Is there any possibility to run a cmd command from a different folder then the script home location (e.g. C:\ScriptHome)?
I mean e.g.
Cmd /C "C:\Test\test.exe"
Basically, it can be done in pure cmd, like cd "C:\RunTestExeHere" and after
C:\RunTestExeHere>C:\Test\test.exe
Thank you!
Your best bet is to sandwich your external command between Push-Location and Pop-Location commands.
A simple example (-EA is short for the common -ErrorAction parameter):
Push-Location -EA Stop C:\ # You'd use C:\RunTestExeHere instead;
cmd /c dir # You'd use & "C:\Test\test.exe" instead
Pop-Location # Return to the original dir.
Note:
In Windows PowerShell and PowerShell (Core) 7 version up to 7.3.x, an external program such as cmd.exe cannot produce a script-terminating (fatal) error (except potentially - in Windows PowerShell, due to a bug - when a 2> redirection is involved), so Pop-Location is guaranteed to run.
However in PowerShell 7.4+ it is now possible for external-program calls to trigger script-terminating errors, namely by setting the
$PSNativeCommandUseErrorActionPreference preference variable to $true as well as the $ErrorActionPreference preference variable to 'Stop'.
Thus, to ensure that Pop-Location is always executed, call it from the finally block of a try statement:
# Safer version
Push-Location -EA Stop C:\
try {
cmd /c dir
} finally {
Pop-Location
}
Another option - assuming that cmd.exe is needed anyway - is to change to the target directory in the context of the cmd /c command, which limits the changed directory to the cmd.exe child process, without affecting the calling PowerShell session:
cmd /c 'cd /d C:\ && dir'
Finally, you may use Start-Process (the invocation syntax is less convenient), but note that you won't be able to capture cmd's output (unless you redirect to a file with -RedirectStandardOut / -RedirectStandardError):
Start-Process -Wait -NoNewWindow cmd -ArgumentList '/c dir' -WorkingDirectory C:\