How could such a nice tool have such a terrible choice of colors for errors and warnings? I am talking about the ISE and the unreadable contrast of colors.
You can fix it. Open and update your profile by running this from your ISE (which opens your profile in NotePad)
notepad $profile
# # Change the color of error and warning text # $opt = (Get-Host).PrivateData $opt.WarningBackgroundColor = "Orange" $opt.WarningForegroundColor = "white" $opt.ErrorBackgroundColor = "red" $opt.ErrorForegroundColor = "white"
Add the above to your profile. Save. Your ISE will have better colors for errors and warnings going forward (after a restart). For it to take effect immediately, just run it.
As a matter of fact, this is the color combination I have been using for a while and I cringe every time I see the default error/warning colors.
These colors are much better for Error and Warning – IMHO
| PS C:\Windows\system32> Write-Error “This is a test error to show the error colors!”
[0,0: Write-Error] This is a test error to show the error colors! PS C:\Windows\system32> Write-Warning “This is a test warning to show the warning colors!” WARNING: This is a test warning to show the warning colors! PS C:\Windows\system32> |
SQL Jana 
The property ‘ErrorForegroundColor’ cannot be found on this object. Verify that the property exists and can be set.
At C:\Users\snyde\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1:4 char:1
+ $opt.ErrorForegroundColor = “white”
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PropertyNotFound
Hi Paul, What IDE are you using? Is it PowerShell ISE or Visual Studio Code? If ISE, what version?
I got Paul’s error message when I forgot to initialise the variable $opt using
$opt = (Get-Host).PrivateData
Property “Orange” not recognised. I get the following error message:
Exception setting “WarningBackgroundColor”: “Cannot convert value “Orange” to type “System.ConsoleColor”. Error: “Unable to match the identifier name Orange to a valid enumerator
name. Specify one of the following enumerator names and try again:
Black, DarkBlue, DarkGreen, DarkCyan, DarkRed, DarkMagenta, DarkYellow, Gray, DarkGray, Blue, Green, Cyan, Red, Magenta, Yellow, White””
At D:\Users\bodragon\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\profile.ps1:19 char:1
+ $opt.WarningBackgroundColor = “Orange”
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], SetValueInvocationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ExceptionWhenSetting
Please, why does this happen with me ?
Windows 10 Enterprise
Build 18362.19h1_release.190318-1202
This post has become stale. It looks like Orange is no longer a valid color in the new version. Why don’t you try replacing “Orange” with one of the suggested colors. I would pick DarkYellow or Red.