Get familiar with Windows PowerShell applications

  • 5 minutes

To interact with PowerShell, you use an application that embeds, or hosts, the PowerShell's engine. Some of those applications will offer a graphical user interface (GUI), such as Windows Admin Center or Exchange Admin Center in Microsoft Exchange Server. Both of them utilize PowerShell to carry out administrative tasks.

In this learning path, you'll primarily interact with Windows PowerShell through one of the two primary hosts that Microsoft provides:

  • The Windows PowerShell console
  • The Windows PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE)

Windows PowerShell console

The console uses the Windows built-in console host application. This is similar to the command-line experience that the traditional Windows Command Prompt shell (cmd.exe) offers. However, all currently supported versions of Windows provide an updated console with more functionality, including syntax coloring. The console provides the broadest Windows PowerShell functionality, with a number of significant improvements introduced in Windows PowerShell 5.1.

Windows PowerShell ISE

The ISE is a Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) application that provides rich editing capabilities, including IntelliSense code hinting and completion. In this course, you'll begin by using the console. This is an effective way to reinforce important foundational skills. Toward the end of the course, you'll shift to using the ISE as you begin to link multiple commands together into scripts.

Third parties offer other Windows PowerShell host applications. Several companies produce free and commercial Windows PowerShell scripting, editing, and console hosts. However, this module focuses on the host applications that the Windows OS provides.

Note

Windows PowerShell ISE only supports Windows PowerShell versions up to and including 5.1. It doesn't support subsequent versions of PowerShell (6.x or 7.x). You can use Microsoft Visual Studio Code with the PowerShell extension if you are looking for a similar scripting environment as the one that Windows PowerShell ISE provides.