I have a folder on a remote computer containing security camera video footage. I want to only search the *.mp4 files for those that are created between 2300 and 0600. The code:
$root = "F:\ispy\video\SWVL"
(Get-ChildItem -Path $root) | Where-Object {$_.lastWriteTime.TimeOfDay.Hours -gt 23 -or $_.LastWriteTime.TimeOfDay.Hours -lt 06} | ls | Out-GridView -PassThru
Does this perfectly, and passes the output (file list) to a PowerShell gridview.... BUT, I need the out to show the files in Windows Explorer.
I'm essentially trying to use a PowerShell script as an advanced search filter.
Hoping someone has some ideas. Eventually, I'm planning to use this as a flow -somehow- in power automate and power apps.... but need to crack this first part.
Thanks,
Gregg
AZ
Your use case is not valid. Windows Explorer
You can, in your script, do something like this.. (dropping the call to Out-GridView as it's not needed for your end results)
# find those files
Get-ChildItem -Path 'F:\ispy\video\SWVL' |
Where-Object {
$PSItem.lastWriteTime.TimeOfDay.Hours -gt 23 -or
$PSItem.LastWriteTime.TimeOfDay.Hours -lt 06} |
# copy them to a temp location
Copy-Item -Destination 'SomeTempPath' -Verbose
# open explorer in that location
Invoke-Item -Path 'SomeTempPath'
... then delete that location when you are done.
Windows Explorer-specific search/filtering is only possible in Windows Explorer. So, that means you can only search to get a specific property, then use GUI automation to send that to the Windows Explorer search box.
Otherwise, just skip the script and know this to avoid overcomplicating what you are after.
In Windows Explorer, you can filter the files by date in File Explorer using the date: keyword. You can use this keyword to find files created before, on or after a certain date. You can use the “>” and “<” signs to find files created after or before the given date. “>=” and “<=” also apply here. While you can manually type the date, File Explorer provides a simple calendar that will show up every time you type date: on the search box.
In a script, you'd have to duplicate the aforementioned. Thus capturing the date in your search, opening Windows Explorer and using SendKeys or AutoIT to select the search box and paste the info then sending enter.
Update as per my comment regarding the pop-up calendar. You can do this, in Windows Explorer to filter by date/date ranges
Manually type it in manually, which of course you could GUI automate via SendKeys or AutoIT.
Click the down arrow on any date column.
In the built-in Windows Sandbox on the latest WinOS builds, the popup still works from the Windows Explorer searchbox.
... but not on other host systems.
Update as per our last comments ...
Yet, if you are really trying to send to the Explore serachbox, then this kludge can do it,...
Start-Process -FilePath 'Explorer' 'd:\temp'
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms
Start-Sleep -Seconds 2
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait('+{TAB}'*2)
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait('date: 04-Apr-20..11-Jan-21')
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait('{Enter}')
... but warning SendKeys is quirky, timing-wise, etc. Sometimes is works, sometimes it does not.
CCleaner contains a tool to list and then uninstall programs on your PC. This list seems to include applications in a more comprehensive way than a walk through the uninstall registry keys. One example of this, is Atom (the Open Source text editor). This program does not appear in the uninstall registry, and is installed in the AppData folder of the user (I'm not aware of a way to install this for all users without building a custom package).
I wrote a script that installs and updates certain software packages on a regular basis. This makes it easy for me to keep them up to date without visiting a dozen or so websites every week or building a custom installer every time I want to update them (they don't auto-update like Chrome or Firefox). Therefore, I need a list that I can create dynamically and use to check for updates and if I need to execute the installer.
So my question is: How do I emulate what CCleaner does when it creates its list of programs for uninstalling -- programmatically? I can execute the GUI and navigate to the uninstall tool and click "save to text file" but that isn't dynamic. Any answer that allows me to capture (in a Powershell script) the same list of applications that CCleaner generates in the uninstall tool will be acceptable.
You can use Get-Package to list installed programs as well. It will list Atom. You may need to combine the registry approach with Get-Package in the case it doesn't show all.
Get-Package | Where-Object name -like *atom*
Name Version Source ProviderName
---- ------- ------ ------------
Atom 1.53.0 Programs
What you are asking for used to be done with Get-CimInstance, but that comes at a cost and as you pointed out is no longer accurate. It used to be a WMI command. Now CIM. It is not a fast command, more on that later.
Get-CimInstance win32_product
The cost is Get-CimInstance can return incomplete data. It also runs a consistency check on all applications and performs automatic and silent repairs. Yes, when you run this command, it automatically runs a consistency check on all applications and performs automatic and silent repairs. That is why this simple command is so slow to report back.
Microsoft's documentation on this: Link Here
So we do not use that anymore, now what? What you are looking for is gathering the information from both 32 and 64 bit installers that looks like this and must be done, I do it first, always.
$installedApplications = #()
$installedApplications+= Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*" # 32 Bit
$installedApplications+= Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*" # 64 Bit
One caveat to the above is that the above method will return a ton more elements than the Win32_Product command does. It will have things such as Service Packs, Office Updates, Language Packs, etc. You will most likely need to filter out things you aren’t interested in, though you shouldn't have an issue using PowerShell to filter results.
To complete the answer to your question, how do you quantify data from installers regardless of their install location? Specifically finding the userprofile\AppData install information. The good news is these applications have their installation information documented in the registry as well, under HKEY_CURRENT_USER instead of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. What this means is every user's install location information is sitting in the registry hive under their profile, for instance c:\users\inet\NTUSER.DAT.
What else needs to be said about this;
If a user is logged in this can be accessed by any other admin user on the system by using the HKEY_USERS\$ACCOUNT_SID key.
If a user is not logged in, the hive can be manually mounted using REG LOAD
If a user's registry hive is already loaded it cannot be loaded a second time and will give you the obligatory "this file is being used by another process."
So how do we get what you are asking for, which is to replicate the "full install data" for the device, and not just what's in the 32 and 64bit directories?
This is what I use, if one so chooses you can pipe the info to CSV/HTML/etc...
$installedApplications = #()
$installedApplications+= Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*"
$installedApplications+= Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*"
$32BitPath = "SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*"
$64BitPath = "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*"
$tigerStripes= Get-CimInstance Win32_UserProfile | Select LocalPath, SID, Loaded, Special | Where {$_.SID -like "S-1-5-21-*"}
$unavailableProfiles = $tigerStripes| Where {$_.Loaded -eq $true}
$availableProfiles = $tigerStripes| Where {$_.Loaded -eq $false}
#Mounted
$unavailableProfiles | % {
$installedApplications += Get-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::\HKEY_USERS\$($_.SID)\$32BitPath"
$installedApplications += Get-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::\HKEY_USERS\$($_.SID)\$64BitPath"
}
#Unmounted
$availableProfiles | % {
#Mount Hive
$Hive = "$($_.LocalPath)\NTUSER.DAT"
if (Test-Path $Hive) {
REG LOAD HKU\temp $Hive
$installedApplications += Get-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::\HKEY_USERS\temp\$32BitPath"
$installedApplications += Get-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::\HKEY_USERS\temp\$64BitPath"
#This lets the hive be unmounted, using a manual Get-Content
[GC]::Collect()
[GC]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()
REG UNLOAD HKU\temp
} else {
Write-Warning "Unable to access registry at $Hive"
}
}
$installedApplications
During the course of day I often have to turn on and off "Use automatic configuration script" option in proxy settings to access web destinations that are otherwise blocked and vice versa. In other words, this checkbox:
I found that it changes AutoConfigURL property in HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings. When checkbox is on, the property is set to configuration script URL, when it's off the property is removed. So I wrote a simple PowerShell script to do the job:
$regKey = "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings"
$propertyName = "AutoConfigURL"
$configurationScript = "http://example.com/config.dat"
$proxyStatus = (Get-ItemProperty -Path $regKey -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).$propertyName
If ([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($proxyStatus)) {
Set-ItemProperty -Path $regKey -Name $propertyName -Value $configurationScript
} Else {
Remove-ItemProperty -Path $regKey -Name $propertyName
}
It changes the registry the way I need, however these changes have no effect. I need to open the LAN settings window under Internet properties / Connections and only then my proxy settings are changed (I don't even need to press OK or Cancel buttons, just open the window).
Are there any additional commands that should be executed after making changes to the registry to apply changes?
I found the answer to your question in the below Powershell script (It's a nicely written script).
https://github.com/majkinetor/posh/blob/master/MM_Network/Update-Proxy.ps1
This script actually forces/refreshes the internet settings. The above script refers to the msdn forum, where C# solution was mentioned.
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/19517edf-8348-438a-a3da-5fbe7a46b61a/how-to-change-global-windows-proxy-using-c-net-with-immediate-effect?forum=csharpgeneral
I am distributing a PowerShell script to my team. The script is to fetch an IP address from the Vsphere client, make an mstsc connection, and log it in a shared file.
The moment they used the script they got to know the IP address of machine. After that, they always tend to use mstsc directly instead of running the PowerShell script.
(As they are using mstsc I am not able to know whether they are using the VM frequently or not.)
Mainly they are telling me that running PowerShell is not straightforward.
I am sick by their laziness.
Is there a way to make a PowerShell script work by double clicking a .ps1 file?
Create a shortcut with something like this as the "Target":
powershell.exe -command "& 'C:\A path with spaces\MyScript.ps1' -MyArguments blah"
Or if you want all PS1 files to work the way VBS files do, you can edit the registry like this:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1\Shell\open\command
Edit the Default value to be something like so...
"C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -noLogo -ExecutionPolicy unrestricted -file "%1"
Then you can just double click all your .PS1 files like you would like to. in my humble opinion, be able to out of the box.
I'm going to call this "The Powershell De-castration Hack". LOL enjoy!
This worked for me on Windows 10 and powershell 5.1:
right click on the .ps1 file
Open with...
Choose another app
Copy the location of powershell.exe to the address bar (by default it won't show windows folder) i.e. C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0
select powershell.exe
select "Always use this app to open .ps1 files"
click OK
Be aware that one of PowerShell's security features is that users can NOT launch script with a double click. Use great care if you modify this setting. An alternative might be to package your script. Some editors like PrimalScript can do that. The users still need PowerShell installed but then they can double-click the exe. And it sounds like your team needs a little education.
I agree that setting a system setting may be a bit much, but the shortcut requiring a hardcoded path is not ideal. A bat file actually solves the problem nicely
RunMyPowershellScript.bat
start powershell -command "& '.\MyPowershellScript.ps1' -MyArguments blah"
This batch file can now be double clicked on, shortcuts can be easily created to the batch file, and the script can be deployed to any folder.
I wrote this a few years ago (run it with administrator rights):
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Change the registry key in order that double-clicking on a file with .PS1 extension
start its execution with PowerShell.
.DESCRIPTION
This operation bring (partly) .PS1 files to the level of .VBS as far as execution
through Explorer.exe is concern.
This operation is not advised by Microsoft.
.NOTES
File Name : ModifyExplorer.ps1
Author : J.P. Blanc - jean-paul_blanc#silogix-fr.com
Prerequisite: PowerShell V2 on Vista and later versions.
Copyright 2010 - Jean Paul Blanc/Silogix
.LINK
Script posted on:
http://www.silogix.fr
.EXAMPLE
PS C:\silogix> Set-PowAsDefault -On
Call Powershell for .PS1 files.
Done!
.EXAMPLE
PS C:\silogix> Set-PowAsDefault
Tries to go back
Done!
#>
function Set-PowAsDefault
{
[CmdletBinding()]
Param
(
[Parameter(mandatory=$false, ValueFromPipeline=$false)]
[Alias("Active")]
[switch]
[bool]$On
)
begin
{
if ($On.IsPresent)
{
Write-Host "Call PowerShell for .PS1 files."
}
else
{
Write-Host "Try to go back."
}
}
Process
{
# Text Menu
[string]$TexteMenu = "Go inside PowerShell"
# Text of the program to create
[string] $TexteCommande = "%systemroot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -Command ""&'%1'"""
# Key to create
[String] $clefAModifier = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Classes\Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1\Shell\Open\Command"
try
{
$oldCmdKey = $null
$oldCmdKey = Get-Item $clefAModifier -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
$oldCmdValue = $oldCmdKey.getvalue("")
if ($oldCmdValue -ne $null)
{
if ($On.IsPresent)
{
$slxOldValue = $null
$slxOldValue = Get-ItemProperty $clefAModifier -Name "slxOldValue" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if ($slxOldValue -eq $null)
{
New-ItemProperty $clefAModifier -Name "slxOldValue" -Value $oldCmdValue -PropertyType "String" | Out-Null
New-ItemProperty $clefAModifier -Name "(default)" -Value $TexteCommande -PropertyType "ExpandString" | Out-Null
Write-Host "Done !"
}
else
{
Write-Host "Already done!"
}
}
else
{
$slxOldValue = $null
$slxOldValue = Get-ItemProperty $clefAModifier -Name "slxOldValue" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if ($slxOldValue -ne $null)
{
New-ItemProperty $clefAModifier -Name "(default)" -Value $slxOldValue."slxOldValue" -PropertyType "String" | Out-Null
Remove-ItemProperty $clefAModifier -Name "slxOldValue"
Write-Host "Done!"
}
else
{
Write-Host "No former value!"
}
}
}
}
catch
{
$_.exception.message
}
}
end {}
}
You'll need to tweak registry.
First, configure a PSDrive for HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT since this isn’t set up by default. The command for this is:
New-PSDrive HKCR Registry HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
Now you can navigate and edit registry keys and values in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT just like you would in the regular HKCU and HKLM PSDrives.
To configure double-clicking to launch PowerShell scripts directly:
Set-ItemProperty HKCR:\Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1\Shell '(Default)' 0
To configure double-clicking to open PowerShell scripts in the PowerShell ISE:
Set-ItemProperty HKCR:\Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1\Shell '(Default)' 'Edit'
To restore the default value (sets double-click to open PowerShell scripts in Notepad):
Set-ItemProperty HKCR:\Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1\Shell '(Default)' 'Open'
Simple PowerShell commands to set this in the registry;
New-PSDrive -Name HKCR -PSProvider Registry -Root HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCR:\Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1\Shell\open\command" -name '(Default)' -Value '"C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -noLogo -ExecutionPolicy unrestricted -file "%1"'
You may set the default file association of ps1 files to be powershell.exe which will allow you to execute a powershell script by double clicking on it.
In Windows 10,
Right click on a ps1 file
Click Open with
Click Choose another app
In the popup window, select More apps
Scroll to the bottom and select Look for another app on this PC.
Browse to and select C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe.
List item
That will change the file association and ps1 files will execute by double-clicking them. You may change it back to its default behavior by setting notepad.exe to the default app.
Source
I tried the top-most answers to this question, but encountered error messages. Then I found the answer here:
PowerShell says "execution of scripts is disabled on this system."
What worked well for me was to use this solution:
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File script.ps1
You can paste that into a .bat file and double-click on it.
put a simple .cmd file in my subfolder with my .ps1 file with the same name, so, for example, a script named "foobar" would have "foobar.ps1" and "foobar.cmd". So to run the .ps1, all I have to do is click the .cmd file from explorer or run the .cmd from a command prompt. I use the same base name because the .cmd file will automatically look for the .ps1 using its own name.
::====================================================================
:: Powershell script launcher
::=====================================================================
:MAIN
#echo off
for /f "tokens=*" %%p in ("%~p0") do set SCRIPT_PATH=%%p
pushd "%SCRIPT_PATH%"
powershell.exe -sta -c "& {.\%~n0.ps1 %*}"
popd
set SCRIPT_PATH=
pause
The pushd/popd allows you to launch the .cmd file from a command prompt without having to change to the specific directory where the scripts are located. It will change to the script directory then when complete go back to the original directory.
You can also take the pause off if you want the command window to disappear when the script finishes.
If my .ps1 script has parameters, I prompt for them with GUI prompts using .NET Forms, but also make the scripts flexible enough to accept parameters if I want to pass them instead. This way I can just double-click it from Explorer and not have to know the details of the parameters since it will ask me for what I need, with list boxes or other forms.
Navigate REGEDIT to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1\Shell
On the right pane, double-click "(Default)"
Delete existing value of "Open" (which launches Notepad) and type "0" (being zero, which launches Powershell directly).
Revert the value if you wish to use Notepad as the default again.
A solution in the same spirit as UNIX shar (shell archive).
You can put your powershell script in a file with the .cmd extension (instead of .ps1), and put this at the start:
#echo off
Rem Make powershell read this file, skip a number of lines, and execute it.
Rem This works around .ps1 bad file association as non executables.
PowerShell -Command "Get-Content '%~dpnx0' | Select-Object -Skip 5 | Out-String | Invoke-Expression"
goto :eof
# Start of PowerShell script here
If you are familiar with advanced Windows administration, then you can use this ADM package (instructions are included on that page) and allow running PowerShell scripts after double click via this template and Local GPO. After this you can simply change default program associated to .ps1 filetype to powershell.exe (use search, it's quite stashed) and you're ready to run PowerShell scripts with double click.
Otherwise, I would recommend to stick with other suggestions as you can mess up the whole system with these administrations tools.
I think that the default settings are too strict. If someone manages to put some malicious code on your computer then he/she is also able to bypass this restriction (wrap it into .cmd file or .exe, or trick with shortcut) and all that it in the end accomplishes is just to prevent you from easy way of running the script you've written.
there is my solution 2022
Install "PowerShell-7.2.2-win-x64.msi"
Right click on file.ps1 and change to exec with "pwsh"
Powershell registry hacks and policy bypass never worked for me.
This is based on KoZm0kNoT's answer. I modified it to work across drives.
#echo off
pushd "%~d0"
pushd "%~dp0"
powershell.exe -sta -c "& {.\%~n0.ps1 %*}"
popd
popd
The two pushd/popds are necessary in case the user's cwd is on a different drive. Without the outer set, the cwd on the drive with the script will get lost.
This is what I use to have scrips run as admin by default:
Powershell.exe -Command "& {Start-Process PowerShell.exe -Verb RunAs -ArgumentList '-File """%1"""'}"
You'll need to paste that into regedit as the default value for:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1\Shell\Open\Command
Or here's a script that will do it for you:
$hive = [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey]::OpenBaseKey('ClassesRoot', 'Default')
$key = $hive.CreateSubKey('Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1\Shell\Open\Command')
$key.SetValue($null, 'Powershell.exe -Command "& {Start-Process PowerShell.exe -Verb RunAs -ArgumentList ''-File """%1"""''}"')
I used this (need to run it only once); also make sure you have rights to execute:
from PowerShell with elevated rights:
Set-ExecutionPolicy=RemoteSigned
then from a bat file:
-----------------------------------------
ftype Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1="C:\WINDOWS\system32\windowspowershell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -noexit ^&'%%1'
assoc .ps1=Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1
-----------------------------------------
auto exit: remove -noexit
and voila; double-clicking a *.ps1 will execute it.
In Windows 10 you might also want to delete Windows Explorer's override for file extension association:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.ps1\UserChoice
in addition to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1\Shell\open\command change mentioned in other answers.
See https://stackoverflow.com/a/2697804/1360907
You may not want to but an easy way is just to create a .BAT file and put your command in:
powershell ./generate-strings-table-en.ps1
powershell ./generate-conjoined-tables-it.ps1
Then double-click said BAT file.
You can use the Windows 'SendTo' functionality to make running PS1 scripts easier. Using this method you can right click on
a PS1 script and execute. This is doesn't exactly answer the OP question but it is close. Hopefully, this is useful to others. BTW.. this is helpful for
a variety of other tasks.
Locate / Search for Powershell.exe
Right click on Powershell.exe and choose Open File Location
Right click on Powershell.exe and choose Create Shortcut. Temporarily save some place like your desktop
You might want to open as Admin by default. Select Shortcut > Properties > Advanced > Open As Admin
Open the Sendto folder. Start > Run > Shell:Sendto
Move the Powershell.exe shortcut to the Sendto folder
You should now be able to right click on a PS1 script.
Right Click on a PS1 file, Select the SendTo context option > Select the Powershell shortcut
Your PS1 script should execute.
From http://www.howtogeek.com/204166/how-to-configure-windows-to-work-with-powershell-scripts-more-easily:
Set the default value for the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1\Shell to 0
I am busy with creating a PowerShell script where a folder needs to be copied to another folder as a part of the script.
For this I would like to use the standard Windows copy interface and leverage from the prompts and selections like “There is already a file with the same name in this location.”, “Do you want to merge this folder”, “Do this for all”, etc. instead of programming this all myself.
I investigated a view directions:
Using the IFileOperation::CopyItem method as e.g. HowTo: Display progress dialog using IFileOperation but I could find any hint of how to embed this in PowerShell
Using Verbs() Copy/Paste but although the example Invoke-FileSystemVerb -Path "C:\TestDir -Verb Cut; Invoke-FileSystemVerb -Path "\\server\share" -Verb Paste” suggests otherwise, I can paste files that are manually copied/cut but could not copy/cut files with using the CmdLet or simply using the Verb.DoIt() method (I suspect this for a security reason).
Simulate a drag-drop?
But could not find any working solution.
Any suggestion how to do this from PowerShell?
I use this to extract from ZIP files which seems to come up with all the prompts and progress bar:
$shell = New-Object -Com Shell.Application
$folder = $shell.NameSpace(“$path\Folder”)
$shell.NameSpace($otherpath).CopyHere($folder)