# Run It from Anywhere

A script that reads its files from $PSScriptRoot works from any folder; a Scripts folder on your PATH lets you run it by name, pwsh -File starts it from outside PowerShell, and a desktop shortcut with pwsh -File in its target runs it with a double-click.

Apprentice · PowerShell · Updated November 10, 2026

## After this lesson you can

- Run a script by name from any folder by adding its folder to $env:PATH, with $PSScriptRoot for the files it reads beside it
- Start a script from outside PowerShell with pwsh -File, and from a desktop shortcut that runs it with a double-click

## Key takeaways

- A script runs in the folder you're in, not the folder it's saved in. $PSScriptRoot is the script's own folder, so "$PSScriptRoot\todo.txt" works from anywhere.
- Put your scripts in a folder such as $HOME\Scripts and add it to $env:PATH, and they run by name from any folder, without .\ or .ps1.
- pwsh -File runs a script from outside PowerShell: the Run box, Command Prompt or a shortcut. Options such as -NoExit go before -File.
- A desktop shortcut whose target is pwsh.exe -NoExit -File and the script's path runs it with a double-click.

Your morning script works, but only when you're in its folder, and going there every morning is no shortcut. You want to open PowerShell, type `morning`, and have it run, the way `Get-Date` does. And some mornings you won't want to type at all: you'd rather double-click an icon on your desktop. Both are how a script becomes an application you actually use, and how IT techs and developers keep dozens of small tools a word or a click away.

This lesson uses the `morning` folder from *Your First Script*.

## A script runs where you are

Go to your home folder and run the script by its path:

```powershell
Set-Location ~
~\terminal-practice\morning\morning.ps1
```

```text
Good morning, Sam!
Today is Monday, November 9.

To do:
Get-Content: C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\morning\morning.ps1:9
Line |
   9 |  Get-Content -Path todo.txt
     |  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     | Cannot find path 'C:\Users\Sam\todo.txt' because it does not exist.

Free space on C: 805.8 GB
```

Everything worked but the list. A script runs in the folder *you're* in, not the folder it's saved in, so `todo.txt` meant `C:\Users\Sam\todo.txt`. It's like a note saying "the key is in the drawer" without saying which room.

PowerShell has an answer built in: `$PSScriptRoot`, read "the script's root", holds the folder the script is saved in, whichever folder you're in. Open `morning.ps1` and change the `Get-Content` line to this:

```powershell
Get-Content -Path "$PSScriptRoot\todo.txt"
```

Run it from your home folder again, and the list is back:

```powershell
~\terminal-practice\morning\morning.ps1 | Select-Object -First 7
```

```text
Good morning, Sam!
Today is Monday, November 9.

To do:
Pay the phone bill
Finish the history essay
Buy coffee beans
```

## A Scripts folder on your PATH

*Environment Variables and PATH* showed that PowerShell finds a command by searching the folders on your `PATH`. So give your scripts a folder of their own, and put it on the list. Copy the script and its list there, and check the name isn't taken:

```powershell
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "$HOME\Scripts" | Out-Null
Copy-Item "$HOME\terminal-practice\morning\morning.ps1", "$HOME\terminal-practice\morning\todo.txt" -Destination "$HOME\Scripts"
Get-Command morning
```

```text
Get-Command: The term 'morning' is not recognized as a name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or executable program.
Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
```

Not recognized means the name is free. Pick another if `Get-Command` finds something: a script called `ls.ps1` would never run by name, because the alias `ls` always comes first. Now add the folder for this window, and try it from anywhere:

```powershell
$env:PATH += ";$HOME\Scripts"
Set-Location C:\
morning | Select-Object -First 2
Get-Command morning | Format-Table CommandType, Name, Source
```

```text
Good morning, Sam!
Today is Monday, November 9.

   CommandType Name        Source
   ----------- ----        ------
ExternalScript morning.ps1 C:\Users\Sam\Scripts\morning.ps1
```

`morning`, from any folder, by name: no `.\`, no `.ps1`. To have it in every window, keep a copy of your profile and add that same `$env:PATH` line to it (*Your Profile*). Your to-do list now lives in `$HOME\Scripts\todo.txt`, beside the script.

## From outside PowerShell: pwsh -File

Other programs can start your script too: the Run box (**Win+R**), Command Prompt, a shortcut, or later a scheduled task. They all do it the same way, by starting PowerShell, `pwsh`, and handing it the file:

```powershell
pwsh -NoProfile -File "$HOME\Scripts\morning.ps1"
```

```text
Good morning, Sam!
Today is Monday, November 9.

To do:
Pay the phone bill
Finish the history essay
Buy coffee beans

Free space on C: 805.8 GB
```

`-File` (read "run this file") starts a new PowerShell, runs the script and ends. `-NoProfile` skips your profile, so it starts faster. Options go **before** `-File`, because anything after the script's path is handed to the script itself. One more option matters for a shortcut: `-NoExit` keeps the window open after the script ends, so you can read what it printed.

## Double-click to run: a desktop shortcut

Double-clicking a `.ps1` file opens it in Notepad, on purpose: a stray click shouldn't run a script. And *Run with PowerShell*, in a script's right-click menu, uses Windows PowerShell 5.1 and closes the window the moment the script ends. A **shortcut** that starts `pwsh` does what you want. `(Get-Command pwsh).Source` gives you `pwsh.exe`'s path, `C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe`. Then:

1. Right-click an empty part of the desktop, and choose **New**, then **Shortcut**.
2. For the location, type the program, its options and the script, with your own user name:
   `"C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe" -NoExit -File "C:\Users\Sam\Scripts\morning.ps1"`
3. Click **Next**, name it `Good Morning`, and click **Finish**.

![Windows' Create Shortcut window, with "C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe" -NoExit -File "C:\Users\Sam\Scripts\morning.ps1" typed as the location of the item](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/TODO)

Double-click **Good Morning**, and a PowerShell window opens with your greeting, your list and your free space. To run it every time you sign in, put a copy of the shortcut in your Startup folder (type `shell:startup` in the Run box); delete the copy to stop. That's *The Terminal and the Mouse: Two Ways In* at work: you write the application at the prompt, and start it however suits you.

![Three ways into one script: typing morning at the prompt, the Run box with pwsh -File and the script's path, and a double-click on a desktop shortcut named Good Morning, all arrows leading to morning.ps1 and the same greeting on the screen](https://fsdtrainingmedia.blob.core.windows.net/public/images/2026/11/e697b4fe4d304faf84aa11f2ee3a4551.webp)

On a Mac or Linux, desktop shortcuts work differently, but `pwsh -File` and a folder on your `PATH` work the same way.

## Check yourself

2 questions to try on the lesson page.

## So what

`$PSScriptRoot` inside, a folder on your `PATH`, and `pwsh -File` behind a shortcut: your script is now an application you start by name or with a double-click.

## Key terms

- [$PSScriptRoot](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/psscriptroot)
- [PATH](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/path-operating-system)
- [pwsh](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/pwsh)
- [Shortcut](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/shortcut-operating-system)

## Cheat sheets

- [Run It from Anywhere](https://www.ask-codey.com/cheat-sheets/powershell-run-from-anywhere-cheat-sheet)

## Related

- [Your First Script](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-your-first-script)
- [Environment Variables and \`PATH\`](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-environment-variables)
- [Your Profile](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-profile)
- [The Terminal and the Mouse: Two Ways In](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-terminal-and-gui)

Source: https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-run-from-anywhere