Backup Modified PowerShell Console Colors Properties (Windows 10)

Question

I don't quite understand how this works. So when I open up PowerShell as administrator, I can right click on the title bar, go to "Properties," then go to "Colors" and make changes. For example, I set the "Screen Background" default color to black instead of the default dark blue. I've noticed that these changes seem to persist even after I restart the computer and open up PowerShell as administrator again. However, these changes do not seem to apply to whenever I open up PowerShell regularly (not as administrator). So, for example, I could have admin powershell have a black background and regular powershell have a red background.

But here's the point; suppose I change a lot of the colors and I want to back these changes up somehow. They must be stored somewhere, and clearly it's different for each of the two versions of PowerShell, so where are these properties stored, for both versions? Is there an easy way to back them up and restore them at a later date if future changes have been made? If not, is it possible to keep these seetings in my PowerShell profile somehow?

Answer 1

The color settings are stored in the powershell shortcut.

Each user has their own shortcut in C:\Users\[User]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows PowerShell

You can create multiple shortcuts to powershell with different font/color settings by looking at the properties panel for that shortcut.

You can save the shortcut anywhere, and even use it on other computers with the color and font settings saved.

Answer 2

Backup Settings

As per the Get-Host documentation, to export these settings to a backup file, etc. you could use something such as (Get-Host).UI.RawUI | Format-List -Property * and put that in an -OutFile.

PS C:\> (Get-Host).UI.RawUI | Format-List -Property *
ForegroundColor       : DarkYellow
BackgroundColor       : DarkBlue
CursorPosition        : 0,390
WindowPosition        : 0,341
CursorSize            : 25
BufferSize            : 120,3000
WindowSize            : 120,50
MaxWindowSize         : 120,81
MaxPhysicalWindowSize : 182,81
KeyAvailable          : False
WindowTitle           : Windows PowerShell 2.0 (04/11/2008 00:08:14)

_source

Restore Settings

You can then create a PowerShell script to set these important settings you use explicitly and simply execute that script when you open any new PowerShell session.

(Get-Host).UI.RawUI.ForegroundColor = "DarkYellow"
(Get-Host).UI.RawUI.BackgroundColor = "DarkBlue"
(Get-Host).UI.RawUI.CursorPosition = @{ X = 0; Y = 390 }
(Get-Host).UI.RawUI.WindowPosition = @{ X = 0; Y = 341 }
(Get-Host).UI.RawUI.CursorSize = 25
(Get-Host).UI.RawUI.BufferSize = new-object System.Management.Automation.Host.Size(120,3000)
(Get-Host).UI.RawUI.WindowSize = new-object System.Management.Automation.Host.Size(120,50)
(Get-Host).UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = "Windows PowerShell 2.0"

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Further Resources

• PowerShell Basics: Console Configuration
• Customizing the Windows PowerShell Console
• Customizing Your PowerShell Environment
• Moving Cursor to Specific Location