pwsh-terminal-setup

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Troubleshooting ​

The common snags, each with the exact message you'll see and the command that fixes it.

Execution policy ​

...cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled on this system ​

Cause: your execution policy blocks local scripts.

Either allow local scripts for your user:

powershell
Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

…or run the installer once with a per-process bypass (nothing persists):

powershell
pwsh -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install.ps1

Glyphs and the font ​

Icons show as boxes □ or question marks ​

Cause: the Nerd Font isn't applied to the current Windows Terminal profile.

Close every Windows Terminal window and open a new one. The font only applies to tabs opened after the patch. Then confirm the glyphs render:

powershell
Write-Host "`u{e0a0}  `u{f07b}"     # should be a branch and a folder icon

Note

Still boxes? Open Windows Terminal settings and check that profiles → defaults → font → face is LigaConsolas Nerd Font (or JetBrainsMono Nerd Font if you picked JetBrains Mono). Re-run the installer, or set it by hand from step 4.

Ligatures don't join (==> stays as three characters) ​

Cause: the font features aren't enabled on the profile.

Make sure the font block includes "features": { "liga": 1, "calt": 1 }, then reopen the tab. The installer writes this for you; the fragment is on the manual setup page.

Profile ​

The prompt is plain after installing ​

Cause: the new tab loaded before the profile was installed, or the profile didn't load.

Open a fresh tab, or reload it in the current one:

powershell
. $PROFILE.CurrentUserAllHosts

Confirm the profile is actually there:

powershell
Get-Content $PROFILE.CurrentUserAllHosts | Select-Object -First 5

Ctrl+← / Ctrl+→ move by character, not word ​

Cause: Windows Terminal is still capturing the keys before the shell sees them.

Word navigation needs both layers: the profile binds the keys, and Windows Terminal must release them. Add the unbinds from step 4 and reopen the tab.

Installer ​

Windows protected your PC (SmartScreen) ​

Cause: the installer is unsigned, so SmartScreen warns on first launch.

Click More info, then Run anyway. If you'd rather not run the .exe, use the manual setup or run install.ps1 from a clone instead.

PowerShell 7 is required / PowerShell 7 was not found ​

Cause: PowerShell 7 isn't installed. The setup targets it, not the Windows PowerShell 5.1 that ships with Windows.

Install it, then reopen your terminal and re-run:

powershell
winget install --id Microsoft.PowerShell --source winget

See Requirements for how to tell the two apart.

The setup script reported a problem ​

Cause: one step of install.ps1 failed while the installer ran it in the background.

Every run writes a log. Open it to see which step failed and why:

powershell
notepad "$env:TEMP\pwsh-terminal-setup-install.log"

Something else? Check the FAQ or open an issue on GitHub ↗.