Find and execute a file with powershell - powershell

Question

I have to find and then execute a .exe file from a script deployed by our asset management software. Currently it looks like this:
Set-Location $PSScriptRoot
$proc = (Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Program Files (x86)\software\software name\Uninstall.exe" -ArgumentList "/S /qn" -Wait -PassThru)
$proc.WaitForExit()
$ExitCode = $proc.ExitCode
Exit($ExitCode)
As far as I understand the location for the location for the file is set and some users do not have it there hence why it fails.
So I understand that you can search for a program with
Get-ChildItem C:\Program Files (x86)\software\
And execute with Start-process -Filepath
But do I simply combine that with a | or is there an easier way/will it even work.

Answer 1

As commenter suggested, you can use Test-Path to test if a path exists:
$uninstallPath = Join-Path ${env:ProgramFiles(x86)} 'software\software name\Uninstall.exe'
if( Test-Path $uninstallPath ) {
$proc = Start-Process -FilePath $uninstallPath -ArgumentList '/S /qn' -Wait -PassThru
$proc.WaitForExit()
$ExitCode = $proc.ExitCode
Exit $ExitCode
}
I've also made the code more robust by avoiding the hardcoded "Program Files (x86)" directory, using an environment variable. Because of the parentheses in the name of the env var, it must be enclosed in curly braces.
For added robustness, you may read the path of the uninstall program from the registry, as detailed by this Q&A. If you are lucky, the program even stores a QuietUninstallString in the registry, which gives you the full command line for silent uninstall.