How do I start PowerShell from Windows Explorer

Question

Is there a way to start PowerShell in a specific folder from Windows Explorer  e g  to right-click in a folder and have an option like  Open PowerShell in this Folder    It s really annoying to have to change directories to my project folder the first time I run MSBuild every day

User · Answer

The following is a concise  and updated  summation of the earlier solutions  Here s what to do   Add these strings and their respective parent keys   pwrshell  Default   lt  Open PowerShell Here pwrshell command  Default   lt  powershell -NoExit -Command Set-Location -LiteralPath   V  pwrshelladmin  Default   lt  Open PowerShell  Admin  pwrshelladmin command  Default   lt  powershell -Command Start-Process -verb runAs -ArgumentList  -NoExit   cd    V  powershell   at these locations  HKCR Directory shell  for folders  HKCR Directory Background shell  Explorer window  HKCR Drive shell  for root drives    That s it  Add the  Extended  strings for the commands only to be visible if you hold the  Shift  key  everything else is superfluous

User · Answer

I m surprised nobody has given this answer  it s the simplest one   Must be the year    Just Shift   right click in Explorer  Then you can  Open PowerShell window here    It may be set to Command Prompt by default  If so  you can change this in the Windows 10 Settings  go to Personalization -  Taskbar and enable  Replace Command Prompt with Windows PowerShell in the menu when I right-click the start button or press Windows key X

User · Answer

As an alternative to the answer above  which requires you to type the PowerShell command  powershell exe  each time  you can create a context menu entry just like with the  Open command window here  context menu   There are three registry keys where these commands go   Each key controls the context menu of a different Windows Explorer object   The first one is the one you asked about    HKCR Directory Background shell - This is the context menu for the Explorer window itself  that is  the context menu that is displayed when no item is selected  such as when right-clicking in an empty area of the window   HKCR Directory shell - This is the context menu of the folders in Windows Explorer  HKCR Drive shell - This is the context menu for the drive icons in the root of Windows Explorer    For each of these registry keys  you can add a subkey that will add an  Open PowerShell window here  command to the context menu  just as you have an  Open command window here  context menu   Here is a copy of my OpenPowerShellHere reg file  which puts the command in the context menu of each of the Explorer objects  the window background  the folder  and the drive icon   Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00      Add context menu entry to Windows Explorer background    HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell powershell     Open PowerShell window here   NoWorkingDirectory       HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell powershell command     C   Windows  System32  WindowsPowerShell  v1 0  powershell exe -NoExit -Command Set-Location -LiteralPath   V        Add context menu entry to Windows Explorer folders    HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell powershell     Open PowerShell window here   NoWorkingDirectory       HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell powershell command     C   Windows  System32  WindowsPowerShell  v1 0  powershell exe -NoExit -Command Set-Location -LiteralPath   V        Add context menu entry to Windows Explorer drive icons    HKEY CLASSES ROOT Drive shell powershell     Open PowerShell window here   NoWorkingDirectory       HKEY CLASSES ROOT Drive shell powershell command     C   Windows  System32  WindowsPowerShell  v1 0  powershell exe -NoExit -Command Set-Location -LiteralPath   V     So  with your favorite text editor  open a new file named OpenPowerShellHere reg   Copy the exact text of the code above  paste it into the new file  and save it    I would have included a copy of the file  but I couldn t figure out if attachments were possible    If you want to exclude the command from one of the entry  just comment out the appropriate section with semicolons   My comments show you each section   After you save the file  run it by double-clicking on it   When it asks  tell it to proceed   As soon as you run it  the context menu entries will show up   Here is my Explorer window context menu   I ve highlighted the console and PowerShell commands   As you can see  you can also add a context menu entry to run an elevated command window  i e   Run as Administrator     Note   Context menu entries are displayed alphabetically  based on their Registry keys   The key name for the elevated command shell is  runas   which is why it comes after the PowerShell entry   Note  If you have an explorer window open  you may need to close it and reopen it to get the changed to take effect   Note  In Windows 7  the HKCR Directory Shell does not work if you use the toolkit on the side of the explorer    ie  Clicking Documents under the Libraries header   you must navigate using Computer - gt  C  - gt  to - gt  Some - gt  Target - gt  Directory

User · Answer

In Windows Explorer  just go to the Address Bar at the top  keyboard shortcuts  Alt D or Ctrl L  and type powershell or powershell ise and press Enter  A PowerShell command window opens with the current directory

User · Answer

Windows 10 made it much easier   You can either   SHIFT   Mouse Right Click on a folder  and you get a menu item Open PowerShell window here   Or you can   File - gt  Open Windows PowerShell   And for a bonus     If you Mouse Right Click on File - gt  Open Windows PowerShell  then you can Add to Quick Access Toolbar   Which puts a handy icon here   And now you can just click that icon

User · Answer

The following is a concise  and updated  summation of the earlier solutions  Here s what to do   Add these strings and their respective parent keys   pwrshell  Default   lt  Open PowerShell Here pwrshell command  Default   lt  powershell -NoExit -Command Set-Location -LiteralPath   V  pwrshelladmin  Default   lt  Open PowerShell  Admin  pwrshelladmin command  Default   lt  powershell -Command Start-Process -verb runAs -ArgumentList  -NoExit   cd    V  powershell   at these locations  HKCR Directory shell  for folders  HKCR Directory Background shell  Explorer window  HKCR Drive shell  for root drives    That s it  Add the  Extended  strings for the commands only to be visible if you hold the  Shift  key  everything else is superfluous

User · Answer

Try the PowerShell PowerToy    It adds a context menu item for Open PowerShell Here   Or you could create a shortcut that opens PowerShell with the Start In folder being your Projects folder

User · Answer

For autohotkey users  heres a snippet I am using  It opens PowerShell window  when pressing Ctrl-Alt-T   Tested with Win10   If your  active window  is a Windows Explorer -window  then the PowerShell is opened in the current folder  Otherwise  just open PowerShell in some default folder   Usage  1  Install AutoHotkey  and copy paste this into myscript ahk 2  Replace  lt DefaultPath gt  with path of your choice   3  Run the script     Ctrl-Alt-T opens PowerShell in the current folder  if using Windows Explorer  Otherwise  just open the Powershell    T   if WinActive  ahk class CabinetWClass   and WinActive  ahk exe explorer exe         KeyWait Control     KeyWait Alt     Send  Ctrl down l Ctrl up      Send powershell Enter    else       psScript             cd  C   lt DefaultPath gt       ls           Run   SystemRoot  system32 WindowsPowerShell v1 0 powershell exe  -NoExit -Command  amp   psScript     return

User · Answer

I created a fully automated solution to add PS and CMD context items  Just run set registry cmd and it will update registry to add two buttons when click RMB on folder or inside some opened folder   This will change owner of registry keys to admin and add context menus Change registry to enable PS and CWD context menus

User · Answer

For autohotkey users  heres a snippet I am using  It opens PowerShell window  when pressing Ctrl-Alt-T   Tested with Win10   If your  active window  is a Windows Explorer -window  then the PowerShell is opened in the current folder  Otherwise  just open PowerShell in some default folder   Usage  1  Install AutoHotkey  and copy paste this into myscript ahk 2  Replace  lt DefaultPath gt  with path of your choice   3  Run the script     Ctrl-Alt-T opens PowerShell in the current folder  if using Windows Explorer  Otherwise  just open the Powershell    T   if WinActive  ahk class CabinetWClass   and WinActive  ahk exe explorer exe         KeyWait Control     KeyWait Alt     Send  Ctrl down l Ctrl up      Send powershell Enter    else       psScript             cd  C   lt DefaultPath gt       ls           Run   SystemRoot  system32 WindowsPowerShell v1 0 powershell exe  -NoExit -Command  amp   psScript     return

User · Answer

Just to add in the reverse as a trick  at a PowerShell prompt you can do   ii     or   start     to open a Windows nbsp Explorer window in your current directory

User · Answer

I created a fully automated solution to add PS and CMD context items  Just run set registry cmd and it will update registry to add two buttons when click RMB on folder or inside some opened folder   This will change owner of registry keys to admin and add context menus Change registry to enable PS and CWD context menus

User · Answer

I m surprised nobody has given this answer  it s the simplest one   Must be the year    Just Shift   right click in Explorer  Then you can  Open PowerShell window here    It may be set to Command Prompt by default  If so  you can change this in the Windows 10 Settings  go to Personalization -  Taskbar and enable  Replace Command Prompt with Windows PowerShell in the menu when I right-click the start button or press Windows key X

User · Answer

New-PSDrive -Name HKCR -PSProvider Registry -Root HKEY CLASSES ROOT if -not  Test-Path -Path  HKCR  Directory shell  KeyName          Try               New-Item -itemType String  HKCR  Directory shell  KeyName  -value  Open PowerShell in this Folder  -ErrorAction Stop         New-Item -itemType String  HKCR  Directory shell  KeyName command  -value   env SystemRoot system32 WindowsPowerShell v1 0 powershell exe -noexit -command Set-Location   V   -ErrorAction Stop         Write-Host  Successfully               Catch                 Write-Error    Exception Message          else       Write-Warning  The specified key name already exists  Type another name and try again       You can download detail script from how to start PowerShell from Windows Explorer

User · Answer

Try the PowerShell PowerToy    It adds a context menu item for Open PowerShell Here   Or you could create a shortcut that opens PowerShell with the Start In folder being your Projects folder

User · Answer

Windows 10 made it much easier   You can either   SHIFT   Mouse Right Click on a folder  and you get a menu item Open PowerShell window here   Or you can   File - gt  Open Windows PowerShell   And for a bonus     If you Mouse Right Click on File - gt  Open Windows PowerShell  then you can Add to Quick Access Toolbar   Which puts a handy icon here   And now you can just click that icon

User · Answer

Try the PowerShell PowerToy    It adds a context menu item for Open PowerShell Here   Or you could create a shortcut that opens PowerShell with the Start In folder being your Projects folder

User · Answer

There s a Windows Explorer extension made by the dude who makes tools for SVN that will at least open a command prompt window   I haven t tried it yet  so I don t know if it ll do PowerShell  but I wanted to share the love with my Stack nbsp Overflow brethren   http   tools tortoisesvn net StExBar

User · Answer

You can download the inf file from here - Introducing PowerShell Prompt Here

User · Answer

You can download the inf file from here - Introducing PowerShell Prompt Here

User · Answer

You can download the inf file from here - Introducing PowerShell Prompt Here

User · Answer

Another option are the excellent Elevation PowerToys by Michael Murgolo on TechNet at http   technet microsoft com en-us magazine 2008 06 elevation aspx    They include PowerShell Prompt Here and PowerShell Prompt Here as Administrator

User · Answer

There s a Windows Explorer extension made by the dude who makes tools for SVN that will at least open a command prompt window   I haven t tried it yet  so I don t know if it ll do PowerShell  but I wanted to share the love with my Stack nbsp Overflow brethren   http   tools tortoisesvn net StExBar

User · Answer

In Windows Explorer  just go to the Address Bar at the top  keyboard shortcuts  Alt D or Ctrl L  and type powershell or powershell ise and press Enter  A PowerShell command window opens with the current directory

User · Answer

As an alternative to the answer above  which requires you to type the PowerShell command  powershell exe  each time  you can create a context menu entry just like with the  Open command window here  context menu   There are three registry keys where these commands go   Each key controls the context menu of a different Windows Explorer object   The first one is the one you asked about    HKCR Directory Background shell - This is the context menu for the Explorer window itself  that is  the context menu that is displayed when no item is selected  such as when right-clicking in an empty area of the window   HKCR Directory shell - This is the context menu of the folders in Windows Explorer  HKCR Drive shell - This is the context menu for the drive icons in the root of Windows Explorer    For each of these registry keys  you can add a subkey that will add an  Open PowerShell window here  command to the context menu  just as you have an  Open command window here  context menu   Here is a copy of my OpenPowerShellHere reg file  which puts the command in the context menu of each of the Explorer objects  the window background  the folder  and the drive icon   Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00      Add context menu entry to Windows Explorer background    HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell powershell     Open PowerShell window here   NoWorkingDirectory       HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory Background shell powershell command     C   Windows  System32  WindowsPowerShell  v1 0  powershell exe -NoExit -Command Set-Location -LiteralPath   V        Add context menu entry to Windows Explorer folders    HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell powershell     Open PowerShell window here   NoWorkingDirectory       HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell powershell command     C   Windows  System32  WindowsPowerShell  v1 0  powershell exe -NoExit -Command Set-Location -LiteralPath   V        Add context menu entry to Windows Explorer drive icons    HKEY CLASSES ROOT Drive shell powershell     Open PowerShell window here   NoWorkingDirectory       HKEY CLASSES ROOT Drive shell powershell command     C   Windows  System32  WindowsPowerShell  v1 0  powershell exe -NoExit -Command Set-Location -LiteralPath   V     So  with your favorite text editor  open a new file named OpenPowerShellHere reg   Copy the exact text of the code above  paste it into the new file  and save it    I would have included a copy of the file  but I couldn t figure out if attachments were possible    If you want to exclude the command from one of the entry  just comment out the appropriate section with semicolons   My comments show you each section   After you save the file  run it by double-clicking on it   When it asks  tell it to proceed   As soon as you run it  the context menu entries will show up   Here is my Explorer window context menu   I ve highlighted the console and PowerShell commands   As you can see  you can also add a context menu entry to run an elevated command window  i e   Run as Administrator     Note   Context menu entries are displayed alphabetically  based on their Registry keys   The key name for the elevated command shell is  runas   which is why it comes after the PowerShell entry   Note  If you have an explorer window open  you may need to close it and reopen it to get the changed to take effect   Note  In Windows 7  the HKCR Directory Shell does not work if you use the toolkit on the side of the explorer    ie  Clicking Documents under the Libraries header   you must navigate using Computer - gt  C  - gt  to - gt  Some - gt  Target - gt  Directory

User · Answer

Try the PowerShell PowerToy    It adds a context menu item for Open PowerShell Here   Or you could create a shortcut that opens PowerShell with the Start In folder being your Projects folder

User · Answer

One fairly simple alternative is to invoke PowerShell via a shortcut   There is a shortcut property labeled  Start in  that says what directory folder  to use when the shortcut is invoked   If the Start In box is blank  it means use the current directory     When you first create a shortcut to PowerShell in the usual way  the start in box specifies the home directory   If you blank out the start in box  you now have a shortcut to powershell that opens PS in the current directory  whatever that is   If you now copy this shortcut to the target directory  and use explorer to invoke it   you ll start a PS that s pointed at the target directory   There s already an accepted answer to this question   but I offer this as another way

User · Answer

I wanted to have this context menu work only when right clicking and holding the  SHIFT  which is how the built in  Open Command window here  context menu works    However none of the provided solutions did that so I had to roll my own  reg file - copy the below  save it as power-shell-here-on-shift reg and double click on it   Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00   HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell powershell     Open PowerShell here   NoWorkingDirectory      Extended       HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell powershell command     C   Windows  system32  WindowsPowerShell  v1 0  powershell exe -NoExit -Command Set-Location -LiteralPath   L

User · Answer

I wanted to have this context menu work only when right clicking and holding the  SHIFT  which is how the built in  Open Command window here  context menu works    However none of the provided solutions did that so I had to roll my own  reg file - copy the below  save it as power-shell-here-on-shift reg and double click on it   Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00   HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell powershell     Open PowerShell here   NoWorkingDirectory      Extended       HKEY CLASSES ROOT Directory shell powershell command     C   Windows  system32  WindowsPowerShell  v1 0  powershell exe -NoExit -Command Set-Location -LiteralPath   L

User · Answer

It s even easier in Windows 8 1 and Server 2012 R2   Do this once  Right-click on the task bar  choose Properties   In the Navigation tab  turn on    10003   Replace Command Prompt with Windows PowerShell in the menu when I right-click the lower-left corner or press Windows key X   Then whenever you want a PowerShell prompt  hit Win X  I    Or Win X  A for an Admin PowerShell prompt

User · Answer

In Windows 10 both the command prompt and the powershell prompt can be found via the menu bar  for both non-admin and admin  These options will have its folder set to the currently selected folder from the explorer   For the Swedish version at least  the powershell is opened with Alt F I  For an administrator powershell it s Alt F S P     If those are not the correct characters you can press and hold the Alt key to see the correct characters  there will be a character overlaying the menu item for each step

User · Answer

New-PSDrive -Name HKCR -PSProvider Registry -Root HKEY CLASSES ROOT if -not  Test-Path -Path  HKCR  Directory shell  KeyName          Try               New-Item -itemType String  HKCR  Directory shell  KeyName  -value  Open PowerShell in this Folder  -ErrorAction Stop         New-Item -itemType String  HKCR  Directory shell  KeyName command  -value   env SystemRoot system32 WindowsPowerShell v1 0 powershell exe -noexit -command Set-Location   V   -ErrorAction Stop         Write-Host  Successfully               Catch                 Write-Error    Exception Message          else       Write-Warning  The specified key name already exists  Type another name and try again       You can download detail script from how to start PowerShell from Windows Explorer

User · Answer

If you re on Windows 8  or later  you can simply use the built-in File    Open Windows PowerShell    Or Alt   F followed by R

User · Answer

You can download the inf file from here - Introducing PowerShell Prompt Here

User · Answer

In Windows 10 both the command prompt and the powershell prompt can be found via the menu bar  for both non-admin and admin  These options will have its folder set to the currently selected folder from the explorer   For the Swedish version at least  the powershell is opened with Alt F I  For an administrator powershell it s Alt F S P     If those are not the correct characters you can press and hold the Alt key to see the correct characters  there will be a character overlaying the menu item for each step

User · Answer

Another option are the excellent Elevation PowerToys by Michael Murgolo on TechNet at http   technet microsoft com en-us magazine 2008 06 elevation aspx    They include PowerShell Prompt Here and PowerShell Prompt Here as Administrator

User · Answer

If you re on Windows 8  or later  you can simply use the built-in File    Open Windows PowerShell    Or Alt   F followed by R

User · Answer

Just to add in the reverse as a trick  at a PowerShell prompt you can do   ii     or   start     to open a Windows nbsp Explorer window in your current directory

User · Answer

Just to add in the reverse as a trick  at a PowerShell prompt you can do   ii     or   start     to open a Windows nbsp Explorer window in your current directory

User · Answer

By adding the registry keys below  in Windows 10  I managed to get the Open PowerShell Here option in my SHIFT   RClick context menus   Just copy these into a blank notepad file then save as a  reg file and run the file to add the key and it should work from there  Some of these other answers say to add the key into HKCR Directory shell but I found that for me it only worked with the keys going into HKLM SOFTWARE Classes Directory shell   Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00   HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Classes Directory background shell powershell   Extended      NoWorkingDirectory        Open PowerShell here   Icon    SystemRoot   system32  WindowsPowerShell  v1 0  powershell exe    HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Classes Directory background shell powershell command     C   Windows  system32  WindowsPowerShell  v1 0  powershell exe -NoExit -Command Set-Location -LiteralPath   V     HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Classes Directory shell powershell     Open PowerShell here   Extended      Icon    SystemRoot   system32  WindowsPowerShell  v1 0  powershell exe   NoWorkingDirectory       HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Classes Directory shell powershell command     C   Windows  system32  WindowsPowerShell  v1 0  powershell exe -NoExit -Command Set-Location -LiteralPath   V

User · Answer

There s a Windows Explorer extension made by the dude who makes tools for SVN that will at least open a command prompt window   I haven t tried it yet  so I don t know if it ll do PowerShell  but I wanted to share the love with my Stack nbsp Overflow brethren   http   tools tortoisesvn net StExBar

User · Answer

There s a Windows Explorer extension made by the dude who makes tools for SVN that will at least open a command prompt window   I haven t tried it yet  so I don t know if it ll do PowerShell  but I wanted to share the love with my Stack nbsp Overflow brethren   http   tools tortoisesvn net StExBar

User · Answer

It s even easier in Windows 8 1 and Server 2012 R2   Do this once  Right-click on the task bar  choose Properties   In the Navigation tab  turn on    10003   Replace Command Prompt with Windows PowerShell in the menu when I right-click the lower-left corner or press Windows key X   Then whenever you want a PowerShell prompt  hit Win X  I    Or Win X  A for an Admin PowerShell prompt

User · Answer

By adding the registry keys below  in Windows 10  I managed to get the Open PowerShell Here option in my SHIFT   RClick context menus   Just copy these into a blank notepad file then save as a  reg file and run the file to add the key and it should work from there  Some of these other answers say to add the key into HKCR Directory shell but I found that for me it only worked with the keys going into HKLM SOFTWARE Classes Directory shell   Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00   HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Classes Directory background shell powershell   Extended      NoWorkingDirectory        Open PowerShell here   Icon    SystemRoot   system32  WindowsPowerShell  v1 0  powershell exe    HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Classes Directory background shell powershell command     C   Windows  system32  WindowsPowerShell  v1 0  powershell exe -NoExit -Command Set-Location -LiteralPath   V     HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Classes Directory shell powershell     Open PowerShell here   Extended      Icon    SystemRoot   system32  WindowsPowerShell  v1 0  powershell exe   NoWorkingDirectory       HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Classes Directory shell powershell command     C   Windows  system32  WindowsPowerShell  v1 0  powershell exe -NoExit -Command Set-Location -LiteralPath   V

User · Answer

Just to add in the reverse as a trick  at a PowerShell prompt you can do   ii     or   start     to open a Windows nbsp Explorer window in your current directory

User · Answer

One fairly simple alternative is to invoke PowerShell via a shortcut   There is a shortcut property labeled  Start in  that says what directory folder  to use when the shortcut is invoked   If the Start In box is blank  it means use the current directory     When you first create a shortcut to PowerShell in the usual way  the start in box specifies the home directory   If you blank out the start in box  you now have a shortcut to powershell that opens PS in the current directory  whatever that is   If you now copy this shortcut to the target directory  and use explorer to invoke it   you ll start a PS that s pointed at the target directory   There s already an accepted answer to this question   but I offer this as another way

[windows] How do I start PowerShell from Windows Explorer?

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