Detent Point
Windows PowerShell ISE is an editor: the script-and-console app that’s shipped inside Windows for years. PowerShell, in the modern sense, usually means PowerShell 7: the cross-platform, open-source successor to Windows PowerShell 5.1, built on current .NET instead of .NET Framework. The ISE is an editor for the old runtime. It was never built for the new one.
So when someone asks about “ISE vs PowerShell,” they’re usually really asking about an editor and a runtime at the same time: the old editor tied to the old runtime, versus the new runtime with no Microsoft-built editor of its own.
Straight from Microsoft’s own documentation: the Windows PowerShell ISE is “no longer in active feature development,” is supported “up to and including Windows PowerShell V5.1,” and “there is no support for the ISE in PowerShell v6 and beyond.” Their guidance points people at Visual Studio Code with the PowerShell extension instead. (Microsoft Learn: Introducing the Windows PowerShell ISE)
That’s the whole story on Microsoft’s side: the ISE stopped at 5.1 on purpose, and there is no Microsoft-built ISE for PowerShell 7.
| Windows PowerShell 5.1 + ISE | PowerShell 7 | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | Windows only | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Runtime | .NET Framework | Current .NET |
| Ships with Windows | Yes, built in | No, separate install |
| Editor from Microsoft | Windows PowerShell ISE | None — VS Code + extension is the official recommendation |
| ISE-style editor available | Yes, native | Not from Microsoft; DetentShell is an independent one built for it |
VS Code plus the PowerShell extension is Microsoft’s official answer, and it’s a genuinely capable editor for PowerShell 7. It didn’t start life as an ISE replacement, though, so out of the box it opens to a general-purpose editor UI with the PowerShell console as one panel choice among many rather than the default view.
DetentShell opens straight into the ISE’s layout because that’s the only layout it has: script pane on top, console below, F5 to run, F9 to break, on PowerShell 7.
See DetentShell built for exactly this → · Compare it against VS Code, the ISE, and PowerShell Studio →
PS> Start-Process "https://detentpoint.com/detentshell/download"
# Coming soon — ships once the installer is code-signedComing soon. DetentShell launches at $29.99 in the Microsoft Store for its first two weeks. The regular price that follows is not final yet and will be published here first; volume licensing for teams is handled separately.