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

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.