Transform Your Windows PowerShell Terminal with a Simple Step-by-Step Guide

1. Introduction

As a programmer, a terminal is essential, but the default Windows terminal is unattractive. This guide shows how to beautify PowerShell, starting with a visual example.

2. Install Chocolatey

Chocolatey is the Windows equivalent of Homebrew on macOS, allowing one‑line installation of development tools such as Maven and JDK. Install it with the following command:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iwr https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1 -UseBasicParsing | iex

3. Change Font

The default “新宋体” font is not suitable for code. Install a monospaced Powerline font set using Git:

# Download
git clone https://github.com/powerline/fonts.git --depth=1
# Install
cd fonts
./install.ps1
# Remove the fonts folder after installation

4. Install oh‑my‑posh

After ensuring Git is available, install posh‑git and oh‑my‑posh modules: Install-Module posh-git -Scope CurrentUser When prompted, confirm with “Y” and “A”. Then install oh‑my‑posh: Install-Module oh-my-posh -Scope CurrentUser Create or open the PowerShell profile file (similar to .bashrc on Linux) and add the following configuration:

if (!(Test-Path -Path $PROFILE )) { New-Item -Type File -Path $PROFILE -Force }
notepad $PROFILE

The profile path on the example machine is:

C:\Users\dax\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1

Add these lines to the profile:

Import-Module posh-git
Import-Module oh-my-posh
Set-Theme <em>ThemeName</em>

The theme files are located under:

C:\Users\<em>Username</em>\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\oh-my-posh\2.0.399\Themes

5. Install ConEmu

Use Chocolatey to install ConEmu, a terminal emulator that enhances PowerShell: choco install ConEmu After installation, open ConEmu’s Settings, select “PowerShell Admin”, set the interface language to Chinese, and customize font, status bar, transparency, and colors to personal preference.

Configure ConEmu to launch PowerShell by default, so opening PowerShell actually opens ConEmu.

With these steps completed, you now have a visually appealing and highly functional PowerShell environment.