December 30, 2022

What to Do When Windows Cannot Find PowerShell

Reading Time: 4 minutes

PowerShell is meant to come pre-installed with Windows, but what if the operating system can’t find it>

PowerShell is a handy tool that lets you automate tasks, troubleshoot various errors, and manage a variety of Windows settings. But what if it suddenly goes missing from your computer?

If you use PowerShell frequently, it can be aggravating when Windows cannot find it. Thankfully, it’s possible to restore the missing PowerShell with a few troubleshooting tips. In this post, we’ll walk you through all of them.

1. Make Sure Windows PowerShell Is Enabled

On Windows, you can enable or disable optional features and programs from the Control Panel. To start, you need to ensure that PowerShell isn’t disabled on your computer. Here’s how to check.

1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog.
2. Type control in the box and press Enter to open Control Panel.
3. Click the drop-down menu in the top right corner to select Large icons.
4. Go to Programs and Features.
5. Click the Turn Windows features on or off link from the left pane.
6. When the User Account Control (UAC) prompt appears, select Yes to continue.
7. In the Windows Features dialog, locate Windows PowerShell and select its checkbox.
8. Click OK to save the changes.

Restart your computer after this (see how to restart a Windows computer) and then try to launch PowerShell using the search menu.

2. Launch PowerShell Using Run Command or File Explorer

If you are unable to open PowerShell via the search menu, you can try using the Run dialog box. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog. Type powershell in the box and press Enter. If you want to launch PowerShell with admin rights, press Ctrl + Shift + Enter instead.

You can also open PowerShell from the File Explorer address bar. To do so, press Win + E to open File Explorer. Type PowerShell in the address bar and press Enter.

3. Create a Desktop Shortcut for PowerShell

Windows may fail to open PowerShell if it does not know the exact file path to the PowerShell executable file. If that’s the case, you can manually locate the PowerShell executable file on your computer and create a desktop shortcut for it. Here are the steps for doing the same.

1. Right-click on the Start icon to open the Power User menu and select File Explorer from the list.
2. Navigate to This PC.
3. Head over to C: > Windows > SysWOW64 and locate WindowsPowerShell folder.
4. Open the WindowsPowerShell folder and go to the v1.0 folder.
5. Double-click on the PowerShell executable file and see if it works. If it does, right-click on it and select Send to > Desktop (create shortcut).

You can then use the newly created desktop shortcut to launch PowerShell. For added convenience, you can assign a keyboard shortcut to PowerShell. To learn more about this, check our guide on how to assign keyboard shortcuts to programs in Windows.

4. Scan Your Computer for Corrupted System Files

Damaged or corrupted system files can also interfere with Windows operations and prevent PowerShell from launching. Fortunately, your Windows PC comes with a few built-in tools, such as SFC (System File Checker) and DISM (or Deployment Image Servicing and Management) that can help you with such issues. If Windows suffers from system file corruption, running these tools will fix the problem.

To run the SFC scan on Windows:

1. Click the magnifying glass icon on the taskbar or press Win + S to open the search menu.
2. Type command prompt in the search box and select Run as administrator from the right panel.
3. Select Yes when the User Account Control (UAC) prompt appears.
4. Type SFC /scannow in the console and press Enter.

The SFC scan will start verifying the integrity of your system files and fix any issues with them. The scan might take a while, so be patient.

Next, you need to run the DISM scan. This is another diagnostic tool that Windows offers. It can automatically detect any issues with the system image and fix them. If you want to learn more about them, check out our guide on the differences between CHKDSK, SFC, and DISM.

To run DISM, open Command Prompt with admin rights again. Paste the following command in the console and press Enter.

 DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth 

Wait for the command to execute successfully, and then restart your PC. Following that, see if Windows can find PowerShell on your computer.

5. Update Windows PowerShell

If Windows still can’t find PowerShell at this point, there could be a problem with the PowerShell app itself. You can try updating the PowerShell app to see if that makes any difference.

To update PowerShell on Windows:

1. Press Win + X to open the Power User menu.
2. Select Terminal (Admin) from the list.
3. When the User Account Control (UAC) prompt shows up, select Yes.
4. Type the following command and press Enter.

    winget install --id Microsoft.Powershell --source winget 

Windows will download and install the most recent version of PowerShell. Following that, you should be able to access PowerShell.

Using Command Prompt isn’t the only way to update PowerShell on Windows. If you want to learn other methods, check our guide on how to install or update PowerShell on Windows.

6. Create a New User Account

It’s possible that the PowerShell not opening problem is limited to your current user account. In that case, you can create and switch to a new user account and see if that works.

To create a new user account on Windows, use these steps.

1. Open the start menu and click the gear icon to open the Settings app.
2. Navigate to Accounts.
3. Select Other users.
4. Click the Add account button.
5. Click on I don’t have this person’s sign-in information and follow the on-screen prompts to create a new user account.

Sign in with your newly created account, and see if Windows can find PowerShell now.

Access Windows PowerShell Again

Hopefully, one of the above fixes has proven useful, and you’re able to access PowerShell once again. If not, you may have to consider resetting your Windows computer as a last resort.

PowerShell isn’t the only command-line tool available on Windows. You can also use the Command Prompt to communicate with your system.

Reference: https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-cannot-find-powershell-fix/

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