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PSS-PortablePowerShell

Somewhat simple script to allow for the use of a "portable" version of powershell. Note that this is really only for one scenario: a developer using corporate machine which can install modules using the -Scope CurrentUser flag, but is sick and tired of issues that arise from OneDrive being enabled and screwing anything PowerShell related in the process by default

Features

  • Can run a portable version of PowerShell 7+ if required (testing on this solution was done with the zip deployment of version 7.3.4 found HERE, but would likely work with any of the latest releases in the same manner HERE)
  • contains 2 functions, listed below:
    • Load-Local - Downloads and saves modules to the $newModuleLocation in the PowerShell script (default ./Modules)
    • Remove-Local - Removes the module in the modules directory by way of forcefully removing the folder structure
  • has an easy to modify txt file for setting modules to be installed (explained further below)
  • simple usage - launch.bat file allows for double-click launch with a simple shortcut (required way to launch if intending to use a portable version of PowerShell)
  • has the ability to be run through your PowerShell Profile (by adding script path to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1)
  • has the ability to be run through developer-added context menu (e.g. "open Portable PowerShell here" using the registry locations HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell and KEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell)

Prerequisites

  • pick a location for the repository structure to go
  • If you're planning on using a Portable PowerShell 7+ Instance:
    • ensure you download the .zip version of the PowerShell installation, and unblock the file using the zip file properties (saves a lot of run dialogs later)
    • extract all files within the PowerShell zip into the ./PowerShell directory. To confirm you have it right, the batch file included should be able to run ./PowerShell/pwsh.exe with no problems
  • modify the included modules.txt file to your liking. By default, the script will install the following modules:
    • Az
    • Microsoft.Graph
    • PnP.PowerShell (v1.12.0)
    • CredentialManager
  • run the launch.bat file, and happy scripting!

modules.txt structure

The modules.txt file follows a simple, pipe-separated syntax, where the module to be installed is on the left side, and should you wish to install a certain version of a package, a |xx.xx.xx should be added to the end of the line, where the "x"s are version numbers.

For example, if you just needed the latest bongoscript module, you would simply add:

bongoscript

HOWEVER, if you needed bongoscript at specifically v1.4.20, would would instead need:

bongoscript|1.4.20

NOTE: While this solution can technically support whitespace between the module name, pipe-separator and version number, I'm not recommending it

Limitations

  • Installing modules tends to take significantly longer than what it normally would with a non-portable system. Bad news, this seems to be an issue at PowerShells end, good news it'll only happen if installing new modules (either through modules.txt or through Load-Local)
  • no module "installed" comes up in the Get-Module command, as they're technically not installed properly, I'm simply modifying the $env:PSModulePath variable for the script session
  • the Load-Local function doesn't conform to Microsoft's Guidelines. This is intentional as I refused to use something as useless sounding as Get-Local or Add-Local
  • Load-Local doesn't add or save anything to the modules.txt file. This is intentional, so that if you manage to break the Modules folder, you can simply nuke, recreate, and run with your chosen default modules
  • There is no functionality to update packages. The acceptable solution would be to run Remove-Local and either restart the script (if the module is in modules.txt) or use the Load-Local function