Because WinGet is not PowerShell-specific, it cannot rely on PowerShell stuff. Instead, it does add to %PATH% (once). It also shows a message when it does this. If you did not see the message, it may have already modified %PATH% in the past. WinGet adds %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Links\ (in its expanded form) to your user’s %PATH% (not the system-wide one).
WinGet creates symlinks in this folder. These are then usable from any shell or Run prompt.
In my opinion, yes, this method is superior, because it is effective everywhere.
However, it only works with .exe files. If you need PowerShell-specific aliases (involving cmdlets or whatever), you must use PowerShell methods to create them permanently. $profile is the way to go.
Because WinGet is not PowerShell-specific, it cannot rely on PowerShell stuff. Instead, it does add to %PATH% (once). It also shows a message when it does this. If you did not see the message, it may have already modified %PATH% in the past. WinGet adds %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Links\ (in its expanded form) to your user’s %PATH% (not the system-wide one).
WinGet creates symlinks in this folder. These are then usable from any shell or Run prompt.
In my opinion, yes, this method is superior, because it is effective everywhere.
However, it only works with .exe files. If you need PowerShell-specific aliases (involving cmdlets or whatever), you must use PowerShell methods to create them permanently. $profile is the way to go.
From the post How to create permanent PowerShell Aliases, I quote the excellent answer by Naigel :
It's possible to store in a
profile.ps1file any PowerShell code to be executed each time PowerShell starts. There are at least 6 different paths where to store the code depending on which user has to execute it. We will consider only 2 of them: the "all users" and the "only your user" paths (follow the previous link for further options).To answer your question, you only have to create a
profile.ps1file containing the code you want to be executed, that is:New-Alias Goto Set-Locationand save it in the proper path:
"$Home\Documents"(usuallyC:\Users\<yourname>\Documents): only your user will execute the code. This is the recommended location You can quickly find your profile location by runningecho $profilein PowerShell$PsHome(C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0): every user will execute this codeIMPORTANT: remember you need to restart your PowerShell instances to apply the changes.
TIPS
If both paths contain a
profile.ps1file, the all-users one is executed first, then the user-specific one. This means the user-specific commands will overwrite variables in case of duplicates or conflicts.Always put the code in the user-specific profile if there is no need to extend its execution to every user. This is safer because you don't pollute other users' space (usually, you don't want to do that).
Another advantage is that you don't need administrator rights to add the file to your user-space (you do for anything in C:\Windows\System32).
If you really need to execute the profile code for every user, mind that the $PsHome path is different for 32bit and 64bit instances of PowerShell. You should consider both environments if you want to always execute the profile code.
The paths are:
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0for the 64bit environment
C:\Windows\SysWow64\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0for the 32bit one (Yeah I know, the folder naming is counter-intuitive, but it's correct).
UPDATED - January 2021
It's possible to store in a profile.ps1 file any PowerShell code to be executed each time PowerShell starts. There are at least 6 different paths where to store the code depending on which user has to execute it. We will consider only 2 of them: the "all users" and the "only your user" paths (follow the previous link for further options).
To answer your question, you only have to create a profile.ps1 file containing the code you want to be executed, that is:
New-Alias Goto Set-Location
and save it in the proper path:
"$Home\Documents"(usuallyC:\Users\<yourname>\Documents): only your user will execute the code. This is the recommended location You can quickly find your profile location by runningecho $profilein PowerShell$PsHome(C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0): every user will execute this code
IMPORTANT: remember you need to restart your PowerShell instances to apply the changes.
TIPS
If both paths contain a
profile.ps1file, the all-users one is executed first, then the user-specific one. This means the user-specific commands will overwrite variables in case of duplicates or conflicts.Always put the code in the user-specific profile if there is no need to extend its execution to every user. This is safer because you don't pollute other users' space (usually, you don't want to do that).
Another advantage is that you don't need administrator rights to add the file to your user-space (you do for anything in C:\Windows\System32).If you really need to execute the profile code for every user, mind that the
$PsHomepath is different for 32bit and 64bit instances of PowerShell. You should consider both environments if you want to always execute the profile code.The paths are:
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0for the 64bit environmentC:\Windows\SysWow64\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0for the 32bit one (Yeah I know, the folder naming is counterintuitive, but it's correct).
It's not a good idea to add this kind of thing directly to your $env:WINDIR PowerShell folders, unless you truly want your alias to be global.
The recommended way is to add it to your personal profile:
cd $env:USERPROFILE\Documents
md WindowsPowerShell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
cd WindowsPowerShell
New-Item Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1 -ItemType "file" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
powershell_ise.exe .\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1
Now add your alias to the Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1 file that is now opened:
function Do-ActualThing {
# Do the actual thing
}
Set-Alias MyAlias Do-ActualThing
Then save it, and refresh the current session with:
. $profile
Note: Just in case, if you get permission issue like
CategoryInfo : SecurityError: (:) [], PSSecurityException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnauthorizedAccess
Try the below command and refresh the session again.
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser
Videos
I hope this is the right place to ask. Anyone know how can I set these 2 command in alias on Windows 11. In Linux it would be something like
alias sqlstart="net start postgresql-x64-16" alias sqlstop="net stop postgresql-x64-16"
in ~/.bashrc
Adding Mathias R. Jessen's comment so that this question has an answer.
"Put them in $profile.AllUsersAllHosts for a default PowerShell 7 on Windows that's C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\profile.ps1" – Mathias R. Jessen
Write a function in C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1 and it'll be set as alias.
For example in Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1:
function open-profile{
notepad $PSHOME\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1
}
Now you can run it as a command in powershell core as open-profile