what you need, try this:

explorer.exe "Windows PowerShell.lnk"

The LNK file is in the all user start menu which is located in different places depending whether your on XP or Windows 7. In 7 the LNK file is here:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Windows PowerShell