Making PowerShell the Default Shell in Server 2012 Server Core

Server Core, in Windows Server 2012, is a much improved version of this installation option, first introduced in Windows Server 2008. At the time Server Core was first introduced, it made sense to make CMD.EXE the default shell. Heck – PowerShell could not even run in that environment. But times move on and in Windows Server 2012, Microsoft install PowerShell by default in Server Core. But the legacy of CMD.EXE still remains – at least by default
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Turns out it’s just a registry setting to tell Winlogon what shell to start-up at boot time. Thanks to a post by Jeff Hicks, I knew where in the registry the key was, and thanks to James O’Neill, I knew what to put in the value! Setting it is then remarkably easy:

$RegPath = "Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\winlogon"

Set-ItemProperty -Confirm  -Path $RegPath -Name Shell -Value 'PowerShell.exe -noExit -Command "$psversiontable'

Restart-Computer

After rebooting – you have PowerShell as your default shell in Server Core. If you are brave, you could just even the –Confirm from the Set-ItemProperty!

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