Never Modify PowerShell's XML Files

PowerShell Team

Today we had a meeting about the installation of the next version of PowerShell on machines that had PowerShell V1.0 installed on them.  For reasons too painful and ugly to discuss, we are just going to replace any of the XML files (type extension and formatting files in $PSHOME) that WE INSTALLED in V1.0 (YOUR XML files are fine).  We are NOT going to make backups, detect modifications, nothing – we are going to pave and roll.

One of the hallmarks of a great PM is customer empathy proven by the fact that we had some PMS that were greatly concerned about customers that had taken our XML files and added their own customizations.  Let me share what is at the beginning of each of those files:

These sample files contain formatting information used by the Windows
PowerShell engine.
Do not edit or change the contents of this file
directly.
Please see the Windows PowerShell documentation or type
Get-Help Update-FormatData for more information.

We really mean it, we are going to replace those files without a second thought so if you’ve put customizations into those files – get them out into their own files.

Jeffrey Snover [MSFT]
Windows Management Partner Architect
Visit the Windows PowerShell Team blog at:    http://blogs.msdn.com/PowerShell
Visit the Windows PowerShell ScriptCenter at:  http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/hubs/msh.mspx

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