I once found a script to easily change my Wallpaper if I use multiple ones.
set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.SendKeys("^ ")
WshShell.SendKeys("+{F10}")
WshShell.SendKeys("n")
WshShell.SendKeys("{ENTER}")
However I need a separate link that calls the script.
Now I wonder if I can pass these multiple lines of code as parameter to powershell.exe directly.
I did read that I can allign multiple lines using ; and tried building the one-liner, however it doesn't run...or rather it does run, there is no feedback, nothing changes. If I paste the command line into a running powershell instance it just exits.
%SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -windowstyle hidden -Command "set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject('WScript.Shell'); WshShell.SendKeys('^ '); WshShell.SendKeys('+{F10}'); WshShell.SendKeys('n'); WshShell.SendKeys('{ENTER}')"
I basically just concatenated them and replaced the double quotes with single quotes to escape the special characters, so why does it not work as the separate script?
In PowerShell:
$WSH = New-Object -ComObject 'WScript.Shell'
$WSH.SendKeys('^ ')
$WSH.SendKeys('+{F10}')
$WSH.SendKeys('n')
$WSH.SendKeys('{ENTER}')
Save this as a script (Filename.ps1), and call it from a .bat or .cmd file:
%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -File "path\filename.ps1"
Alternatively, as a one-liner in a command file:
%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -Command "$WSH = New-Object -ComObject 'WScript.Shell';$WSH.SendKeys('\^ ');$WSH.SendKeys('+{F10}');$WSH.SendKeys('n');$WSH.SendKeys('{ENTER}')"
Related
How do I have to change PowerShell code so that I can run it via CMD?
I came up with the following code:
$text_auslesen = Get-Content $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\PowerShell-Protokoll-Auswertung.txt
$text_auslesen.Replace("Count :","") > $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\Count_only.txt
$text_auslesen = Get-Content $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\PowerShell-Protokoll-Auswertung.txt
$text_auslesen.Replace("Average :","") > $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\Durchschnitt_only.txt
If I copy and paste it completely into a powershell, it can run. But now I have to put the code next to other code in a batch file. How do I have to adjust the code so that the cmd.exe executes the whole thing?
I suspect setting the variables via Powershell code is problematic here.
Unfortunately, a PS1 file is out of the question for my project.
To execute PowerShell commands from a batch file / cmd.exe, you need to create a PowerShell child process, using the PowerShell CLI (powershell.exe for Windows PowerShell, pwsh for PowerShell (Core) 7+) and pass the command(s) to the -Command (-c) parameter.
However, batch-file syntax does not support multi-line strings, so you have two options (the examples use two simple sample commands):
Pass all commands as a double-quoted, single-line string:
powershell.exe -Command "Get-Date; Write-Output hello > test.txt"
Do not use quoting, which allows you to use cmd.exe's line continuations, by placing ^ at the end of each line.
powershell.exe -Command Get-Date;^
Write-Output hello ^> test.txt
Note:
In both cases multiple statements must be separated with ;, because ^ at the end of a batch-file line continues the string on the next line without a newline.
Especially with the unquoted solution, you need to carefully ^-escape individual characters that cmd.exe would otherwise interpret itself, such as & and >
See this answer for detailed guidance.
Powershell -c executes PowerShell commands. You can do this from cmd, however, it looks like it needs to be run as administrator.
PowerShell -c "$text_auslesen = Get-Content $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\PowerShell-Protokoll-Auswertung.txt;
$text_auslesen.Replace('Count :','') > $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\Count_only.txt;
$text_auslesen = Get-Content $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\PowerShell-Protokoll-Auswertung.txt;
$text_auslesen.Replace('Average :','') > $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\Durchschnitt_only.txt"
It is possible to execute the PowerShell code in a batch file, but technically what you are doing is pulling a copy of it out and executing it someplace else. Here are 3 methods that I know of.
mklement0's answer addresses executing a copy of it that is passed as a parameter to PowerShell.
You could build a ps1 file from CMD, and then execute that ps1 file by passing it as a parameter to PowerShell.
And the method I've worked with the most is to pass specially designed PowerShell code to PowerShell that, when it runs, will load all, or part, of the current CMD file into memory and execute it there as a ScriptBlock. I have tried loading parts of the current CMD file, but my experience has been that this gets too complicated and I just stick with loading the entire current CMD file.
That last method is what I'm presenting here. The trick is to make the batch/CMD portion of the script look like a comment that is ignored by PowerShell, but still runs without throwing error messages in CMD. I'm not sure where I first found this trick, but it goes like this:
First, place <# : at the start of script. PowerShell sees this as the start of a comment, but CMD seems to ignore this line. I think CMD is trying to redirect < the contents of a non-existing file : to a non-existing command. But what does CMD do with the #? It works, and that's the important thing.
Place your batch code in lines following the <# :.
You end the batch/CMD part with a GOTO :EOF.
You then end the PowerShell comment with #>, but visually I find it easier to find <#~#>, which does the same job.
The rest of the file is your PowerShell code.
This version treats the PowerShell code as a function with defined parameters. The batch part builds %ARGS% and passes, with double quotes intact, to a PowerShell ScriptBlock that in turn is wrapped in another ScriptBlock. The PowerShell function is called twice with the same SourceFile parameter, but different DestinationFile and TextToRemove parameters. Perhaps there is a simpler way to reliably pass double quotes " in arguments passed to a ScriptBlock from batch, but this is the method I got working.
<# :
#ECHO OFF
SET f0=%~f0
SET SourceFile=%APPDATA%\BIOS-Benchmark\PowerShell-Protokoll-Auswertung.txt
SET ARGS="%SourceFile%" "%APPDATA%\BIOS-Benchmark\Count_only.txt" "Count :"
PowerShell -NoProfile -Command ".([scriptblock]::Create('.([scriptblock]::Create((get-content -raw $Env:f0))) ' + $Env:ARGS))"
SET ARGS="%SourceFile%" "%APPDATA%\BIOS-Benchmark\Durchschnitt_only.txt" "Average :"
PowerShell -NoProfile -Command ".([scriptblock]::Create('.([scriptblock]::Create((get-content -raw $Env:f0))) ' + $Env:ARGS))"
GOTO :EOF
<#~#>
param (
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true, Position = 0)]
[string]$SourceFile,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true, Position = 1)]
[string]$DestinationFile,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true, Position = 2)]
[string]$TextToRemove
)
(Get-Content $SourceFile).Replace($TextToRemove, '') > $DestinationFile
This script passes a single parameter that, in PowerShell, is used by the Switch command to decide which section of PowerShell you intend on executing. Since we are not passing double quotes " in the args, the PowerShell lines can be greatly simplified. Information could still be passed to PowerShell by defining environmental variables in batch and reading them in PowerShell.
<# :
#ECHO OFF
SET f0=%~f0
PowerShell -NoProfile -Command .([scriptblock]::Create((get-content -raw $Env:f0))) Script1
PowerShell -NoProfile -Command .([scriptblock]::Create((get-content -raw $Env:f0))) Script2
GOTO :EOF
<#~#>
switch ($args[0]) {
'Script1' {
(Get-Content $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\PowerShell-Protokoll-Auswertung.txt).Replace("Count :", '') > $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\Count_only.txt
break
}
'Script2' {
(Get-Content $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\PowerShell-Protokoll-Auswertung.txt).Replace("Average :", '') > $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\Durchschnitt_only.txt
break
}
default {}
}
The -c parameter is intended to solve this scenario.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_pwsh?view=powershell-7.2#-command---c
If possible, it would be more efficient to invoke PowerShell\Pwsh directly rather than using a cmd wrapper.
In my machine , this location content , windows bat file. "D/too/w.bat". This bat file can run in cmd , like this w.bat I :/ o:/ In Powershell , can run like this "./w.bat i: o:/" . now I , need to run it using some automated .ps script. I try like bellow ,
#
function run--bat {
Write-host "run bat";
Start-Process -File "C:/t/w.bat" "i:/ o:/"
}
but i it not succes. need some expert help to resolve this .
Pass an argument list:
Start-Process C:\t\w.bat -ArgumentList 'i:\','o:\'
The comma operator builds arrays in PowerShell, so 'i:\','o:\' is a two-element array.
Start-Process will join the arguments with spaces in order to create the finalized command line. This means you could also pass both arguments as one string:
Start-Process C:\t\w.bat -ArgumentList 'i:\ o:\'
From w.bat's point of view there will be no difference.
To pass a value that contains spaces - such as a path - as a single argument, you need to wrap it in double quotes:
Start-Process C:\t\w.bat -ArgumentList '"i:\something\with spaces"','o:\'
Then w.bat will see two arguments:
%1 = "i:\something\with spaces" (and %~1 = i:\something\with spaces)
%2 = o:\
I've been trying to get a PowerShell command to create a shortcut working in a batch file but can't get it to actually put the quotes I need in the shortcut. I've used this command in other batch files just fine, but the quotes are messing it up. I've tried "", """, """", ", ", \", `", and pretty much every variation I can think of and nothing has worked. I need the shortcut to be this:
"C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\bin\openvpn-gui.exe" --connect "mullvad.ovpn"
And here's what I've been trying, of course with the numerous variations:
powershell "$s=(New-Object -COM WScript.Shell).CreateShortcut('C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp\OpenVPN GUI.lnk');$s.TargetPath='"C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\bin\openvpn-gui.exe" --connect "mullvad.ovpn"';$s.Save()"
But it either just creates a shortcut to this:
"C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\bin\openvpn-gui.exe --connect mullvad_us_chi.ovpn"
or, more often, it errors because the syntax is wrong with my various attempts. So how do I get PowerShell to do what I want here?
Your main issue is that you aren't correctly creating a shortcut.
In order to do so, you should first of all use an additional property. Your TargetPath should be the executable, and the rest, its Arguments:
Then your command should look a little more like this:
"%SystemRoot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -NoLogo -NoProfile -Command "$s = (New-Object -COM WScript.Shell).CreateShortcut(\"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp\OpenVPN GUI.lnk\");$s.TargetPath=\"C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\bin\openvpn-gui.exe\";$s.Arguments=\"--connect `\"mullvad.ovpn`\"\";$s.Save()"
I rarely use single quotes, but if you prefer them then perhaps this would also work for you:
"%SystemRoot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -NoLogo -NoProfile -Command "$s = (New-Object -COM WScript.Shell).CreateShortcut('C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp\OpenVPN GUI.lnk');$s.TargetPath='C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\bin\openvpn-gui.exe';$s.Arguments='--connect \"mullvad.ovpn\"';$s.Save()"
I want to run .bat-script which calls some powershell function inside it. Function is not so small, so I want to split it. But I cannot do it, escape symbols doesn`t help ( ` ,^).
Script example:
set file=%1
set function="$file=$Env:file; ^
$hash = CertUtil -hashfile $file SHA256 | Select -Index 1"
powershell -command %function%
You can leave the quote at the end of each line like so:
set file=%1
set function="$file=$Env:file; "^
"$hash = CertUtil -hashfile $file SHA256 | Select -Index 1; "^
"example break line further...."
powershell -command %function%
The ^ works as multiline character but it also escapes the first character, so also a quote would be escaped.
Do not mix batchfile syntax with PowerShell. As #Stephan mentioned $function= won't work in batch file. You need to use set function= instead. Let's say I want to execute the following:
Get-Process
Get-ChildItem
Then the code should look like this:
set function=Get-Process; ^
Get-ChildItem;
And you start PowerShell with:
powershell -noexit -command %function%
-noexit added so that you can verify that the code was successfully executed.
Also keep in mind that what you pass to PowerShell is batch multiline and in PowerShell it's visible as one line so you have to remember about semicolon (which you actually do but I'm leaving this comment here for future readers).
There's also another option how to pass variable from batch script to PowerShell. You can do it like this:
set name=explorer
set function=get-process $args[0]; ^
get-childitem
powershell -noexit -command "& {%function% }" %name%
Explanation:
$args[0] represents first argument passed to the scriptblock. To pass that argument, add %name% after the scriptblock while starting powershell. Also, as pointed out in this answer (credits to #Aacini for pointing this out in comments), you have to add & operator and keep your scriptblock inside curly brackets { }.
Sidenote: to be honest, I'd avoid running scripts like this. Much simpler way would be to just save the file as .ps1 and run this in your batch file:
powershell -noexit -file .\script.ps1
I'm trying to download the PuTTY executable using PowerShell, but could not get the file on temp path.
My script:
$Url = "https://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/x86/putty.exe"
$Path = "C:%homepath%\AppData\Local\Temp\putty.exe"
$Wc = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
$Wc.DownloadFileAsync($Url,$Path)
I am executing following command via CMD:
powershell.exe "-ExecutionPolicy" "RemoteSigned" "-file" "test.ps1"
You have two problems, both of which need to be corrected for your script to have a chance of working.
The command for executing a Powershell script from within CMD.EXE should not have the arguments quoted:
powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -file test.ps1
To expand a system environment variable from within powershell, you do not surround it with % as you do in CMD. See http://ss64.com/ps/syntax-env.html for more information; assuming that the environment variable HOMEPATH exists, you would reference it in Powershell as $env:homepath, not %homepath%.
The %VAR% form is not used in powershell, this is only used in CMD. In PowerShell you need to use $env:VAR instead.
You can run Get-ChildItem Env: to get a list of all the Environmental Variables you can use.
For your script try this:
$Path = "$env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Local\Temp\putty.exe"
I've used USERPROFILE instead of HOMEPATH as this includes the drive letter so your script will still work if a different letter is used.