The Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1 script installs a fully-featured PowerShell environment that greets you by name, auto-loads modules, and shows a live prompt with date, time, and session uptime on every command.
Installation
Find your profile path
PowerShell loads a profile script automatically on startup. Run the following to see where yours lives:Typical locations:| Scope | Path |
|---|
| Current user, Current host | C:\Users\<you>\Documents\PowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1 |
| All users, Current host | C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\profile.ps1 |
New-Item -Path $PROFILE -ItemType File -Force
Copy the profile file
Copy Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1 from the repository to your profile path:Copy-Item -Path ".\PowerShell\PowerShell Profile\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1" `
-Destination $PROFILE -Force
Copy-Item -Path ".\PowerShell\PowerShell Profile\dynamic_powershell_profile_loader.ps1" `
-Destination $PROFILE -Force
Customize your name
Open the profile in your editor and update the $name variable inside Show-WelcomeMessage:$name = "Joel" # Change this to your name
Set your required modules
Near the bottom of the file, update $RequiredModules with the modules you want auto-loaded on every session:$RequiredModules = @("VCF.PowerCLI") # Add any other modules you want, e.g. (, "Az", "posh-git")
Reload your profile
Apply the changes without restarting the terminal: Set $name to your first name so the time-of-day greeting feels personal. Add every module your daily workflow needs to $RequiredModules so they are always available the moment your session starts.
Welcome message
When the profile loads it prints a greeting block, then lists the modules it is about to load:
==========================================
Good morning Joel ☀️
Welcome to PowerShell! Progress, not perfection.
==========================================
📦 Loading modules...
→ VCF.PowerCLI
| Time range | Greeting | Color |
|---|
| Before 12:00 | Good morning $name ☀️ | Yellow |
| 12:00 – 17:59 | Good afternoon $name 🌤️ | Green |
| 18:00 and later | Good evening $name 🌙 | Cyan |
Custom prompt
Every time you press Enter the prompt function redraws two lines:
☀️ 03/26/2026 📅 | [09:14:32 AM] ⏰ | PowerShell Console Uptime: 4m ⏳
[09:14:32 AM] ❯ C:\Users\Joel\Documents\>Projects>
- Time icon — emoji matching the time of day (moon, sun, partly cloudy, cityscape)
- Date —
MM/dd/yyyy format
- Time —
hh:mm:ss tt (12-hour with AM/PM)
- Session uptime — minutes since the profile was loaded
- Path — parent directory in dark gray, current folder in cyan
Function reference
Ensure-Module
Checks whether a module is installed, installs or updates it as needed, applies any module-specific configuration, then imports it. See Module Management for full details.
Show-WelcomeMessage
Displays the greeting block when the profile loads. Accepts an optional list of module names to print before loading begins.
function Show-WelcomeMessage {
param (
[string[]]$ModulesToLoad = @()
)
$hour = (Get-Date).Hour
$username = $env:USERNAME
$quote = Get-RandomQuote
$greeting = ""
$color = "White"
$name = "Joel" # Change this to your name
switch ($hour) {
{ $_ -lt 12 } {
$greeting = "Good morning $name ☀️"
$color = "Yellow"
break
}
{ $_ -lt 18 } {
$greeting = "Good afternoon $name 🌤️"
$color = "Green"
break
}
default {
$greeting = "Good evening $name 🌙"
$color = "Cyan"
}
}
Write-Host ""
Write-Host "==========================================" -ForegroundColor DarkGray
Write-Host $greeting -ForegroundColor $color
Write-Host "Welcome to PowerShell! " -ForegroundColor Magenta -NoNewline
Write-Host "$quote" -ForegroundColor Cyan
Write-Host "==========================================" -ForegroundColor DarkGray
if ($ModulesToLoad.Count -gt 0) {
Write-Host "`n📦 Loading modules..." -ForegroundColor DarkCyan
foreach ($module in $ModulesToLoad) {
Write-Host "→ $module" -ForegroundColor DarkGray
}
}
}
Get-BatteryStatus
Returns the current battery charge percentage for laptops. Returns an empty string on desktops or VMs where no battery is present.
function Get-BatteryStatus {
$battery = Get-CimInstance Win32_Battery
if ($battery) {
return "$($battery.EstimatedChargeRemaining)% 🔋"
}
return ""
}
Get-CPULoad
Samples the total CPU usage via the Windows Performance Counter and returns the rounded percentage.
function Get-CPULoad {
$cpu = Get-Counter '\Processor(_Total)\% Processor Time'
$usage = [math]::Round($cpu.CounterSamples[0].CookedValue, 1)
return "$usage% CPU 🔥"
}
Get-TimeIcon
Returns an emoji that reflects the current hour, used in the prompt and welcome message.
function Get-TimeIcon {
$hour = (Get-Date).Hour
switch ($hour) {
{ $_ -lt 6 } { return "🌙" }
{ $_ -lt 12 } { return "☀️" }
{ $_ -lt 18 } { return "🌤️" }
default { return "🌆" }
}
}
Get-RandomQuote
Picks and returns a random motivational phrase from a built-in list each time the profile loads.
function Get-RandomQuote {
$quotes = @(
"Dream big. Start now."
"You've got this."
"Be relentless."
"Make it happen."
"Create your future."
"Progress, not perfection."
"Stay hungry."
"Rise and grind."
"Own your power."
"Push. Persist. Prevail."
)
return $quotes | Get-Random
}
Get-SessionUptime
Calculates how many minutes have passed since the profile was loaded. The session start time is stored in $global:SessionStartTime the first time the profile runs.
function Get-SessionUptime() {
$elapsed = (Get-Date) - $global:SessionStartTime
return "{0}m" -f [math]::Floor($elapsed.TotalMinutes)
}
Get-TimezoneAbbr
Maps the full Windows timezone name to a short abbreviation (PST, EST, etc.) for display in the prompt. Falls back to the full name if the timezone is not in the map.
function Get-TimezoneAbbr {
$tzMap = @{
"Pacific Standard Time" = "PST"
"Pacific Daylight Time" = "PDT"
"Mountain Standard Time" = "MST"
"Mountain Daylight Time" = "MDT"
"Central Standard Time" = "CST"
"Central Daylight Time" = "CDT"
"Eastern Standard Time" = "EST"
"Eastern Daylight Time" = "EDT"
}
$tz = [System.TimeZoneInfo]::Local
$isDST = $tz.IsDaylightSavingTime([DateTime]::Now)
$fullName = if ($isDST) { $tz.DaylightName } else { $tz.StandardName }
return $tzMap[$fullName] ?? $fullName
}
$tzMap:
"GMT Standard Time" = "GMT"
prompt
The built-in PowerShell prompt function is overridden to draw the two-line status bar on every command.
function prompt {
$now = Get-Date
$time = $now.ToString("hh:mm:ss tt")
$date = $now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy")
$tz = Get-TimezoneAbbr
$uptime = Get-SessionUptime
$battery = Get-BatteryStatus
$cpu = Get-CPULoad
$icon = Get-TimeIcon
$user = $env:USERNAME
$cwd = (Get-Location).Path
$base = Split-Path $cwd -Parent
$folder = Split-Path $cwd -Leaf
# Greeting and system info
Write-Host "`n$icon $date 📅 | [$time] ⏰ | PowerShell Console Uptime: $uptime ⏳" -ForegroundColor Green
# Prompt line with highlighted current folder
$shortTime = $now.ToString("hh:mm:ss tt")
Write-Host "`n[$shortTime] " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Red
Write-Host "❯ $base\" -NoNewline -ForegroundColor DarkGray
Write-Host "$folder>" -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan
return " "
}
Dynamic profile loader
Instead of copying the profile to every machine manually, dynamic_powershell_profile_loader.ps1 downloads the latest version from GitHub each time a session starts:
if (-not $env:PS_FAST_MODE) {
$remoteProfile = 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bigjoestretch/public/main/PowerShell/PowerShell%20Profile/Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1'
$tempProfile = Join-Path $env:TEMP 'remote_profile.ps1'
try {
Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $remoteProfile -OutFile $tempProfile -ErrorAction Stop
. $tempProfile
Write-Host "✅ Remote PowerShell profile loaded from bigjoestretch's GitHub" -ForegroundColor Green
}
catch {
Write-Warning "⚠ Failed to load remote PowerShell profile: $_"
}
}
PS_FAST_MODE environment variable to skip the remote fetch and use a local profile instead:
