Call .ps1 from cmd file give the error: : The term '.\setup.ps1' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file

Question

Via VS 2017 calling Setup.cmd which contains:

@echo off
chcp 65001
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted .\setup.ps1 "%*"

The file is called, and this error appear:

Active code page: 65001
.\setup.ps1 : The term '.\setup.ps1' is not recognized as the name of a  cmdlet,
function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or
if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At line:1 char:1
+ .\setup.ps1 -SkipDbInstall:0 -SkipPandoSupportInstall:0 -SkipSearchServiceInstal ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (.\setup.ps1:String) [], Command     NotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

setup.ps1 exist in the same level like setup.cmd.

What can be the problem?

Sometimes, .cmd files execute from the temp directory instead of the location they reside. Try to echo out the location and see if that is the case. — Sid

Ansgar Wiechers Ansgar Wiechers · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-06T14:09:04

Most likely your working directory is not what you think it is. You can verify that by adding a line echo %CD% to the batch file.

To change the working directory to the folder in which the scripts reside add a line cd /d "%~dp0". You also need to remove the quotes from %*, otherwise all arguments to your batch script will be passed as a single string argument to the PowerShell script. And I'd recommend using the parameter -File with powershell.exe, so that you'll get a proper exit code from the PowerShell script (if it returns one).

@echo off
cd /d "%~dp0"
chcp 65001 >nul
powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -File .\setup.ps1 %*

If the PowerShell script doesn't care about the working directory you could also run it with the full path instead of changing the directory:

powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -File "%~dp0setup.ps1" %*

Call .ps1 from cmd file give the error: : The term '.\setup.ps1' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file

3 Answers