Package.psd1
About
This about file contains information about using hashtables and psd1 files to configure Merge-Script. These psd1 files (e.g. "package.psd1") are also used by PowerShell Tools for Visual Studio Code.
Config File Schema
@{
Root = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\service.ps1' # Root script to package. This is the main entry point for the package.
OutputPath = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\out' # The output directory for the packaging process.
Package = @{
Enabled = $true # Whether to package as an executable.
Obfuscate = $false # Whether to obfuscate the resulting executable.
HideConsoleWindow = $false # Whether to hide the console window. Only valid for console applications.
# The target .NET Framework version. You will need the .NET Developer Pack for this version installed on your machine.
# If target PowerShell 7, you can also use netcoreapp31 here
DotNetVersion = 'v4.6.2'
FileVersion = '1.0.0' # The output file version
FileDescription = '' # The output file description
ProductName = '' # The output file product name
ProductVersion = '' # The output file product version.
Copyright = '' # The output file copyright
RequireElevation = $false # Whether to require elevation when running the executable. Only valid for console applications.
ApplicationIconPath = '' # The path to the application icon to use for the executable.
PackageType = 'Console' # The type of executable to generate. Valid values are Service or Console.
ServiceName = "" # The name of the service if the package type is Service.
ServiceDisplayName = "" # The display name of the service if the package type is Service.
HighDPISupport = $true # Whether to enable high DPI support for WinForm applications
PowerShellArguments = '' # Sets the arguments for the PowerShell process that is hosted within the executable. You can use arguments like -NoExit, -ExecutionPolicy and -NoProfile.
Platform = 'x64' # Sets the architecture of the executable. Can be either 'x86' or 'x64'
PowerShellVersion = 'Windows PowerShell' # You can specify Windows PowerShell or PowerShell 7 or later versions version (e.g. 7.0.0)
RuntimeIdentifier = 'win-x64' # You can specify other runtimes like linux-x64 (See .NET Core runtime identifiers)
DisableQuickEdit = $false # Disables the quick edit mode on windows console apps
Resources = [string[]]@() # Resources to embed in the output executable
Host = 'Default' # The PowerShell Host to use.
Lightweight = $false # Removes WPF and WinForm support in PowerShell 7 executables.
}
Bundle = @{
Enabled = $true # Whether to bundle multiple PS1s into a single PS1. Always enabled when Package is enabled.
Modules = $true # Whether to bundle modules into the package
}
}
Using a config file
A config file can be used either from within a PowerShell script as a hashtable or imported from a psd1 file containing the hashtable. The standard name for this file is package.psd1.
Options
Root
The root script to package.
OutputPath
The path of the output directory for the resulting executable.
Package
Options for the packager. See the config file schema for the proper layout.
Enabled
Whether the packager is enabled. Valid values are either $true or $false.
Obfuscate
Whether to obfuscate the assembly. Only valid for Windows PowerShell. Valid values are $true or $false. Note: this is a legacy technique (for educational purposes) which is easily reversed by free modern security tools.
HideConsoleWindow
Whether to hide the console window. Useful for when packaging form applications. Valid values are $true or $false.
DotNetVersion
The .NET version to target for the executable. You can find the valid values below.
Windows PowerShell
net4.6.2, net4.7.0, net4.7.1, net4.7.2, net4.8.0
PowerShell 7.0.x
netcoreapp31
PowerShell 7.1.x
net5.0
PowerShell 7.2.x
net6.0
PowerShell 7.3.x
net7.0
PowerShell 7.4.x
net8.0
FileVersion
The file version to display in the assembly properties.
FileDescription
The file description to display in the assembly properties.
ProductName
The product name to display in the assembly properties.
ProductVersion
The product version to display in the assembly properties.
Copyright
The copyright to display in the assembly properties.
RequireElevation
Whether the executable requires elevation to run. This setting is only supported on Windows. Either $true or $false.
ApplicationIconPath
The path to the icon to display for this application.
PackageType
The type of package to product. Valid values are Console or Service.
ServiceName
The name of the service when packaging a service (e.g. "MyService").
ServiceDisplayName
The display name of the service when packaging a service (e.g. "My Utility Service").
HighDPISupport
Enable high DPI support for Windows Forms applications. Either $true or $false.
PowerShellArguments
Additional arguments to provide to the PowerShell process. This can include arguments like -ExecutionPolicy or -NoProfile. Do not include -Command.
Platform
The target architecture for the executable. This should be either x86 or x64.
PowerShellVersion
The PowerShell version to target. Ensure that you specify a supported .NET version when selecting your PowerShell version. Supported versions are (replace x with specific version number):
Windows PowerShell
7.0.x
7.1.x
7.2.x
7.3.x
7.4.x
RuntimeIdentifier
The .NET runtime identifier to target. This defaults to win-x64. If you wish to target Linux, you could specify linux-x64. You can find a list of valid .NET runtime identifiers here.
DisableQuickEdit
Disables the quick edit mode on Windows console applications. This defaults to $false. Either $true or $false.
Resources
An array of resources to include with the executable. This should be an array of strings. These resources will be stored as embedded resources.
DotNetSdk
This is an advanced option. The target .NET SDK to use when packaging the executable. If not specified, the highest version will be used.
Certificate
The certificate used to sign the assembly. The packager will use Set-AuthenticodeSignature to sign the assembly. This should be the path to a valid code signing certificate. For example: 'Cert:\CurrentUser\AuthRoot\02FAF3E291435468607857694DF5E45B68851555'
OutputName
The name of the output assembly. When this is not specified, this will be the root script name.
Host
Specifies the PowerShell host to use. The Default host will use the .NET SDK to create and package a script executable. The Ironman Software host's do not function this way. You can read more about Ironman Software hosts here.
Lightweight
Removes WinForms and WPF support from .NET 7\PowerShell 7 executables. This reduces the overall footprint of the executable by about 45%.
Bundle
Enabled
Whether bundling is enabled. Bundling will include referenced scripts and modules in the resulting executable.
Modules
Whether to bundle modules with the script executable. Modules will only be bundled when imported with Import-Module.
NestedModules
Whether to include nested modules of packaged modules. Requires Modules to be set to $true.
IgnoredModules
A list of modules to ignore during packaging. This should be an array of strings.
EXAMPLES
It is not required to include all aspects of the config when using Merge-Script. The only required components are Root and OutputPath. Aside from that, anything that is not include will be considered false. This means that in the below example, packaging is disabled but bundling is not. The below operation will not bundle nested modules or required assemblies of any modules it is bundling.
Merge-Script -Config @{
Root = ".\MyScript.ps1"
OutputPath = ".\"
Bundle = @{
Enabled = $true
Modules = $true
}
}Create console application
Creates a PowerShell console based application that has an application icon and hides the console window.
@{
Root = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\form.ps1'
OutputPath = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\out'
Package = @{
Enabled = $true
HideConsoleWindow = $true
DotNetVersion = 'v4.6.2'
ApplicationIconPath = 'C:\users\adam\desktop\icon.ico'
}
}
Ironman Software Host
Use the Ironman Software host to build your executable without having to install the .NET SDK.
@{
Root = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\form.ps1'
OutputPath = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\out'
Package = @{
Enabled = $true
Host = 'IronmanPowerShellHost'
FileVersion = '2.1.0.0'
}
}Create a service
Creates a PowerShell service based on the service.ps1 file and outputs to the out directory on the desktop. It will use the .NET 4.6.2 Developer Pack. The service name will be PSService and the display name will be PowerShell Service.
For more information on services, see the Package as Service section.
@{
Root = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\service.ps1'
OutputPath = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\out'
Package = @{
Enabled = $true
DotNetVersion = 'v4.6.2'
FileVersion = '1.0.0'
FileDescription = ''
ProductName = ''
ProductVersion = ''
Copyright = ''
PackageType = 'Service'
ServiceName = "PSService"
ServiceDisplayName = "PowerShell Service"
}
}
After building a service, you can install the service with the --install parameter of your service's executable. To uninstall a service, use the --uninstall parameter.
Package PowerShell 7.0
Creates an executable that contains the PowerShell 7.0 engine. This executable does not require the target machine to have PowerShell or .NET Core installed. The size of the executable will be considerably larger than a typical Merge-Script executable.
@{
Root = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\script.ps1'
OutputPath = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\out'
Package = @{
Enabled = $true
DotNetVersion = 'netcoreapp3.1'
PowerShellVersion = "7.0.0"
}
Bundle = @{
Enabled = $true
Modules = $true
}
}Package PowerShell 7.1
You can package PowerShell 7.1 scripts by targeting .NET 5.0. You will need the .NET 5.0 SDK or later.
@{
Root = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\script.ps1'
OutputPath = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\out'
Package = @{
Enabled = $true
DotNetVersion = 'net5.0'
PowerShellVersion = "7.1.0"
}
Bundle = @{
Enabled = $true
Modules = $true
}
}Package PowerShell 7.2
You can package PowerShell 7.2 scripts by targeting .NET 6.0. You will need the .NET 6.0 SDK or later.
@{
Root = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\script.ps1'
OutputPath = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\out'
Package = @{
Enabled = $true
DotNetVersion = 'net6.0'
PowerShellVersion = "7.2.18"
}
Bundle = @{
Enabled = $true
Modules = $true
}
}Package PowerShell 7.3
You can package PowerShell 7.3 scripts by targeting .NET 7.0. You will need the .NET 7.0 SDK or later.
@{
Root = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\script.ps1'
OutputPath = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\out'
Package = @{
Enabled = $true
DotNetVersion = 'net7.0'
PowerShellVersion = "7.3.11"
}
Bundle = @{
Enabled = $true
Modules = $true
}
}Package PowerShell 7.4
You can package PowerShell 7.4 scripts by targeting .NET 8.0. You will need the .NET 8.0 SDK or later.
@{
Root = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\script.ps1'
OutputPath = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\out'
Package = @{
Enabled = $true
DotNetVersion = 'net8.0'
PowerShellVersion = "7.4.1"
}
Bundle = @{
Enabled = $true
Modules = $true
}
}Bundle resources in a WPF application
Embeds the image.png file within the application so you can reference it in your XAML. This file resides in the same folder as window.ps1.
@{
Root = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\Window.ps1'
OutputPath = 'c:\Users\Adam\Desktop\out'
Package = @{
Enabled = $true
Resources = [string[]]@("image.png")
}
Bundle = @{
Enabled = $true
Modules = $true
}
}In the XAML, you can reference the image like this.
<Window x:Class="WpfApp1.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:WpfApp1"
mc:Ignorable="d"
Title="MainWindow" Height="450" Width="800">
<Grid>
<Image Source="image.png" />
</Grid>
</Window>Access Resources in Your Script
You can access resources in your script using the following function.
function Get-ResourceAsString {
param($Name)
$ProcessName = (Get-Process -Id $PID).Name
$Stream = [System.Reflection.Assembly]::GetEntryAssembly().GetManifestResourceStream("$ProcessName.g.resources")
$KV = [System.Resources.ResourceReader]::new($Stream) | Where-Object Key -EQ $Name
[System.IO.StreamReader]::new($KV.Value).ReadToEnd()
}In your script, just use this function to load the file.
$MyManifest = Get-ResourceAsString -Name 'manifest.json'You will package the resource file, just like you do with WPF applications.
@{
Root = 'c:\Users\adamr\Desktop\variables.ps1'
OutputPath = 'c:\Users\adamr\Desktop\out'
Package = @{
Enabled = $true
Resources = [string[]]@("manifest.json")
}
Bundle = @{
Enabled = $true
Modules = $true
}
}Adding an Icon to a WPF Window
You cannot directly add icons to WPF windows with PowerShell and will need to do so using code. First, you'll need to ensure that your icon is in the same directory of the script. You will also need to add your icon as a resource.
@{
Root = 'c:\Users\adamr\Desktop\WpfWindow.xaml.ps1'
OutputPath = 'c:\Users\adamr\Desktop\out'
Package = @{
Enabled = $true
Resources = [string[]]@("favicon.ico")
}
Bundle = @{
Enabled = $true
Modules = $true
}
}If you are using Visual Studio rather than package.psd1, you can set the add the icon to your project and set it as a resource.
Next, in your PS1 file for your WPF window, you will need to load your icon from either the file system or the packaged resources. The Get-Resource function below attempts to load from the packaged resource and, if not found, will instead load it from disk.
function Get-ResourceAsStream {
param($Name)
$ProcessName = (Get-Process -Id $PID).Name
try
{
$Stream = [System.Reflection.Assembly]::GetEntryAssembly().GetManifestResourceStream("$ProcessName.g.resources")
$KV = [System.Resources.ResourceReader]::new($Stream) | Where-Object Key -EQ $Name
$Stream = $KV.Value
} catch {}
if (-not $Stream)
{
$Stream = [IO.File]::OpenRead("$PSScriptRoot\favicon.ico")
}
$Stream
}Next, you'll need to create a new bitmap and set the window's icon property to the bitmap.
$bitmap = New-Object System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapImage
$bitmap.BeginInit()
$bitmap.StreamSource = Get-ResourceAsStream -Name 'favicon.ico'
$bitmap.EndInit()
$bitmap.Freeze()
$window.Icon = $bitmapAn entire working example of the PS1 file can be found below.
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("PresentationFramework") | Out-Null
function Import-Xaml {
[xml]$xaml = Get-Content -Path $PSScriptRoot\WpfWindow1.xaml
$manager = New-Object System.Xml.XmlNamespaceManager -ArgumentList $xaml.NameTable
$manager.AddNamespace("x", "http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml");
$xamlReader = New-Object System.Xml.XmlNodeReader $xaml
[Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Load($xamlReader)
}
$window = Import-Xaml
function Get-Resource {
param($Name)
$ProcessName = (Get-Process -Id $PID).Name
try
{
$Stream = [System.Reflection.Assembly]::GetEntryAssembly().GetManifestResourceStream("$ProcessName.g.resources")
$KV = [System.Resources.ResourceReader]::new($Stream) | Where-Object Key -EQ $Name
$Stream = $KV.Value
} catch {}
if (-not $Stream)
{
$Stream = [IO.File]::OpenRead("$PSScriptRoot\favicon.ico")
}
$Stream
}
$bitmap = New-Object System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapImage
$bitmap.BeginInit()
$bitmap.StreamSource = Get-Resource -Name 'favicon.ico'
$bitmap.EndInit()
$bitmap.Freeze()
$window.Icon = $bitmap
$window.ShowDialog()The result is a WPF window with a custom icon that is shown both when packaged and when running the script outside of the package.
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