There are a few different ways to go about running an executable (EXE) or bat script in PowerShell.

• Using the full path to the executable or bat script
• Using dot forward slash
• Using Invoke-Expression
• Using Start-Process

Probably the easiest way to run an executable or bat script is to simply just using the full path to the executable or bat script on the command line. In this example, here is how you would run example.exe.

C:\Users\JohnDoe> C:\temp\example.exe

Sometimes, it might be a bit easier to use cd to change directory to the directory that contains the executable or bat script and to then use dot forward slash to run the executable or bat script.

C:\Users\JohnDoe> cd C:\temp\
C:\Users\JohnDoe> ./example.bat

Invoke-Expression can be used to run an executable (.exe) file. In this example, here is how you would run example.exe.

C:\Users\JohnDoe> Invoke-Expression -Command example.exe

If the executable is not in your present working directory, include the absolute path to the executable.

C:\Users\JohnDoe> Invoke-Expression -Command C:\temp\example.exe

If the path to the executable contains whitespace, backticks can be used to escape the whitespace.

C:\Users\JohnDoe> Invoke-Expression -Command C:\temp\my` programs\example.exe

If the path to the executable contains parentheses, backticks can be used to escape the parentheses.

C:\Users\JohnDoe> Invoke-Expression -Command C:\Program` Files` `(x86`)\example.exe

If parameters are includes, wrap the command in single quotes.

C:\Users\JohnDoe> Invoke-Expression -Command 'C:\temp\my` programs\example.exe -log my.log'