I ran into a scenario last week where we had loaded the Compellent Storage Center Command Set for Windows PowerShell on a server. When we launched the shell shortcut, the window opened but took a long time to get to a PowerShell command prompt.
So, what causes slow start-up when loading PowerShell?
The most common reason seems to be that machines experiencing this slowness are not connected to the Internet.
What?
Well, when Since PowerShell is loading the Compellent Command Set DLL externally, .NET has a security feature to check Microsoft’s CRL, or Certificate Revocation List. This process verifies the authenticity and validity of the software publisher’s certificate. If this check can’t reach the Internet, the process will time out after several minutes. Now, this doesn’t prevent anything from loading (which seems odd), but it takes a couple minutes for a process that should take only a couple of seconds.
The easiest resolution at this point appears to allow Internet access to the server. If that is not possible, you can disable the check for the publisher’s certificate revocation. You can do this from Internet Explorer (or Control Panel, Internet Options) by clicking on Tools, Internet Options. Under the Security section of the Advanced tab, uncheck “Check for publisher’s certificate revocation”.
NOTE: These type of security features are in place for a reason. Take extreme caution when considering disabling these.