When you encounter the error message about your PowerShell profile not being digitally signed, it's because your system's execution policy is set to require signed scripts. This is a security feature in PowerShell to prevent unauthorized script execution.

First, verify your current execution policy setting:

Get-ExecutionPolicy -List

For quick testing, you can temporarily bypass the restriction:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass

Note this only affects the current session and isn't a permanent solution.

Option 1: Change Execution Policy (Less Secure)

To allow local scripts without signing:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Option 2: Digitally Sign Your Profile Script (Recommended)

For production environments, signing your scripts is the best practice.

First, create a code-signing certificate:

$cert = New-SelfSignedCertificate -Type CodeSigningCert -Subject "CN=PowerShell Script Signing" -KeyUsage DigitalSignature -KeyAlgorithm RSA -KeyLength 2048 -CertStoreLocation Cert:\CurrentUser\My

Export the certificate for future use:

$certPath = "C:\temp\PowerShellSigning.pfx"
$certPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString -String "YourPassword" -Force -AsPlainText
Export-PfxCertificate -Cert $cert -FilePath $certPath -Password $certPassword

Sign your profile script:

$cert = Get-PfxCertificate -FilePath "C:\temp\PowerShellSigning.pfx" -Password $certPassword
Set-AuthenticodeSignature -FilePath $PROFILE -Certificate $cert

Create a function to automatically sign your profile after modifications:

function Update-Profile {
    notepad $PROFILE
    $cert = Get-PfxCertificate -FilePath "C:\temp\PowerShellSigning.pfx" -Password $certPassword
    Set-AuthenticodeSignature -FilePath $PROFILE -Certificate $cert
    . $PROFILE
}

Check the signature status of your profile:

Get-AuthenticodeSignature -FilePath $PROFILE | Format-List

For convenience, add this to your profile to sign other scripts:

function Sign-Script {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [string]$Path,
        [string]$CertPath = "C:\temp\PowerShellSigning.pfx",
        [string]$Password = "YourPassword"
    )
    
    $certPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString -String $Password -Force -AsPlainText
    $cert = Get-PfxCertificate -FilePath $CertPath -Password $certPassword
    Set-AuthenticodeSignature -FilePath $Path -Certificate $cert
}

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When you see the error message about your PowerShell profile not being digitally signed, this stems from Windows PowerShell's security measures. The execution policy is set to restrict unsigned scripts from running by default.

# Common error you'll encounter:
. : File C:\Users\username\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1 cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled on this system.

First, verify your current execution policy setting:

Get-ExecutionPolicy -List

This will show you the policy levels (MachinePolicy, UserPolicy, Process, CurrentUser, LocalMachine) and their current settings. The most common restrictive policies are:

• Restricted - No scripts can run (default setting)
• AllSigned - Only signed scripts can run
• RemoteSigned - Downloaded scripts must be signed

Option 1: Change Execution Policy (Quick Fix)

For development environments where security isn't critical, you can relax the policy:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

This allows local scripts to run without signing while still protecting against unsigned downloaded scripts.

Option 2: Digitally Sign Your Profile Script (Secure Method)

For production environments, properly sign your script:

# 1. Create self-signed certificate (requires admin rights)
$cert = New-SelfSignedCertificate -Type CodeSigningCert -Subject "CN=PowerShell Script Signing" -KeyUsage DigitalSignature -KeyAlgorithm RSA -KeyLength 2048 -CertStoreLocation Cert:\CurrentUser\My

# 2. Export the public key
$cert | Export-Certificate -FilePath "C:\temp\PowerShellScriptSigning.cer" -Type CERT

# 3. Sign your profile script
Set-AuthenticodeSignature -FilePath $PROFILE -Certificate $cert

To make these changes permanent and ensure your profile loads correctly:

# Add this to your profile after signing
if (!(Test-Path -Path $PROFILE)) {
    New-Item -ItemType File -Path $PROFILE -Force
}

# Sample profile content
Write-Host "Loading custom PowerShell profile..." -ForegroundColor Green
Set-PSReadLineOption -PredictionSource History
Set-Alias -Name np -Value notepad++

For team environments, create a setup script to deploy profiles consistently:

param (
    [string]$User = $env:USERNAME
)

$ProfilePath = "C:\Users\$User\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1"
$TemplatePath = "\\server\share\PowerShell\ProfileTemplate.ps1"

# Copy template if profile doesn't exist
if (!(Test-Path -Path $ProfilePath)) {
    Copy-Item -Path $TemplatePath -Destination $ProfilePath -Force
    Set-AuthenticodeSignature -FilePath $ProfilePath -Certificate (Get-ChildItem Cert:\CurrentUser\My -CodeSigningCert)[0]
}

After making changes, verify your setup:

# Check script signature
Get-AuthenticodeSignature -FilePath $PROFILE

# Test profile loading
powershell -NoProfile -Command "& { . $PROFILE }"

# View $PROFILE variable content
$PROFILE | Get-Member

Common issues to check:

• Certificate validity period
• Execution policy inheritance (especially in corporate environments)
• Profile script syntax errors
• File system permissions