PowerShell Community Extensions 2.0 Release Notes

May 10, 2010

Update 5/12/2010: Pscx 2.0.0.1 released to address two issues. First the help file was incomplete. It documented only the Pscx providers. Second, the Enable-OpenPowerShellHere command was completely broken.

The primary purpose of the Pscx 2.0 release is to convert from the previous approach of using a PSSnapin and scripts over to a completely module-based approach. As a consequence, Pscx 2.0 only works with Windows PowerShell 2.0. If you need support for Windows PowerShell 1.0, you can still download the Pscx 1.2 release. The other major change is that Pscx no longer uses an MSI installer. In fact, the "install" is merely an xcopy deployment of the Pscx module into your modules folder (~\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules).

NOTES ABOUT XCOPY DEPLOYMENT

Files downloaded from the web are usually blocked on Windows including the Pscx-2.0.zip file. If you do not unblock the ZIP file first then each of the files extracted from the ZIP will also be blocked. This will cause numerous errors when you import Pscx like this:

Import-Module : The following error occurred while loading the extended type data file:
Microsoft.PowerShell, 
C:\Users\Keith\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\Pscx\TypeData\Pscx.FeedStore.Type.ps1xml : 
File skipped because of the following validation exception:  File 
C:\Users\Keith\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\Pscx\TypeData\Pscx.FeedStore.Type.ps1xml 
cannot be loaded.  The file 
C:\Users\Keith\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\Pscx\TypeData\Pscx.FeedStore.Type.ps1xml 
is not digitally signed. The script will not execute on the system. 
Please see "get-help about_signing" for more details...

To avoid these errors follow the unblocking directions below.

UNBLOCKING THE PSCX-2.0.ZIP FILE:

1. Locate the Pscx-2.0.zip file in Windows Explorer.
2. Right-click on the file and select "Properties".
3. On the General tab of the Properties dialog, locate the "Unblock" button in
the lower right-hand corner and press it.

COPYING THE PSCX MODULE INTO YOUR MODULE DIR

Once you have unblocked the Pscx-2.0.0.1.zip file, extract it to the 'My Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules' folder in your USERPROFILE directory. If this folder doesn't exist then you will need to create it. If you want Pscx to be available to all users, then extract the files to $PSHome\Modules directory instead.

UPGRADING FROM EARLIER VERSIONS OF PSCX

Pscx 2.0 does not automatically upgrade Pscx 1.2. You should consider uninstalling earlier versions of Pscx although they can technically be installed on same machine with Pscx 2.0. The major cleanup required in moving from earlier versions to Pscx 2.0 is removing all of the Pscx related script from your profile. You will only need the command to import Pscx in your profile as discussed below.

IMPORTING THE PSCX MODULE

Importing the Pscx module is very easy. Just execute:

C:\PS> Import-Module Pscx

If you want to import Pscx in your profile, all you have to do is add the command above to your profile. Pscx can be customized in terms of preference variables and what nested modules are automatically loaded. In the root dir of the Pscx module there is a file named Pscx.UserPreferences.ps1. It shows the default values for the preference variable and which nested modules are loaded by default. If you want to change any of these, copy this file to your WindowsPowerShell dir or your home dir, edit it and then pass the path to this modified Pscx.UserPreferences.ps1 file to Import-Module e.g.:

C:\PS> Import-Module Pscx -arg ~\Pscx.UserPreferences.ps1

Pscx will now be imported with your preferences.

WINDOWS EXPLORER CONTEXT MENU ITEM - "Open PowerShell Here"

Since Pscx no longer uses an installer, if you want to enable the Windows Explorer context menu item that opens a PowerShell prompt on any drive or folder you will need to execute the Enable-OpenPowerShellHere command