PowerShell’s transcript feature is built in, and you can have it start automatically by adding the command to your profile. Here’s how:
Open or create your profile file:
notepad $PROFILE
New-Item -ItemType File -Path $PROFILE -Force
Add the Start-Transcript command:
if (-not (Get-Variable global:transcriptStarted -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
Start-Transcript -Append -Path "C:\Logs\PowerShell_transcript.txt"
$global:transcriptStarted = $true
}
Save and restart PowerShell:
CMD does not have a native equivalent of PowerShell’s Start-Transcript command. However, you have a few options to achieve similar logging:
Using the AutoRun Registry Key:
C:\Scripts\cmd_log.bat) that starts logging by redirecting output. A simple example might be: @echo off
rem Start logging all output to a file
call :log
goto :eof
:log
rem This example appends all command output to a log file.
rem Note: This method will not capture interactive input.
cmd /q /k >> "C:\Logs\CMD_log.txt" 2>&1
goto :eof
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor" /v AutoRun /t REG_SZ /d "C:\Scripts\cmd_log.bat" /f
Consider Using PowerShell Instead:
Start-Transcript is built in.By following these steps, you can automatically start logging in every new terminal session. For PowerShell, modifying your profile is straightforward and robust, while for CMD you’ll need to use a workaround with the AutoRun registry setting, keeping in mind the limitations in capturing full session details.