PowerShell/PowerShell · critical · ConsoleHostStartupException

The shell cannot be started. A failure occurred during initi

Error message

The shell cannot be started. A failure occurred during initialization:

What it means

During startup, ConsoleHost loads the session configuration from the -ConfigurationFile path via InitialSessionState.CreateFromSessionConfigurationFile (with validateFile:true). Any exception thrown by that load is wrapped in ConsoleHostStartupException 'ShellCannotBeStarted', so the message alone is generic — the real cause is in the InnerException.

Source

Thrown at src/Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost/host/msh/ConsoleHost.cs:1722

            Dbg.Assert(_runspaceRef == null, "_runspaceRef field should be null");
            Dbg.Assert(DefaultInitialSessionState != null, "DefaultInitialSessionState should not be null");
            s_runspaceInitTracer.WriteLine("Calling RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace");

            // Use session configuration file if provided.
            bool customConfigurationProvided = false;
            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(args.ConfigurationFilePath))
            {
                try
                {
                    // Replace DefaultInitialSessionState with the initial state configuration defined by the file.
                    DefaultInitialSessionState = InitialSessionState.CreateFromSessionConfigurationFile(
                        path: args.ConfigurationFilePath,
                        roleVerifier: null,
                        validateFile: true);
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    throw new ConsoleHostStartupException(ConsoleHostStrings.ShellCannotBeStarted, ex);
                }

                customConfigurationProvided = true;
            }

            try
            {
                Runspace consoleRunspace = null;
                bool psReadlineFailed = false;

                // Load PSReadline by default unless there is no use:
                //    - we're running a command/file and just exiting
                //    - stdin is redirected by a parent process
                //    - we're not interactive
                //    - we're explicitly reading from stdin (the '-' argument)
                // It's also important to have a scenario where PSReadline is not loaded so it can be updated, e.g.
                //    powershell -command "Update-Module PSReadline"
                // This should work just fine as long as no other instances of PowerShell are running.

View on GitHub (pinned to 3ff3c711bf)

Solutions

1. Inspect InnerException of the thrown ConsoleHostStartupException to get the precise cause (file not found, schema error, etc.).
2. Validate the .pssc path exists and is readable before launch.
3. Re-generate or re-sign the .pssc with a current PowerShell; run Test-PSSessionConfigurationFile on it.
4. Fix file permissions so the host account can read the config.

Example fix

// diagnose
try { /* start host with -ConfigurationFile */ }
catch (ConsoleHostStartupException ex) { Log(ex.InnerException); } // real reason
// then repair the .pssc or correct the path

if (!File.Exists(args.ConfigurationFilePath)) throw new FileNotFoundException(args.ConfigurationFilePath);
// optionally pre-validate the .pssc schema/signature before launch

// not applicable

try { /* start with -ConfigurationFile */ }
catch (ConsoleHostStartupException ex)
{ var cause = ex.InnerException ?? ex; /* inspect cause, fix file */ }

When it happens

Trigger: Passing -ConfigurationFile pointing at a .pssc file that is missing, unreadable, malformed, fails schema/signature validation, or is rejected by the role verifier.

Common situations: Typo in the config path; corrupt or hand-edited .pssc; file written by an incompatible PowerShell version; permission denied reading the file; signing/validation failure on a locked-down system.

Related errors

• The shell cannot be started. An InitialSessionState object h
• This instance has already been used. Create a new instance.
• PushRunspace can only push a remote runspace.
• Node is not present in the XML, Please give valid XPath
• Unable to find DSC schema store at {dscConfigurationDirector

AI-assisted analysis of PowerShell/PowerShell@3ff3c711bf (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9932ba6f80bfb459. Report an issue: GitHub.