Creating an executable .exe file from a PowerShell Script? - powershell

Question

Is it possible to create an executable file.exe file from a PowerShell Script?

Answer 1

No. At least, not yet, and after 5 versions of PowerShell, it seems unlikely ever.
I wish I could just leave it at that, but other people have provided a bunch of "workaround" type answers I feel compelled to address:
You can wrap your .ps1 script in another script type to make it double-clickable, and you can even generate an executable with the script embedded (see the other answers on this thread) ... but those "executables" require the right version of PowerShell to be already present on the system, so you're not gaining anything by doing that, and you loose a lot of the features of PowerShell (like streaming object output, help documentation, and automatic parameter handling with tab completion for users).
Here is a simple .cmd batch file wrapper (you could extend this to allow parameters):
REM <#
copy %0 %0.ps1
PowerShell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -NoProfile -Command "&{Set-Alias REM Write-Host; .\%0.ps1}"
del %0.ps1
exit
REM #>
### Your PowerShell script goes below here.
### I've put a couple of lines as an example ...
ls | sort length -desc | select -first 5 | ft
ps | sort ws -desc | select -first 10 | ft
I know ...
With Portable PowerShell, it would probably be possible to package up a sort of self-extracting zip that would contain the right version of PowerShell and a script and would work. That's not an executable in any normal sense of the word -- it's a bit like if Valve had decided to just ship a vmware image on a thumbdrive as their solution to letting Linux users play Half Life. However, the product seems abandoned.
With PrimalScript (or PowerShell Studio) or PowerGui or pShellExec, your script can be encrypted, so it's slightly secured against prying eyes ... but this is basically just obfuscation, and essentially no different than the batch file, and in some ways worse.

Answer 2

Out of the box - no. However I have built a PowerShell script that can take a script and create an EXE wrapper around it. I created this script a while ago but decided to blog it here for folks to check out.

Answer 3

Use PowerGUI's Script Editor (it is free and works). Open your script in the PowerGUI Script Editor > Tools > Compile script > Choose whatever options you would like for your .exe (password protect source code, automatically close console after .exe runs, etc.).

Answer 4

Yes, there is a option with PS2EXE to create such *.exe Files.
Usage
The whole thing is really simple and well explained nevertheless
here is a snippet of it:
C:\Scripts\PS2EXE\PS2EXE_0.5.0.0.0\ps2exe.ps1
-inputFile C:\Scripts\ExampleEXE\example.ps1
-outputFile C:\Scripts\ExampleEXE\example.exe -sta -noConsole -runtime40 -verbose -x64
The only bad thing is that the project is depreciated. No Updates or new Versions since 2015.
EDIT:
This projected has been picked up and is being maintained by a new person now. You can find the updated code here, last updated 01/04/2018 as of this edit.
https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/PS2EXE-GUI-Convert-e7cb69d5
Version Information
For adding and editing the version information use something like VERPATCH.
UPDATE 2019
Shout out to a git-repo which is called PythonEXE.
It demonstrates how to create an executable from a Python project and also provides a YouTube Step-By-Step Guide.

Answer 5

I understood your question as "Can my PowerShell script generate an executable?" That is what I was trying to do when I found this post. That is possible using the Add-Type command.
Add-Type -TypeDefinition #"
using System;
class Program {
public static void Main(string[] args) {
Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");
}
}
"# -CompilerParameters #{
"GenerateExecutable" = $true
"OutputAssembly" = "test2.exe"
}

Answer 6

PrimalScript from Sapien will generate an exe from a PowerShell script. The machine one which the executable is run must have PowerShell installed.

Answer 7

The solution I found best to distribute a PowerShell script as exe was to wrap it in a NSIS executable.
I write a .nsi script like this:
Name "Maintenance task"
OutFile "maintenance.exe"
ShowInstDetails show
Section "Main"
;Executes the "script-to-run.ps1" PowerShell script
InitPluginsDir
SetOutPath "$pluginsdir\MyOrg" ;It is better to put stuff in $pluginsdir, $temp is shared
;extract the .ps1 and run it, collecting output into details.
File script-to-run.ps1
nsExec::ExecToLog 'powershell -inputformat none -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -File "$pluginsdir\MyOrg\script-to-run.ps1" '
SetOutPath $exedir
SectionEnd
I just have to compile the script to an exe with the NSIS toolchain, and it will run on any OS that has PowerShell, no matter what is the execution policy.
This was inspired by this question How to call PowerShell in NSIS.

Answer 8

There's a project called Portable PowerShell that is still in beta after a couple of years ... might be worth looking at for your needs.
http://shelltools.wik.is/Portable_PowerShell