This article is part of a series on Deep Learning models on Windows 10 using Python 🐍. Stay tuned for more! Part 1.5: Accessorizing PowerShell, Remote Linux debugging & Windows Subsystem for Linux v1 & v2!

Intro 👨‍💻

PowerShell is a cli (command-line interface) shell which comes natively shipped with Windows OS.

So, why should you care? If you’re a coder / developer / programmer working on a Windows machine, PowerShell has come a long way.

It’s better than Git Bash, Node’s Command Prompt (npm), Python’s Anaconda Prompt (conda), Golang Compiler (go) and so on. You can run both npm, go& conda in the same PS shell. If you’re into cloud, you can run aws-shell on it.

You can use PowerShell 6.2 as your integrated all-in-one shell.

My powerful PowerShell

What’s my version? 😜

To find out which version of PowerShell you’re running:

Search for “PowerShell” in your start menu

Open it. Type in the following command:

$PSVersionTable

4. You should see an output like the following:

As you can see, 5.1 is installed on this machine. Let’s update it!!

The Updation 🎉

It’s simple, let’s do it. Now.

Navigate to Microsoft’s Github page for PowerShell Core, which is the codename for all versions of PS 6 and newer. https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell Chances are you’re running Windows 64-bit, so download the stable .msi download for “Windows (x64)”

3. Open the downloaded file. It’ll be named something like “PowerShell-6.2.4-win-x64”

4. You’ll see a window like this. Select “Next”.

5. Default destination folder is fine.

6. Make sure these options are selected.

7. Select “Next”.

8. Click “Install”

9. Once the installation finishes, you will see this window. Select “Launch PowerShell”

10. You should this window! It’s PowerShell 6.2.4 (or whichever version you installed). PS 6.2.4 is a separate install from PS 5.1; meaning you can have both versions running on your machine.

11. For good measure, let’s find out which version we’re actually running:

$PSVersionTable

Now let’s pin PS 6.2.4 to our bar so it’s easily accessible at all times.

That’s it! We’re now running PS 6.2.4. 😁

Customizing your shell 👽

If the default, command prompt-like theme doesn’t suit your style .. then it’s very easy to customize your shell!

Basically, PowerShell comes with a default set of variables called “colors”. The values of these colors are set in the UI. You can find your colors by typing in the following command in your PS 6.2.4+:

[System.Enum]::GetValues(‘ConsoleColor’) | ForEach-Object { Write-Host $_ -ForegroundColor $_ }

You should see a screen like this:

Next Steps in Series 🤗

Part 1.5: Windows Subsystem for Linux & Accessorizing your PowerShell!

Part 2: Setting up Python, CUDA, cuDNN & Anaconda on Windows! (coming soon)

See you soon! Hopefully this article has been helpful.