How do I run a Windows task in the foreground? - powershell

I have a task that is not working properly and I would like to have it run in the foreground so I can see its progress. My task is a powershell script and it works perfectly when I manually run it but, some parts fail when it's ran by the task.
Thanks!

You might try Start-Transcript instead. That will capture all the output into a text file.

You did not state your OS, the exact location of the buttons change depending on OS.
For Windows 7 / 2008 R2:
Double click the task. Select the checkbox next to "Do not store password" in the task window and click ok. Right click the task and select run.

Related

Autohotkey Not Auto

Running AutoHotKey Version 3.0.06.01 with Win 10 Version 10.0.19043 Build 19043 on a System SKU LENOVO_MT_81CU_BU_idea_FM_YOGA 730-15IKB laptop.
I have read many postings about AHK not performing as expected on Win10 OS. I have followed those instructions: rebooting, uninstall/reinstall, changing UAC settings, using run as admin , checking virus software -- et al.
I am very new and have only attempted very rudimentary scripts: Send Hello World, Msgbox Hello World and the like. Those seem to work fine by simply selecting the indicated hot keys. However,
The problem: when attempting use [Run] EG.
^j:: Run Notepad.exe or ; an executable
^1:: Run C:\HamSphere\UnaMas.xlsm ; a file
I must
1. select the saved file
2. right click and select run script
3. (the hotkeys icon displays in the tray)
4. then select the indicated hot keys
in order for the script to run as expected. I cannot simply select the indicated hotkeys. Compiling the file doesn't help.
Question: is this normal? If so, it seems like it defeats the purpose of hot keys.
TIA
doco
Apparently,
1. right clicking the *.ahk file and selecting the [Run Script] menu item
2. compile the script to an executable then double click that executable
will cause script to be ready and running in the background as evidenced by the green icon in the tray. This then allow use of whatever hotkeys defined in the script, to run.
The scripts will automatically end when windows closes or the user right clicks the associated image and selects [Exit] from the subsequent drop down.
Kind of a toss-up to actually going and getting the exe/file.
You don't need to compile scripts.
There are 3 main options for getting your scripts executed on start.
Startup folder.
Scheduled tasks.
"AutoHotkey.ahk": The program looks for a script file called AutoHotkey.ahk in the following locations, in this order:
The directory which contains the AutoHotkey executable.
The current user's Documents folder.
And if you don't want your file to be called AutoHotkey.ahk you could for example save it somewhere else and call it with Run from AutoHotkey.ahk.

How to switch default run terminal for VSCode with Powershell

When I select RUN for my PowerShell script it executes in my "Integrated PowerShell Console" which is running PowerShell 7.x.
Some of my scripts use commands that are not available in PS7 (yet?) but works in PS5.
I have a second Terminal running in VSCode running PS5 and I can paste the script there and it works.
How can I switch the functionality of RUN (F5) to execute the script in my second terminal window?
Thank you Shivam Jha for the link.
I tried to map F5 to "workbench.action.terminal.runActiveFile: Run the active file in the terminal instance." and that works except it can only run code from files, not code just entered in the editor and not yet saved.
The solution then is to have F5 mapped to workbench.action.debug.run and CTRL+F5 mapped to workbench.action.terminal.runActiveFile.
This way I can have several PowerShell terminals active and use CTRL+F5 to run the active file in any of them.
This is just a guess, untested, but to me, it seems promising.
Open two instances of vscode, open the same folder in both, and open the two different terminals, one in each instance. If it still takes the default terminal even if you open another one in advance, try running in interactive window. Also check whether running just a selection (then just select the whole file) might influence the chosen output terminal.

Powershell scripts doesnt work when running from specific folder

I have a simple script which only prints "hello" to the screen.
When I run it from my desktop (for example) - it's working
When I run it from a specific folder under, c:\specific_folder it opens the "How do you want to open this file" window and even after I choose "Windows Powershell" it just keep popping up and script never executed..
I'm using Powershell version 5.1
I checked the permissions on folder properties and give everyone a full control but no change..
EDIT:
the script is:
Write-output "Hello"
pause
I run it by double clicking it (manually).
Can you help?
Thanks
If you are double clicking it, it might be executing and instantly closing as the script has finished.
You might want to add something like read-host or sleep(1) to the end just to be able to confirm the script is working

How to build AHK scripts automatically on startup?

Each time I restart my computer, I have to rebuild all my AHK Scripts so the keyboard shortcuts will work.
For instance, I have a script that assigns Ctrl+j to set up an instance of the MEAN stack and open my web site. After restarting my computer, pressing ^j does nothing until I go into Sublime and ^b (Build). I could build from AHK, but I do a lot of work in Sublime, so it's easier to build there.
How can my AHK Scripts automatically build on startup?
What I've tried so far:
Looking to build a post startup, startup script: This Is concerned with using an AHK script to start many programs on starup. I use Windows' Task Manager > Startup to do this, thus has nothing to do with making. I want to not have to rebuild all my scripts after every restart.
Windows 10 - run script on windows startup problem: This assumes the start script is already written and implemented. However, it doesn't appear to give the script.
AutoHotKey FAQ: I eventually found a solution here, but it took a long time to dig through the questions so I figured I'd post a question anyway to help others who run into this.
Simply add a shortcut (don't need to be the actual file) of your script in the Windows 'Startup' folder.
Three ways to get there:
1- In Windows Explorer, go to %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup (for current user startup list) or %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup (for every user startup list)
or
2- Open Windows' Run application (Windows + r) write shell:startup (current user) or shell:common startup (every user) in the edit field and click on the 'ok' button.
or
3- Start > Programs > Startup (old Windows versions)
In AutoHotKey you can access this folder with the Built-in Variables %A_Startup% (current user) or %A_StartupCommon% (every user)
To create the (current user) shortcut automatically from your script, use the following line:
FileCreateShortcut, %A_ScriptFullPath%, %A_Startup%\shortcutname.lnk
To do the same for all users, use this line instead:
FileCreateShortcut, %A_ScriptFullPath%, %A_StartupCommon%\shortcutname.lnk
(in the case of having a file with the same name in the folder, the file would be overwritten)
ps: Win10 blocks scripts in startup with AHK running as admin... read the comments of this post for extra info.
Run at startup in Windows 10:
Compile the script to *.exe
Put the shortcut of that exe in startup folder "%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup"
That's all. Do NOT set it to run as admin. Programs in Win10 don't run at startup which are marked as run as admin.
Run Script as admin at Startup in Windows 10:
Go to ahk script and mark it run as admin.
Create the VBScript using a text editor
'put it in startup folder to run the mentioned ahk script at startup
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell" )
WshShell.Run """C:\Users\jerry\Downloads\scripts\some_script.ahk""", 0 'Must quote command if it has spaces; must escape quotes
Set WshShell = Nothing
Replace C:\Users\jerry\Downloads\scripts\some_script.ahk with the path to your script with extension and save it as .vbs.
Place this .vbs script at startup folder %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
PS: My fav AHK scripts: https://gourav.io/blog/autohotkey-scripts-windows
Open note pad or any other text editor
write Start "" "C:\ahk\yourdirectory\yourahk.ahk"
press save as
navigate to %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
name the filename anything.bat
As a Windows 7 user, I have limited experience with Windows 10. I have heard that W10 can be finicky with regard to running programs underground administratie or limited user. In W7, you just add the .AHK file link to the startup dir.
A simple solution without writing any code, using the Windows Task Scheduler, set the script to start when the user logs on. If it is set to system startup it will error because it is too early.
To allow the script to automate administrative programs without running as admin, here're the required steps:
When installing AHK, check the "Add 'Run with UI Access' to context menus" option.
After installation, find AutoHotkeyU64_UIA.exe on your disk.
Open the .ahk script's properties, change the "Open with" option to the AutoHotkeyU64_UIA.exe you just found.
Create a shortcut to this script.
Open %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup in the file explorer.
Move that shortcut to this folder.
And you're done.
How does it work?
The "Add 'Run with UI Access' to context menus" option provides a workaround for common UAC-related issues by allowing the script to automate administrative programs without running as admin.
Reference: Run with UI Access.
Open windows run (win+r) and type “shelll:startup”
Copy paste the ahk file into there
Close the folder
And that‘s all!

AutoHotKey stop working after I started PowerShell as administrator

I use the AutoHotKey script to map some the keys under Windows 10 OS . It works very well except that I started Powershell as administrator. All the key mappings does not work after that as if autohotkey has been shut down. However things are all fine when I run PowerShell without administrator. Anyone knows how to fix that?
As Bluecakes said, just running the AutoHotKey as administrator will fix my problem.
You can either set the AutoHotKey to run always as administrator by right-click on AutoHotKey.exe and select property, in the compatiblity Tab , check the run this programme as administrator, or you can add a 'run as administrator' entry in the right-click menu of ahk scripts by editting the registry. Following this link: