Is there a way to make a PowerShell script work by double clicking a .ps1 file?

I am distributing a PowerShell script to my team. The script is to fetch an IP address from the Vsphere client, make an mstsc connection, and log it in a shared file.

The moment they used the script they got to know the IP address of machine. After that, they always tend to use mstsc directly instead of running the PowerShell script. (As they are using mstsc I am not able to know whether they are using the VM frequently or not.)

Mainly they are telling me that running PowerShell is not straightforward.

I am sick by their laziness.

Is there a way to make a PowerShell script work by double clicking a .ps1 file?

Create a shortcut with something like this as the "Target":

powershell.exe -command "& 'C:\A path with spaces\MyScript.ps1' -MyArguments blah"

Or if you want all PS1 files to work the way VBS files do, you can edit the registry like this:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1\Shell\open\command

Edit the Default value to be something like so...

"C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -noLogo -ExecutionPolicy unrestricted -file "%1"

Then you can just double click all your .PS1 files like you would like to. in my humble opinion, be able to out of the box.

I'm going to call this "The Powershell De-castration Hack". LOL enjoy!

This worked for me on Windows 10 and powershell 5.1:

• right click on the .ps1 file
• Open with...
• Choose another app
• Copy the location of powershell.exe to the address bar (by default it won't show windows folder) i.e. C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0
• select powershell.exe
• select "Always use this app to open .ps1 files"
• click OK

Be aware that one of PowerShell's security features is that users can NOT launch script with a double click. Use great care if you modify this setting. An alternative might be to package your script. Some editors like PrimalScript can do that. The users still need PowerShell installed but then they can double-click the exe. And it sounds like your team needs a little education.

I wrote this a few years ago (run it with administrator rights):

<#
.SYNOPSIS
    Change the registry key in order that double-clicking on a file with .PS1 extension
    start its execution with PowerShell.
.DESCRIPTION
    This operation bring (partly) .PS1 files to the level of .VBS as far as execution
    through Explorer.exe is concern.
    This operation is not advised by Microsoft.
.NOTES
    File Name   : ModifyExplorer.ps1
    Author      : J.P. Blanc - [email protected]
    Prerequisite: PowerShell V2 on Vista and later versions.
    Copyright 2010 - Jean Paul Blanc/Silogix
.LINK
    Script posted on:
    http://www.silogix.fr
.EXAMPLE
    PS C:\silogix> Set-PowAsDefault -On
    Call Powershell for .PS1 files.
    Done!
.EXAMPLE
    PS C:\silogix> Set-PowAsDefault
    Tries to go back
    Done!
#>
function Set-PowAsDefault
{
  [CmdletBinding()]
  Param
  (
    [Parameter(mandatory=$false, ValueFromPipeline=$false)]
    [Alias("Active")]
    [switch]
    [bool]$On
  )

  begin
  {
    if ($On.IsPresent)
    {
      Write-Host "Call PowerShell for .PS1 files."
    }
    else
    {
      Write-Host "Try to go back."
    }
  }

  Process
  {
    # Text Menu
    [string]$TexteMenu = "Go inside PowerShell"

    # Text of the program to create
    [string] $TexteCommande = "%systemroot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -Command ""&'%1'"""

    # Key to create
    [String] $clefAModifier = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Classes\Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1\Shell\Open\Command"

    try
    {
      $oldCmdKey = $null
      $oldCmdKey = Get-Item $clefAModifier -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
      $oldCmdValue = $oldCmdKey.getvalue("")

      if ($oldCmdValue -ne $null)
      {
        if ($On.IsPresent)
        {
          $slxOldValue = $null
          $slxOldValue = Get-ItemProperty $clefAModifier -Name "slxOldValue" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
          if ($slxOldValue -eq $null)
          {
            New-ItemProperty $clefAModifier -Name "slxOldValue" -Value $oldCmdValue  -PropertyType "String" | Out-Null
            New-ItemProperty $clefAModifier -Name "(default)" -Value $TexteCommande  -PropertyType "ExpandString" | Out-Null
            Write-Host "Done !"
          }
          else
          {
            Write-Host "Already done!"
          }
        }
        else
        {
          $slxOldValue = $null
          $slxOldValue = Get-ItemProperty $clefAModifier -Name "slxOldValue" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
          if ($slxOldValue -ne $null)
          {
            New-ItemProperty $clefAModifier -Name "(default)" -Value $slxOldValue."slxOldValue"  -PropertyType "String" | Out-Null
            Remove-ItemProperty $clefAModifier -Name "slxOldValue"
            Write-Host "Done!"
          }
          else
          {
            Write-Host "No former value!"
          }
        }
      }
    }
    catch
    {
      $_.exception.message
    }
  }
  end {}
}