How to utilize powershell to open an application with a command?

Question

Is there a command that exists that will open any application from PowerShell?

When typing in "notepad", this will open Microsoft Notepad. However, other applications do not seem to open this way.

Look: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/651223/powershell-start-process-and-cmdline-switches — Fusseldieb, Nov 08 '16 at 17:38

score 19 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 29 '19 at 21:51

19

Notepad runs in this way not because of any Powershell magic, but because notepad.exe exists in one of the directories specified in your $env:PATH environment variable. The system behaves the same as when using cmd.exe (Command Prompt) in this regard.

You can start any application by specifying the full path to its executable: C:\Program Files\FileZilla FTP Client\filezilla.exe. You can optionally use Start-Process with the EXE if you want to capture a reference to the executable to gain more control over it from Powershell.

edited Nov 29 '19 at 21:51

Tom

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answered Nov 08 '16 at 17:42

alroc

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Thanks @alroc, this works great, though is there something I could use to pipe the results? This might require another question to be posted. – JDavila Nov 11 '16 at 18:41
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@JDavila that depends on what those "results" are, what the app is, and how the output is generated. You should open a new question. – alroc Nov 11 '16 at 19:50
Well, am trying to display results from a log, specifically, certain columns CSV format. – JDavila Nov 11 '16 at 22:11
You're not making it any clearer. Post a new question for this. – alroc Nov 12 '16 at 12:19

score 15 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 01 '18 at 07:51

15

Start-Process -FilePath "path.exe"

edited Apr 01 '18 at 07:51

Derlin

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answered Aug 23 '17 at 00:19

contrashadow

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score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 20 '19 at 07:37

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I know this is an old thread, but if you are trying to open a file you can do it like this

& .\filename.ext

It will use the standard program to open the file

answered Nov 20 '19 at 07:37

Thomas B. Vilhelmsen

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This is using Windows cmd shell. Prepend this with start this works! – fractal80y Feb 13 '22 at 05:57

score 6 · Answer 4 · edited Apr 01 '18 at 07:51

6

Start-Process is the commandlet you are looking for.

edited Apr 01 '18 at 07:51

Derlin

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answered Nov 08 '16 at 17:36

4c74356b41

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score 3 · Answer 5 · edited Jan 07 '23 at 16:31

The simplest method that I know of is using the AppId of the application:

Open powershell as Administrator
See all the App-IDs via this command
```
Get-StartApps
```
Note the AppID of app you want to open

in our case we have to open VoiceRecoder

Finally, open Voice Recorder via AppId

explorer shell:appsFolder\Microsoft.WindowsSoundRecorder_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App

AppIds are mostly the same between systems

How to utilize powershell to open an application with a command?

5 Answers5