powershell.exe -command “& C:\test.ps1 parameter1 parameter2″

You could use named parameters of course. The trick is to make sure you are passing the parameters from inside of your PowerShell session that you are creating, not as parameters to powershell.exe.

When you run a cmd file lets say the following from with in your powershell script
& “C:\ABC (QA)_1.0.7.2\en-us\ABC_QA.cmd”

Contents of ABC_QA.cmd
Msiexec /i ABCInstaller.msi ^
DB.SERVER=ABC\QA ^
APPLICATION.ENV.TYPE=Qa ^
SVCIDENTITY=SVC-QA@ABC.com ^
SVCPASSWORD=xxx ^
LOCAL.EMAILING=”true” ^
/lv “ABC_Installer_QA_Log.txt”

However when the powershell script is run, it starts the cmd from C:\Documents and Settings\tarora\My Documents and fails to find the correct path to the MSI.

If i make the msi available at ‘C:\Documents and Settings\tarora\My Documents’ it works fine.

1. Am i missing anything?
2. Is there a way to specify the start path for the cmd?

PowerShell “& “”"”C:\Some Long Path\Script.ps1″”"” “”"”C:\Another Long Path To Some Input File.txt”"”"”

Here’s how this breaks down. First the string is evaluated where it is executed (in cmd.exe). When the evaluation replaces adjacent double-quotes with a single double-quote, our command string resolves to this:

& “”C:\Some Long Path\Script.ps1″” “”C:\Another Long Path To Some Input File.txt”"

Then this string is passed into PowerShell as a double-quoted string. In the double-quoted string, a pair of adjacent double-quotes are again converted to one double-quote, and the string command resolves to this:

& “C:\Some Long Path\Script.ps1″ “C:\Another Long Path To Some Input File.txt”

That’s the command you want to execute, so you’re good to go.

This gets a lot easier in PowerShell 2.0 with some new arguments on the powershell.exe command.

If you wanted to run the same command from within PowerShell, you would do it like this:

PowerShell “& “”C:\Some Long Path\Script.ps1″” “”C:\Another Long Path To Some Input File.txt”"”

From a command prompt
C:\>PowerShell.exe “C:\Some Long Path\Script.ps1″ “C:\Another Long Path To Some Input File.txt”

The Powershell script itself will execute, but it’s choking on the .txt file. Single quotes on the .txt file don’t file the problem.

 if($command -match "(?.*\.[A-Za-z]+\s)(?.*)"){
     $com =$Matches.appPath.trim()
     $args =  $Matches.appArgs.trim()
     [diagnostics.process]::start($com, $args).WaitForExit()
}

Marc Magnin,
Pourquoi faire simple quand on peut faire compliqué ?!

I’m replying to this old post because it helped me to find a way to dynamically call / run program requiring arguments like :

C:\Program files\Program\program.exe /verysilent /norestart /LoadInf=”.\conf.ini”

This work if I write directly the full command in powershell like :

& C:\Program files\Program\program.exe /verysilent /norestart /LoadInf=".\conf.ini"

Great!
But I have no idea of the command in advance… Heck!
So I tried several things like :

& $fullCommandString
& $commandString $argsString
. $commandString $argsString
. $quotedCommandString $quotedArgsString
powershell -command ""
invoke-item $commandString $argsString

etc……..

but I still had errors caused by space in “Program files” or slash of arguments etc…

The way I found is to pass a string for the command and an array of string for arguments :
(here I directly wrote the command in the code by in reality, $command is feeded from and XML file)

$command = "C:\Program files\Program\program.exe /verysilent /norestart /LoadInf='.\conf.ini'"
if($command -match "(?.*\.[A-Za-z]+\s)(?.*)"){
   $args = [regex]::Split($Matches.appArgs.trim(), "\s" )
   & $Matches.appPath.trim() $args
}

Hope thats helps.

Marc Magnin,
Pourquoi faire simple quand on peut faire compliqué ?!

I’d love to hear more about “the many rough edges to PowerShell that make it a pain” to see if I can do anything to help.

Also I’d like to know what sort of integration you are looking for with PowerShell and Windows. With Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, it is shipped as part of the operating system and installed by default, which is a great first step. But I’d like to know what specific scenarios come to mind for you when you think about stronger integration into Windows. Please elaborate if you have time.

Unfortunately, this is one of the many rough edges to powershell that make it a pain. Powershell needs to become better integrated into windows before I will really start using it. The end result that Yang Li pointed out — confusion — is all too prevalent in Powershell.

I was looking to execute a .PS1 file from a C# app and I am gald I came across this info.

Thank you!