PowerShell Shell.Application To:
Launch Windows Explorer
Scripting COM Shell Objects - Launch Windows Explorer
On this page I will show you how to create a COM object, which opens and then manipulates Windows Explorer. ComObject, or plain COM, is a key PowerShell command that performs many of the jobs
previously undertaken by VBScript. For our task, we are going to persuade PowerShell to create a Shell.Application; from there we will manipulate the Explorer programmatically.
Topics for PowerShell's Shell.Application
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All COM objects are created through the command: New-Object -COM. There are dozens of options and possibilities for
New-Object -COM, for our purpose we specifically need a Shell.Application type of
object. Let me take you step-by-step
through the method. 1) Assuming You Have
Installed PowerShell
Using the ISE (GUI) or the PowerShell command line issue these commands:
2) Create the object (Shell.Application)
The first step is to create an object and assign it to a variable,
for example:
# PowerShell Shell.Application
$ShellExp = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application 3) Let us put the object to work and open the Windows Explorer at
the C:\
# ShellOpen.ps1 Opening Explorer using PowerShell
$ShellExp = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application
$ShellExp.open("C:\") Learning Points When I first experimented with this command I tried $ShellExp.open without the brackets - wrong. Then I tried $ShellExp.Open() - no good. Finally I remembered that the
parenthesis style of brackets needs to enclose a value, $ShellExp.Open("C:\"). Eureka, success, the Windows Explorer launched anchored at the C:\.
Guy
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The idea behind a second version of opening the Windows Explorer is to give you perspective. By changing a few items, I hope that it gives you extra understanding, also more ideas for your own situation. In the example below I have introduced a
variable $Drive to hold the value for the folder, which you want explorer to view. Note also how I have changed .open("D:") to .explore("C:\windows"). For this script to work,
you need to have a \windows folder on your c: drive, fortunately, this is the default location for this system folder.
# ShellExplore.ps1
# Opening Explorer using PowerShell
# Author Guy Thomas http://computerperformance.co.uk/
# Version 2.5 - November 2007
# Sets the Drive
$Drive = "C:\windows"
# Launches the
Explorer
$ShellExp = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application
$ShellExp.explore($Drive)
Let us investigate the methods and properties available to our shell
object with Get-Member
# PowerShell Shell.Application properties
$ShellExp = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application
$ShellExp | Get-Member
In particular, lookout for the methods: 'Open' and 'Explore', because these are the methods that we are going to apply to our object.
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