Hey folks! I've created a bunch of new instances in AWS EC2 recently, and I'm having a weird issue with PowerShell ISE. When I try to open it, the red stop button stays lit for a long time—up to 60 seconds—before finally allowing the command add-on pane to show up. This is happening on all these new servers, which are running Windows 2022 or 2025. However, I also migrated some older servers (Windows 2016 and 2019) into AWS, and they have no problems at all. I tested internet connectivity on the new machines, and they can access sites like microsoft.com and google.com just fine. Can anyone explain what PowerShell ISE might be doing while it's trying to load that command pane? Thanks!
4 Answers
The stop button in ISE lights up because it’s trying to load all modules it finds on your instance. Those new EC2 instances usually come preloaded with large AWS-related modules, which is likely what’s causing the delay. It’s just taking time to scan everything, especially since newly built servers don’t have a cached config yet.
Or consider modifying the default settings so the commands pane doesn’t pop up automatically.
Honestly, why even use ISE? VS Code has a PowerShell extension that’s much better. ISE is pretty much deprecated at this point, and using something so old with a modern cloud platform like AWS feels counterproductive.
So true! I’ve switched entirely to VS Code for all my PowerShell needs.
Yep, ISE isn’t even installed by default on every server anymore.
There might be another issue at play where PowerShell tries to validate certificates during startup. If that’s hanging, you can try adjusting some registry settings to reduce the timeout. Just a heads-up, you'll need admin permissions to apply such changes, and it’s not typically recommended since the default values are safer.
Be careful with changing those timeout settings! It could lead to problems down the road.
Good point! Always better to err on the side of caution with PowerShell configs.
I've faced the same issue. The AWS PowerShell module is quite large, which causes ISE to take forever to load it. One workaround is to move the AWS module folder out of the default PowerShell modules directory and just import it when needed. Honestly, if you’re mainly using PowerShell for simple scripts, switching to VS Code is a much better option since ISE is kinda outdated and clunky.
Absolutely! VS Code is way more efficient for coding. Plus, you get a lot of modern features there.
Right? ISE feels very slow and outdated in comparison.
Exactly! Just give it time to load the modules.