I read some file using PowerShell, and change current dir accordingly, but all I can do is change the current PowerShell's current dir, not the caller's dir (the cmd.exe environment that called that ps1 file). Things I tried:
powershell ch-dir.ps1 | cd
(won't work, obviously, since CD is internal command)
powershell cd $myDir
(changes current dir in PowerShell, but when script exits, the cmd environment still in original dir)
I really hope I won't need to find the script's caller process (the cmd), and make a change in it's cur-dir by-force... (or even worse - to save the dir I want in some env-var and then cd %my_var% since it would require two lines of command)
I'm not sure if this meets your needs, but if you set it up so that the only output from your powershell script is your desired new working directory, you could do this:
c:\>for /F %i IN ('powershell -noprofile -command "write-output 'c:\users'" ') DO #cd %i
c:\Users>
The cmd prompt is hosting your powershell session, unless you can figure out a way to return an exit code to the prompt that will (on exit code 99999) change directory to (predefined values, switch?). As far as powershell is concerned they're different processes.
Heres a good example for you to try:
Open a cmd prompt.
Open task manager, find cmd.exe
In your cmd prompt type Powershell
View powershell as a different process (check the PID.)
End the powershell process. Watch what happens.
Alternatively, if you need something run from cmd in a specific directory based on logic in your powershell script, you can invoke it with a cmd /c from within Powershell.
Related
I have a powershell script that I want to run from cmd/ps any location by putting it in path.
What is the command that can achieve that ?
I m basically looking for a UNIX equivalent of putting your script in bashrc and thus available from anywhere to run.
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/script' >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc
In windows you also have the system variable PATH that's used for defining where to locate executables.
You could do the following that should be equivalent assuming you're only using Powershell:
$newPath = "c:\tmp\MyScriptPath";
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('PATH', "$($env:Path);$newPath", [EnvironmentVariableTarget]::User);
# Update the path variable in your current session; next time it's loaded directly
$env:Path = "$($env:Path);$newPath";
You can then execute your script directly in Powershell with just the name of the script.
However_ : this will not work under cmd because cmd doesn't know how to handle the ps1 script as an executable. Normally one would execute the script from cmd by calling the following:
Powershell.exe -executionpolicy remotesigned -File C:\Tmp\Script.ps1
If this is "unacceptable" for you, the easiest way is to create a bat script along with your ps1 script (same path) and add the following content :
Script.bat (Assuming you have Script.ps1 in the same folder):
#ECHO OFF
PowerShell.exe -Command "& '%~dpn0.ps1'"
PAUSE
This will create the wrapper needed to Invoke Script anywhere in your cmd as batch files can be executed from cmd
I have a need within a .bat file to change to a certain directory which is referenced by an environment variable. Something along these lines:
cd %TMP%
And this works fine from Windows CMD shell. However if I try to run the bat within a Powershell terminal window, it appears that the command simply doesn't work. This does though:
cd $Env:TMP
So I'm trying to figure out how to keep things to one .bat file but still allow users to run it under both the CMD prompt and the PS prompt. I can think of some hacky ways to check to see if I'm under CMD (as opposed to PS) but I'd like to know if there's a better solution.
One thing I noticed is that the PROMPT environment variable is present with CMD but not with Powershell but, as I say, that seems a bit hacky and potentially error-prone.
I'm not trying to pad my rep so if this has already been asked and answered, please point me to it. I just want to find something less hacky than trying to figure out which shell the bat is being run in and changing the cd command to suit it.
By the way, since it may make a difference, I'm running under Powershell 4. I could probably use a .cmd file if that would make any difference but I'd be surprised if it did.
EDIT:
I guess maybe I wasn't as clear as I could be. I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to get the value of an environment variable that will work within a .bat file that will work regardless of whether or not the .bat file is run under the cmd shell or the powershell shell.
Running batch files from PowerShell works just fine. However, since the batch files run in a different interpreter (running .\your.bat is basically the same as running cmd /c .\your.bat), changing the working directory via cd %TMP% in the (CMD) child process doesn't change the working directory for the (PowerShell) parent process.
The syntax you use for variables in batch files is always %variable%.
Demonstration:
PS C:\> $PWD.Path
C:\
PS C:\> Get-Content .\test.bat
#echo off
echo before: %CD%
cd %TMP%
echo after: %CD%
PS C:\> .\test.bat
before: C:\
after: C:\Users\me\AppData\Local\Temp
PS C:\> $PWD.Path
C:\
The batch file echoes the path of the current working directory (%CD%) before and after changing the working directory to %TMP%. The working directory of the parent process (PowerShell) remains unchanged ($PWD.Path).
I am having a bunch of issues with getting a PowerShell command to run. All it is doing is running a command that would be run in a CMD prompt window.
Here is the command:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Configuration Manager\AdminConsole\bin\i386\CmRcViewer.exe" PCNAME
I have tried the following with no success (I have tried many iterations of this to try and get one that works. Syntax is probably all screwed up):
$TEXT = $textbox.Text #$textbox is where the user enters the PC name.
$CMDCOMMAND = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Configuration Manager\AdminConsole\bin\i386\CmRcViewer.exe"
Start-Process '"$CMDCOMMAND" $TEXT'
#iex -Command ('"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Configuration Manager\AdminConsole\bin\i386\CmRcViewer.exe"' $TEXT)
The command will just open SCCM remote connection window to the computer the user specifies in the text box.
Try this:
& "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Configuration Manager\AdminConsole\bin\i386\CmRcViewer.exe" PCNAME
To PowerShell a string "..." is just a string and PowerShell evaluates it by echoing it to the screen. To get PowerShell to execute the command whose name is in a string, you use the call operator &.
To run or convert batch files externally from PowerShell (particularly if you wish to sign all your scheduled task scripts with a certificate) I simply create a PowerShell script, e.g. deletefolders.ps1.
Input the following into the script:
cmd.exe /c "rd /s /q C:\#TEMP\test1"
cmd.exe /c "rd /s /q C:\#TEMP\test2"
cmd.exe /c "rd /s /q C:\#TEMP\test3"
*Each command needs to be put on a new line calling cmd.exe again.
This script can now be signed and run from PowerShell outputting the commands to command prompt / cmd directly.
It is a much safer way than running batch files!
One solution would be to pipe your command from PowerShell to CMD. Running the following command will pipe the notepad.exe command over to CMD, which will then open the Notepad application.
PS C:\> "notepad.exe" | cmd
Once the command has run in CMD, you will be returned to a PowerShell prompt, and can continue running your PowerShell script.
Edits
CMD's Startup Message is Shown
As mklement0 points out, this method shows CMD's startup message. If you were to copy the output using the method above into another terminal, the startup message will be copied along with it.
For those who may need this info:
I figured out that you can pretty much run a command that's in your PATH from a PS script, and it should work.
Sometimes you may have to pre-launch this command with cmd.exe /c
Examples
Calling git from a PS script
I had to repackage a git client wrapped in Chocolatey (for those who may not know, it's a package manager for Windows) which massively uses PS scripts.
I found out that, once git is in the PATH, commands like
$ca_bundle = git config --get http.sslCAInfo
will store the location of git crt file in $ca_bundle variable.
Looking for an App
Another example that is a combination of the present SO post and this SO post is the use of where command
$java_exe = cmd.exe /c where java
will store the location of java.exe file in $java_exe variable.
You must use the Invoke-Command cmdlet to launch this external program. Normally it works without an effort.
If you need more than one command you should use the Invoke-Expression cmdlet with the -scriptblock option.
From a running exe, how can one easily determine whether the exe was invoked from powershell? I've not found a predefined environment variable that is a reliable indicator.
My specific issue is that I'm trying to modify PATH and other env vars in an existing PS session from the exe (a Go static linked exe) by creating a "runner" .bat/.ps1 that mangles the env vars of the currently running cmd.exe or PS. If the exe was called from PS, I'll create a .ps1. If the exe was called from cmd.exe, I'll create a .bat. Ideally, I'd use a .bat with something like the following to handle PS:
rem This doesn't work
powershell -C "& { $env:FAKE_PATH_2='C:\ruby193\bin' }"
rem This also doesn't work
powershell -C "& { [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('FAKE_PATH_3', 'Sneaky 1') }"
rem This also doesn't work
powershell -C [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('FAKE_PATH_4', 'Sneaky 2')
but none of the above propagate the env vars to existing PS session. I'm looking for a solution that doesn't require wrapper .bat/.ps1 scripts to setup and call the exe.
Any creative, low-complexity ideas?
You can use WMI to find the parent process ID and then determine if that is PowerShell. I'll show an example here in PowerShell but you would need to convert that to the appropriate WMI API for your EXE:
$parentPid= (Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Process -Filter "ProcessId='$pid'").ParentProcessId
(Get-Process -Id $parentPid).ProcessName
That said, the rest of the question isn't very clear to me. Executing this:
powershell -C "& { [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('FAKE_PATH_3', 'Sneaky 1') }"
Starts a new PowerShell EXE and doesn't modify an existing PowerShell session. In fact, modifying an existing EXE's env block is going to be tricky. And if the EXE doesn't monitor env block changes via WM_SETTINGCHANGE, it just won't work unless you get help from the EXE itself (like having PowerShell check for some sentinel to tell it to modify its env vars).
I have a few lines of PowerShell code that I would like to use as an automated script. The way I would like it to be able to work is to be able to call it using one of the following options:
One command line that opens PowerShell, executes script and closes PowerShell (this would be used for a global build-routine)
A file that I can double-click to run the above (I would use this method when manually testing components of my build process)
I have been going through PowerShell documentation online, and although I can find lots of scripts, I have been unable to find instructions on how to do what I need. Thanks for the help.
From http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jaybaz_ms/archive/2007/04/26/powershell-polyglot.aspx
If you're willing to sully your beautiful PowerShell script with a little CMD, you can use a PowerShell-CMD polyglot trick. Save your PowerShell script as a .CMD file, and put this line at the top:
#PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command Invoke-Expression $('$args=#(^&{$args} %*);'+[String]::Join(';',(Get-Content '%~f0') -notmatch '^^#PowerShell.*EOF$')) & goto :EOF
If you need to support quoted arguments, there's a longer version, which also allows comments. (note the unusual CMD commenting trick of double #).
##:: This prolog allows a PowerShell script to be embedded in a .CMD file.
##:: Any non-PowerShell content must be preceeded by "##"
##setlocal
##set POWERSHELL_BAT_ARGS=%*
##if defined POWERSHELL_BAT_ARGS set POWERSHELL_BAT_ARGS=%POWERSHELL_BAT_ARGS:"=\"%
##PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command Invoke-Expression $('$args=#(^&{$args} %POWERSHELL_BAT_ARGS%);'+[String]::Join(';',$((Get-Content '%~f0') -notmatch '^^##'))) & goto :EOF
Save your script as a .ps1 file and launch it using powershell.exe, like this:
powershell.exe .\foo.ps1
Make sure you specify the full path to the script, and make sure you have set your execution policy level to at least "RemoteSigned" so that unsigned local scripts can be run.
Run Script Automatically From Another Script (e.g. Batch File)
As Matt Hamilton suggested, simply create your PowerShell .ps1 script and call it using:
PowerShell C:\Path\To\YourPowerShellScript.ps1
or if your batch file's working directory is the same directory that the PowerShell script is in, you can use a relative path:
PowerShell .\YourPowerShellScript.ps1
And before this will work you will need to set the PC's Execution Policy, which I show how to do down below.
Run Script Manually Method 1
You can see my blog post for more information, but essentially create your PowerShell .ps1 script file to do what you want, and then create a .cmd batch file in the same directory and use the following for the file's contents:
#ECHO OFF
SET ThisScriptsDirectory=%~dp0
SET PowerShellScriptPath=%ThisScriptsDirectory%MyPowerShellScript.ps1
PowerShell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "& '%PowerShellScriptPath%'"
Replacing MyPowerShellScript.ps1 on the 3rd line with the file name of your PowerShell script.
This will allow you to simply double click the batch file to run your PowerShell script, and will avoid you having to change your PowerShell Execution Policy.
My blog post also shows how to run the PowerShell script as an admin if that is something you need to do.
Run Script Manually Method 2
Alternatively, if you don't want to create a batch file for each of your PowerShell scripts, you can change the default PowerShell script behavior from Edit to Run, allowing you to double-click your .ps1 files to run them.
There is an additional registry setting that you will want to modify so that you can run scripts whose file path contains spaces. I show how to do both of these things on this blog post.
With this method however, you will first need to set your execution policy to allow scripts to be ran. You only need to do this once per PC and it can be done by running this line in a PowerShell command prompt.
Start-Process PowerShell -ArgumentList 'Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Force' -Verb RunAs
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Force is the command that actually changes the execution policy; this sets it to RemoteSigned, so you can change that to something else if you need. Also, this line will automatically run PowerShell as an admin for you, which is required in order to change the execution policy.
Source for Matt's answer.
I can get it to run by double-clicking a file by creating a batch file with the following in it:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\windowspowershell\v1.0\powershell.exe LocationOfPS1File
you can use this command :
powershell.exe -argument c:\scriptPath\Script.ps1