PowerShell from a batch file using relative path

Question

I have a batch file that launches a PowerShell script with elevated privileges and bypasses execution policy:

PowerShell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "& {Start-Process PowerShell -ArgumentList '-NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -File ""C:\Users\Bob\Desktop\New folder\Server.ps1""' -Verb RunAs}";

This works Yea! I want to be able to use relative paths for the file path.

PowerShell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "& {Start-Process PowerShell -ArgumentList '-NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -File "".\Server.ps1""' -Verb RunAs}";

This fails for some reason. What am I doing wrong?

Your elevated batch file has a different working folder (so the relative path is pointing somewhere else). Put a cd /d "%~dp0 before the Powershell command to change to the correct folder. — Stephan
– Stephan, Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 16:55
in your bat file just do pushd C:\folder then after the powershell command popd. — shadow2020
– shadow2020, Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 17:17
I must be misunderstanding. I keep getting The system cannot find the path specified. — Minerbob
– Minerbob, Commented Mar 17, 2020 at 17:38

Stephan · Accepted Answer · 2020-03-18 07:46:15Z

2

If your PowerShell script is not present at the location where cmd is pointing to, you will get an error as the relative path searches in that directory. If the PS script is present in the same location of the batch script, you can invoke PS script from the batch as follows:

Powershell "%~dp0Server.ps1"

If PowerShell and batch script locations are variant, first you need to change the directory in the batch before invoking PowerShell script as follows:

cd /d "C:\Users\Bob\Desktop\New Folder\"
Powershell -NoProfile .\Server.ps1

edited Mar 18, 2020 at 7:46

Stephan

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answered Mar 17, 2020 at 18:44

Hyndavi

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3 Comments

aschipfl Over a year ago

You should quote the paths as they might contain spaces, and you should add the /D option to cd...

Hyndavi Over a year ago

Yes, i agree your comments but it depends on the requirements. Anyways adding those is an extra add-on for future readiness

Minerbob Over a year ago

Thank you all for the help - it makes sense now.

michael_heath · Accepted Answer · 2020-03-18 02:45:07Z

PowerShell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "& {Start-Process PowerShell -ArgumentList '-NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "Set-Location \"%~dp0\"; \".\Server.ps1\"' -Verb RunAs}"

The -Verb RunAs forces the new Powershell process to change directory to the system directory. You can use set-location to change it to the batch-file script directory using %~dp0.

The argument -WorkingDirectory appears to be ignored when -Verb RunAs is used so seems obsolete for this task.

You can view this example to see that current directory or changing directory before the Powershell process has no effect on the new elevated Powershell process:

cd /d "%~dp0"
PowerShell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "& {Start-Process PowerShell -ArgumentList '-NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command \"Get-Location; Start-Sleep 10\"' -Verb RunAs}"

which outputs:

Path
----
C:\Windows\system32

so you may need to change directory in the elevated Powershell process.

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