Script blocked by PowerShell

🇫🇷 Version française

Two different mechanisms can block a downloaded script. Follow the steps in order.

Before you start: go to the script's folder

Every command below uses .\ (the current folder), so PowerShell must be pointed at the folder that contains the script. Open PowerShell (as Administrator if the script requires it), then move there with cd:

cd "$HOME\Downloads"

Replace the path with the folder where you saved the script, for example cd "D:\Scripts". Keep the quotes if the path contains spaces. cd also switches drives in PowerShell. To check you are in the right place, run dir: the .ps1 file should be listed.

Shortcut: in File Explorer, open the folder, click the address bar, type powershell and press Enter. A PowerShell window opens directly in that folder (not as Administrator: if the script requires it, use the method above instead).

1. Unblock the downloaded file

Windows flags every file that comes from the Internet (the "Mark of the Web"). PowerShell then refuses to run it with a message like "is not digitally signed".

• Right-click the .ps1 → Properties → tick Unblock at the bottom of the General tab → OK.
• Or in PowerShell, from the script's folder:

  Unblock-File .\ScriptName.ps1

• If the script came in a .zip archive, unblock the .zip before extracting it, otherwise every extracted file inherits the block. To unblock a folder that's already extracted:

  Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Unblock-File

2. Allow script execution

If the message says "running scripts is disabled on this system", the execution policy is the cause. Check it first:

Get-ExecutionPolicy -List

Then allow scripts for your account only, without administrator rights:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Confirm with Y. With RemoteSigned, local scripts run normally, and downloaded ones must have been unblocked (step 1).

3. Or run the script once, without changing anything

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\ScriptName.ps1

The bypass only applies to this one run and doesn't change any system setting.

4. Run as administrator if the script requires it

Right-click PowerShell (or Windows Terminal) → Run as administrator, then cd to the script's folder before launching it. A script that touches security, drivers or networking will refuse to run without these rights, even once unblocked.

Still blocked?

• In Get-ExecutionPolicy -List, if MachinePolicy or UserPolicy is not Undefined, the policy is enforced by a Group Policy (work or school PC): you can't change it yourself, you need to ask the machine's administrator.
• If SmartScreen or Microsoft Defender shows a warning, click More info then Run anyway. If Defender quarantines the file, first make sure you downloaded it from the right repository.
• Double-clicking a .ps1 opens it in Notepad instead of running it: launch it from a PowerShell console, or right-click → Run with PowerShell.
• The term '.\ScriptName.ps1' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program: you are not in the script's folder (see Before you start), or the file name is misspelled.

Always read a script before running it, especially with -ExecutionPolicy Bypass.