Start-Process (Microsoft.PowerShell.Management) - PowerShell (2023)

Syntax

Start-Process [-FilePath] <String> [[-ArgumentList] <String[]>] [-Credential <PSCredential>] [-WorkingDirectory <String>] [-LoadUserProfile] [-NoNewWindow] [-PassThru] [-RedirectStandardError <String>] [-RedirectStandardInput <String>] [-RedirectStandardOutput <String>] [-WindowStyle <ProcessWindowStyle>] [-Wait] [-UseNewEnvironment] [-WhatIf] [-Confirm] [<CommonParameters>]

Start-Process [-FilePath] <String> [[-ArgumentList] <String[]>] [-WorkingDirectory <String>] [-PassThru] [-Verb <String>] [-WindowStyle <ProcessWindowStyle>] [-Wait] [-WhatIf] [-Confirm] [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The Start-Process cmdlet starts one or more processes on the local computer. By default,Start-Process creates a new process that inherits all the environment variables that are definedin the current process.

To specify the program that runs in the process, enter an executable file or script file, or a filethat can be opened using a program on the computer. If you specify a non-executable file,Start-Process starts the program that's associated with the file, similar to the Invoke-Itemcmdlet.

You can use the parameters of Start-Process to specify options, such as loading a user profile,starting the process in a new window, or using alternate credentials.

Examples

Example 1: Start a process that uses default values

This example starts a process that uses the Sort.exe file in the current folder. The command usesall the default values, including the default window style, working folder, and credentials.

Start-Process -FilePath "sort.exe"

Example 2: Print a text file

This example starts a process that prints the C:\PS-Test\MyFile.txt file.

Start-Process -FilePath "myfile.txt" -WorkingDirectory "C:\PS-Test" -Verb Print

Example 3: Start a process to sort items to a new file

This example starts a process that sorts items in the TestSort.txt file and returns the sorteditems in the Sorted.txt files. Any errors are written to the SortError.txt file. TheUseNewEnvironment parameter specifies that the process runs with its own environment variables.

$processOptions = @{ FilePath = "sort.exe" RedirectStandardInput = "TestSort.txt" RedirectStandardOutput = "Sorted.txt" RedirectStandardError = "SortError.txt" UseNewEnvironment = $true}Start-Process @processOptions

This example uses splatting to pass parameters to the cmdlet. For more information, seeabout_Splatting.

Example 4: Start a process in a maximized window

This example starts the Notepad.exe process. It maximizes the window and retains the window untilthe process completes.

Start-Process -FilePath "notepad" -Wait -WindowStyle Maximized

Example 5: Start PowerShell as an administrator

This example starts PowerShell using the Run as administrator option.

Start-Process -FilePath "powershell" -Verb RunAs

Example 6: Using different verbs to start a process

This example shows how to find the verbs that can be used when starting a process. The availableverbs are determined by the filename extension of the file that runs in the process.

$startExe = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo -Args powershell.exe$startExe.verbsopenrunasrunasuser

The example uses New-Object to create a System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo object forpowershell.exe, the file that runs in the PowerShell process. The Verbs property of theProcessStartInfo object shows that you can use the Open and RunAs verbs withpowershell.exe, or with any process that runs a .exe file.

Example 7: Specifying arguments to the process

Both commands start the Windows command interpreter, issuing a dir command on the Program Filesfolder. Because this foldername contains a space, the value needs surrounded with escaped quotes.Note that the first command specifies a string as ArgumentList. The second command is a stringarray.

Start-Process -FilePath "$env:comspec" -ArgumentList "/c dir `"%SystemDrive%\Program Files`""Start-Process -FilePath "$env:comspec" -ArgumentList "/c","dir","`"%SystemDrive%\Program Files`""

Example 8: Run a command as an Administrator using alternate credentials

On Windows, you can run Start-Process -Verb RunAs to start a process with elevated permissions.This elevates the current user's context. The Credential parameter allows you to specify analternate username and password, allowing you to start a process in a different user content.However, the Credential and Verb parameters can't be used together.

To start a process with elevated rights, using alternate credentials, you must first startPowerShell using the alternate credentials, then use Start-Process to start the process withelevated rights.

$cred = Get-Credential$args = '-noprofile -command "Start-Process cmd.exe -Verb RunAs -args /k"'Start-Process pwsh.exe -Credential $cred -WindowStyle Hidden -ArgumentList $args

The example starts cmd.exe with elevated permissions from a PowerShell session that is runningunder alternate credentials.

Example 9: Create a detached process on Linux

On Windows, Start-Process creates an independent process that remains running independently of thelaunching shell. On non-Windows platforms, the newly started process is attached to the shell thatlaunched. If the launching shell is closed, the child process is terminated.

To avoid terminating the child process on Unix-like platforms, you can combine Start-Process withnohup. The following example launches a background instance of PowerShell on Linux that staysalive even after you close the launching session. The nohup command collects output in filenohup.out in the current directory.

# Runs for 2 minutes and appends output to ./nohup.outStart-Process nohup 'pwsh -noprofile -c "1..120 | % { Write-Host . -NoNewline; sleep 1 }"'

In this example, Start-Process is running the Linux nohup command, which launches pwsh as adetached process. For more information, see the nohup article onWikipedia.

Parameters

-ArgumentList

-Confirm

-Credential

-FilePath

-LoadUserProfile

-NoNewWindow

-PassThru

-RedirectStandardError

-RedirectStandardInput

-RedirectStandardOutput

-UseNewEnvironment

-Verb

-Wait

-WhatIf

-WindowStyle

-WorkingDirectory

Inputs

None

You can't pipe objects to this cmdlet.

Outputs

None

By default, this cmdlet returns no output.

Process

When you use the PassThru parameter, this cmdlet returns a Process object.

Notes

PowerShell includes the following aliases for Start-Process:

• All platforms
  • saps
• Windows
  • start

Native commands are executable files installed in the operating system. These executables can be runfrom any command-line shell, like PowerShell. Usually you run the command exactly as you would inbash or cmd.exe. The Start-Process cmdlet can be used to run any native commands, but shouldonly be used when you need to control how the command is executed.

Start-Process is useful for running GUI programs on non-Windows platforms. For example, runStart-Proces gedit to launch the graphical text editor common the GNOME Desktop environments.

By default, Start-Process launches a process asynchronously. Control is instantly returned toPowerShell even if the new process is still running.

• On the local system, the launched process lives on independent from the calling process.
• On a remote system, the new process is terminated when the remote session ends, immediatelyfollowing the Start-Process command. Therefore, you can't use Start-Process in a remotesession expecting the launched process to outlive the session.

If you do need to use Start-Process in a remote session, invoke it with the Wait parameter. Oryou could use other methods to create a new process on the remote system.

When using the Wait parameter, Start-Process waits for the process tree (the process and allits descendants) to exit before returning control. This is different than the behavior of theWait-Process cmdlet, which only waits for the specified processes to exit.

On Windows, the most common use case for Start-Process is to use the Wait parameter to blockprogress until the new process exits. On non-Windows system, this is rarely needed since the defaultbehavior for command-line applications is equivalent to Start-Process -Wait.

This cmdlet is implemented using the Start method of the System.Diagnostics.Processclass. For more information about this method, seeProcess.Start Method.

• about_Quoting_Rules
• Debug-Process
• Get-Process
• Start-Service
• Stop-Process
• Wait-Process