About Windows PowerShell

Question

When I create a new user in Windows 11 Pro and start PowerShell, it is located in \WINDOWS\system32. It should be located in \Users[user name]. Has the specification changed?

Answer 1

Hi テクノロジー メガ,
Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum. I'm happy to help.

The PowerShell starts with the location C:\Windows\System32 is probably because it's currently in elevate mode and having Administrator permission.

If you start PowerShell in user mode, its location should be your user folder.

I hope that above information is helpful to you.

Answer 2

Hi,

It opens the profile folder for me.

I wanted to ask whether there are any special characters in your English username?

I’m eager to hear back and work together to find a solution.

Answer 3

2025年7月の時点では\Users[user name] になっていたのですが、なぜでしょうか。明らかに動作が変わっています。

Answer 4

When you start PowerShell on Windows 11, it typically opens in the C:\WINDOWS\system32 directory by default. This behavior has not changed; it is standard for Windows PowerShell to launch from this system directory regardless of the user account being used. The location of PowerShell itself is not in the user directory, but rather in the system directory, which is why you see it starting there.

If you want to change the starting directory of PowerShell to your user directory, you can do so by modifying the properties of the PowerShell shortcut or by using commands within PowerShell to change the directory after it starts.

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References:

• Chapter 1 - Getting started with PowerShell
• New-LocalUser
• WinPE: Adding Windows PowerShell support to Windows PE