I'm creating PS script to remove a bunch of applications from lots of devices.
The theory with the code below being it passes the path of an application to cmd.exe along with the "RD" (remove directory) command and two switches.
However all i get when running this is..
"'rd C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox /s /q' is not recognized as the
name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check
the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the
path is correct and try again.
Any suggestions please as to how accomplish my goal here
if ($app_path) {
write-host "Now Removing $appname ,install directory ($app_path)"
$command = "rd $app_path /s /q"
& cmd.exe /c $command
}
The arguments need to be separate strings.
& cmd /c rd $app_path /s /q
or
$command = 'rd',$app_path,'/s','/q'
& cmd /c $command
or
cmd /c rd $app_path /s /q
Related
I have a start.bat which does nothing but
#echo off
Echo "Hello World"
Then I open a cmd window and type in
start "" /D D:\Test start.bat
it opens a new cmd window with "Hello World", but does not close the window automatically.
Now I created another bat file named start2.bat which has the same content as the start.bat above. Then I type in
start "" /D D:\Test start2.bat
it opens a new cmd window with "Hello World", and does close the window automatically.
Why is it happening ???
I try to use some trace tool to analyse, from the tool, it seems like my system turn start "" /D D:\Test start.bat to cmd.exe /K start.bat
TraceTool
Tried in another computer, now, no matter which file name I used, it turns into cmd/exe /K start.bat
start3.bat
Update:
Turns out adding /C does not work for me, attach process tree below, the system still changes /C to /K
Process tree view with /C
Update:
Provide full process view. My start.bat is exactly the same as above
And now I open a cmd.exe window, and typed in
"c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe" /C START "test" /D "C:\test" start.bat or just cmd /C START "test" /D "C:\test" start.bat
And
"c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe" /C START "test" /D "C:\test" start2.bat or just cmd /C START "test" /D "C:\test" start2.bat
From the process tree view, it can be seen that the first command turns into
C:\windows\system32\cmd.exe /K start.bat
While the second command turns into
C:\windows\system32\cmd.exe /c "c:\test\start2.bat" "
cmd.exe
Full Process Tree View
From the usage information of the start command (excerpt from the description of the command/program argument):
[...]
command/program
If it is an internal cmd command or a batch file then
the command processor is run with the /K switch to cmd.exe.
This means that the window will remain after the command
has been run.
If it is not an internal cmd command or batch file then
it is a program and will run as either a windowed application
or a console application.
[...]
Hence when starting an internal command or a batch file, cmd.exe together with its /K option is used, so start "" "script.bat" is equivalent to:
start "" cmd.exe /K "script.bat"
If you want the new console window to become closed, use this instead:
start "" cmd.exe /C "script.bat"
i dont under stand the
forfiles -p
or the
/C "cmd /c del #path"
what do they do they mean
Basically it does the following.
For each files in c:\test that contains .jpg format and are 0 days old or older will be deleted.
Commands explained...
Forfiles -p : Select a file (or set of files) and execute a command on each file. -p: The Path to search (default=current folder)
/C command : The command to execute for each file.
Wrap the command string in double quotes.
Default = "cmd /c echo #file"
CMD /c : Start a new CMD shell and run Command and then terminate
Del : Delete
#path : Full path of the file.
More details at http://ss64.com/
I'm trying to write a simple batch file to initialize some tools I need on windows startup.
This is what I've at the moment:
#echo off
start /d "C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3" sublime_text.exe
start cmd.exe /k cd /d "D:xampp/htdocs/webshop"
What I'd like to do is to execute the command compass watch once the directory has changed.
I tried start cmd.exe /k cd /d "D:xampp/htdocs/webshop" /k "compass watch" but it refers to the cd command then and thus throws me an error message (The system cannot find the path specified).
Any suggestions?
EDIT
To clarify what I need:
Open console
cd to the relevant directory
Execute the command compass watch (in that directory)
I normally do this by manually typing in the commands into the console as listed above. What I'd like to have is a simple .bat file that does exactly that with just one click.
You state in the comments that you don't need a separate interpreter. In which case I believe you can do it like this:
#echo off
start /d "C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3" sublime_text.exe
start /d D:\xampp\htdocs\webshop compass watch
This an example to open Firefox.exe.So you should do like this, for your programs
#echo off
echo Try to open Firefox ....
CD /D %programfiles%\Mozilla Firefox\ & Start Firefox.exe
Pause
Try This :
#echo off
CD /D %programfiles%\Sublime Text 3 & Start sublime_text.exe
CD /D D:\xampp/htdocs/webshop & Start compass watch
Pause
You have to use Backslash in your path "\".
Did you try :
#echo off
"C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3\sublime_text.exe"
cd /d "D:\xampp\htdocs\webshop"
"D:\xampp\htdocs\webshop\compass watch.exe"
This should work to launch the exe, and change folder, then use cmd /k to execute the compass command and leave the console open.
#echo off
start "" /d "C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3" sublime_text.exe
cd /d "D:xampp/htdocs/webshop"
cmd.exe /k "compass watch"
I am trying to switch to a directory using cmd and then execute a batch file
e.g.
cmd /k cd "C:\myfolder"
startbatch.bat
I have also tried (without success)
cmd cd /k cd "C:\myfolder" | startbatch.bat
Although the first line (cmd /k) seems to run ok, but the second command is never run. I am using Vista as the OS
Correct syntax is:
cmd /k "cd /d c:\myfolder && startbatch.bat"
ssg already posted correct answer. I would only add /d switch to cd command (eg. cd /d drive:\directory). This ensures the command works in case current directory is on different drive than the directory you want to cd to.
cmd cd /k "cd C:\myfolder; startbatch.bat"
or, why don't you run cmd /k c:\myfolder\startbatch.bat, and do cd c:\myfolder in the .bat file?
I can't see an answer addressing this, so if anyone needs to access a directory that has space in its name, you can add additional quotes, for example
cmd.exe /K """C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat"" & powershell.exe"
From PowerShell you need to escape the quotes using the backquote `
cmd.exe /K "`"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat`" & powershell.exe"
Notice the escaped quotes
`"
inside the path string:
"`"C:\my path\`""
This will execute the proper command in cmd, i.e. the path surrounded with quotes which should work.
The example command above will initialise the MSVC developer command prompt and go back to PowerShell, inheriting the environment and giving access to the MSVC tools.
You can use & or && as commands separator in Windows.
Example:
cmd cd /K "cd C:\myfolder && startbatch.bat"
I give this as an answer because I saw this question in a comment and cannot comment yet.
cmd /k "cd c:\myfolder & startbatch.bat"
works, and if you have spaces:
cmd /k "cd "c:\myfolder" & startbatch.bat"
As I understand it, the command is passed to cmd as "cd "c:\myfolder" & startbatch.bat", which is then broken down into cd "c:\myfolder" & startbatch.bat at which point the remaining " " takes care of the path as string.
You can also use &&, | and || depending on what you want to achieve.
I'm terribly new to scripting on windows. Using windows 7 64.
I'm trying to make a .bat file that I can double click, and have it open a command prompt and automatically cd me to a certain directory.
I tried making a .bat file with
#ECHO OFF
cmd "cd C:\my\destination"
Which opens what looks like a command prompt, but doesn't seem to let me type any commands.
I then tried:
#ECHO OFF
start cmd "cd C:\my\destination"
But this just sent me into a loop opening tons and tons of prompts until my computer crashed :) The .bat file was located in the destination directory if that matters.
This works for me:
#ECHO OFF
cmd.exe /K "cd C:\my\destination && C:"
The quoted string is actually two commands (separated by a double ampersand): The first command is to change to the specified directory, the second command is to change to the specified drive letter.
Put this in a batch (.BAT) file and when you execute it you should see a Command Prompt window at the specified directory.
Use the /K switch:
#ECHO OFF
start cmd.exe /K "cd C:\my\destination"
But IMHO, the most useful switch is /?.
Starts a new instance of the Windows XP command interpreter
CMD [/A | /U] [/Q] [/D] [/E:ON | /E:OFF] [/F:ON | /F:OFF] [/V:ON | /V:OFF]
[[/S] [/C | /K] string]
/C Carries out the command specified by string and then terminates
/K Carries out the command specified by string but remains
/S Modifies the treatment of string after /C or /K (see below)
/Q Turns echo off
...
And only if it does not work, then Google it, as #Neeraj suggested :D
This could be done like that:
#ECHO OFF
cd /D "C:\my\destination"
cmd.exe
If you need to execute a file or command after you open the cmd you can just replace the last line with:
cmd.exe /k myCommand
#ECHO OFF
%comspec% /K "cd /D d:\somefolder"
The /D will change folder and drive and works on 2000+ (Not sure about NT4)
If you take a look at Vista's open command here, it uses cmd.exe /s /k pushd \"%V\" but I don't think %V is documented. Using pushd is a good idea if your path is UNC (\\server\share\folder) To get UNC current directory working, you might have to set the DisableUNCCheck registry entry...
Why so complicated? Just create an alias to cmd.exe, right click on the alias and navigate to its settings. Change the "execute in" to the path you want to have as standard path. It will always start in this path.
just open a text editor and type
start cmd.exe
cd C:\desired path
Then save it as a .bat file. Works for me.
You can create a batch file "go-to-folder.bat" with the following statements:
rem changes the current directory
cd "C:\my\destination"
rem changes the drive if necessary
c:
rem runs CMD
cmd