Introduction

On a fresh install of Windows 2008 R2 there are four commands that you might want to run to get the computer prepared for developing and testing PowerShell scripts. This blog post tells you what these four commands are and how to execute them.

Step 0: Run PowerShell As Administrator

Since the following commands will require administrator privileges start the PowerShell console as Administrator. Right click on the PowerShell icon on the taskbar and choose the Run As Administrator command.

Figure 1: Run PowerShell console as Administrator

Step 1: Enable execution of un-signed local scripts

Now type  Set-ExecutionPolicy remotesigned  to enable the execution of un-singed scripts that didn’t get downloaded via Internet Explorer or Outlook. Confirm with y for yes.

Step 2: Enable PowerShell Remoting

Next type  Enable-PSRemoting to enable PowerShell remoting. Confirm with y for yes, when being prompted.

Figure 2: Set the script execution policy and enable PowerShell Remoting

Step 3: Install the PowerShell ISE

On Windows 2008 R2 Server the PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment ISE tool is not installed by default, but needs to be added as a Windows Feature. This is a two step process.

First import the Server Manager module that contains a cmdlet for adding Windows Features.

Type Import-Module ServerManager

Figure 3: Import the Server Manager module and install the PowerShell ISE

Once the Server Manager module has been imported successfully type:

Type Add-WindowsFeature PowerShell-ISE

Note: The minus letter instead of the underscore is not a typo.

Figure 4: The PowerShell ISE installation was successfull

Ready, Steady, Go PowerShell

Run the PowerShell ISE and start developing PowerShell scripts.

Figure 5: PowerShell ISE in action