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

16

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

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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 7 · 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 5 · Answer 4 · edited Apr 01 '18 at 07:51

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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 -1 · Answer 5 · answered May 11 '22 at 12:06

Welcome to 2022! The most simplest method is as below :-

1. Open powershell as Administrator

2. See all the App-IDs via this command

StartApps

3. Note the AppID of app you want to open

in our case we have to open VoiceRecoder soo.. note it baby

4. Finally, open Notepad via AppId

explorer shell:appsFolder\Microsoft.WindowsSoundRecorder_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App

AppIds are almost same for each systems

I hope you see the answer, because it's been 5 years you asked this question.

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

5 Answers5