Use PowerShell to create a shortcut to launch a PowerShell script

Question

I have a need to create a shortcut on a Windows 2019 Server for the Eclipse application so that it runs a PowerShell script instead of opening Eclipse. The script runs a few commands first and then opens the Eclipse application. When I edit an existing shortcut for Eclipse, I can modify the target to be:

"powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy bypass C:\temp\eclipse-fix.ps1 -WindowStyle Hidden"

This works fine when completed manually. However, when I try to do the same with a PowerShell script, to automate the process, I get an error.

Contents of the script:

$WshShell = New-Object -comObject WScript.Shell
$Shortcut = $WshShell.CreateShortcut("C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\Eclipse.lnk")
$Shortcut.TargetPath = "C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy bypass C:\cfn\temp\eclipse-fix.ps1 -WindowStyle Hidden"
$Shortcut.IconLocation = "%SystemDrive%\eclipse\eclipse.exe"
$Shortcut.Save()

Error Returned:

PS C:\Users\Administrator> $WshShell = New-Object -comObject WScript.Shell
PS C:\Users\Administrator> $Shortcut = $WshShell.CreateShortcut("C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\Eclipse.lnk")
PS C:\Users\Administrator> $Shortcut.TargetPath = "powershell.exe -File C:\cfn\temp\eclipse-fix.ps1"
Value does not fall within the expected range.
At line:1 char:1
+ $Shortcut.TargetPath = "powershell.exe -File C:\cfn\temp\eclipse-fix. ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (:) [], ArgumentException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.ArgumentException

PS C:\Users\Administrator> $Shortcut.IconLocation="%SystemDrive%\eclipse\eclipse.exe, 0"
PS C:\Users\Administrator> $Shortcut.Save()

Result:

The icon is created but has no value for target.

Does anyone know what I am missing to get this to work? Is there another option to use that I may not be aware of?

Thanks.

Answer 1

You need to specify the Arguments separate from the TargetPath

$WshShell = New-Object -comObject WScript.Shell
$Shortcut = $WshShell.CreateShortcut("C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\Eclipse.lnk")
$Shortcut.TargetPath = "C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe"
$Shortcut.Arguments = "-ExecutionPolicy bypass C:\cfn\temp\eclipse-fix.ps1 -WindowStyle Hidden"
$Shortcut.IconLocation = "%SystemDrive%\eclipse\eclipse.exe"
$Shortcut.Save()

You can also use just powershell.exe in place of the full path. Either will work.

Answer 2

Here is a script I wrote that will create a shortcut to itself on the desktop that is executable (Can run by double clicking) when run.

I did this to take the step-by-step process out of colleagues having to create their own shortcuts of my powershell automation scripts.

Because our shared drive at work is a different location for everybody, I use the "Get-location" command which gets the pwd, then trim it and parse it for use within the shortcut's argument field.

In order to have the arguments contain double quotes, you have to use the escape character ` preceding another set of quotes, this will allow for the script to send quotes to the arguments field. It will not work without this. '" '"

Make sure that when you are running the script you are not running it from the powershell IDE, or the file paths will be wrong. You need to save the script in your target source path and the nrun it from there by either right ckicling it and running it as a powershell script or creating an executable shortcut for it. Let me know if you need instructions on how to create an executable powershell shortcut.

Hope this helps!

#Grap the pwd
$location = Get-Location | Select Path | ft -HideTableHeaders | Out-String;
#Trim the pwd variable of any extra spaces and unwanted characters
$location = $location.Trim();
$locations = $location.replace(' ' , '');
$locations = $locations.replace("`n","");

#Make the source file location my path to powershell.exe
$SourceFileLocation = "`"C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe`"";

# Declare where I want to place the shortcut, I placed it on the desktop of whomever is running the script with the dynamic $env:USERNAME which takes the username of whomever is running the script - You can name the shortcut anything you want at the end as long as it ends with .LNK
$ShortcutLocation = “C:\Users\$env:USERNAME\OneDrive\Desktop\PopupSortcut.lnk”;

#Create a now com
$WScriptShell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell;

#create shortcut and provide the location parameter as an argument
$Shortcut = $WScriptShell.CreateShortcut($ShortcutLocation);

#set the target path
$Shortcut.TargetPath = $SourceFileLocation;

#Add arguments that will bypass the execution policy as well as provide a path to the source powershell script (make sure that the entire argument has double quotes around it and that the internal quotes have escape characters (`) behind them, these are not apostrophes but back ticks, located on the same key as the tilde (~) key on the keyboard
$Shortcut.Arguments = “-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -file `"$locations"+"Pop-up.ps1`"”;

#Save the Shortcut
$Shortcut.Save();




########################### This is the meat of our script Performing an Operation #######################


$wshell = New-Object -ComObject Wscript.Shell;

$wshell.Popup("Operation Completed",0,"Done",0x1);