Description

I mentioned in One Liner: Enable Windows Explorer Preview of PowerShell Files that I use the same PowerShell profile script on all of my machines, courtesy of OneDrive. I wanted to show a couple of lines that are at the top of my profile that make this even easier. When I reload a computer, or get a new one, I need to configure that machine to use the shared profile. This is super easy. The profile .ps1 file is just dot sourced. So the file resides in my OneDrive hierarchy. I merely wait for OneDrive to finish its initial sync, and then open an elevated PowerShell session and run the shared file. At the top of the file is the following code:

if (-not (Test-Path $profile)){
	New-Item -Path $profile -Type file -Force
	$MyName = $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Definition
	Add-Content -Path $profile -value ". `".\$MyName`""
}

For information on the various files that can be used for a PowerShell profile, see Windows PowerShell Profiles. Since, by default, no profile exists, the top line in the code above, which verifies that a profile does not exist, passes. The next line creates the empty file. The third line gets the path and name of script file running (the one in OneDrive), and the fourth line adds that path as a dot source to the newly created profile. So, when you look in the newly created profile file, It has a single line:

. "d:\OneDrive\PowerShell\profile\profile.ps1"

So, when PowerShell is opened, and the profile is evaluated, the dot sourced file is loaded. Easy peasy! And, since it’s in OneDrive, all of the hard work you put into your profile is safe and secure in the event of a computer problem. But more importantly, when working from a different machine, you still have the same experience.

Feel free to comment below, including ideas, suggestions, and code sample for things you’ve done, or would like to see.

Donations

I’ve never been one to really solicit donations for my work. My offerings are created because *I* need to solve a problem, and once I do, it makes sense to offer the results of my work to the public. I mean, let’s face it: I can’t be the only one with that particular issue, right? Quite often, to my surprise, I’m asked why I don’t have a “donate” button so people can donate a few bucks. I’ve never really put much thought into it. But those inquiries are coming more often now, so I’m yielding to them. If you’d like to donate, you can send a few bucks via PayPal at https://www.paypal.me/PatRichard. Money collected from that will go to the costs of my website (hosting and domain names), as well as to my home lab.