Run with PowerShell Context Menu

Today I was working on our automated build process at work, and found myself running a batch file in a console window that I wanted to remain open. I setup a context menu item associated with .bat files which launches with PowerShell.
Here are the steps:

# We need to create our keys under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, which by default has not associated PSDrive.
New-PSDrive -Name HKCR -PSProvider Registry -Root HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

# Set the current location to the new drive.
cd HKCR:

# Set the current location to the shell key for .bat files.
cd '.\batfile\shell'

# Create a new key called "Run with PowerShell"
New-Item -Path 'Run with PowerShell'

# Set the current location to the new key.
cd '.\Run with PowerShell'

# Create a new key called "command", which will contain the reference to PowerShell.
New-Item -Path 'command'
cd '.\command'

# Create a new "(default)" string with the command to execute PowerShell. The "%1" contains the path to the .bat file. 
New-ItemProperty -Path '.' -Name '(default)' -Value 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe "-nologo" "-noexit" "-command" "& {%1}"'

Here is an example of the output:

PS C:\> New-PSDrive -Name HKCR -PSProvider Registry -Root HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

Name Used (GB) Free (GB) Provider Root CurrentLocation

---

HKCR Registry HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

PS C:\> cd HKCR:\batfile\shell PS HKCR:\batfile\shell> New-Item -Path ‘Run with PowerShell’

Hive: HKEY\_CLASSES\_ROOT\\batfile\\shell

Name Property

---

Run with PowerShell

PS HKCR:\batfile\shell> cd ’.\Run with PowerShell’ PS HKCR:\batfile\shell\Run with PowerShell> New-Item -Path ‘command’

Hive: HKEY\_CLASSES\_ROOT\\batfile\\shell\\Run with PowerShell

Name Property

---

command

PS HKCR:\batfile\shell\Run with PowerShell> cd ’.\command’ PS HKCR:\batfile\shell\Run with PowerShell\command> New-ItemProperty -Path ’.’ -Name ‘(default)’ -Value ‘C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe “-nologo” “-noexit” “-command” ”& {%1}”’

(default) : C:\WINDOWS\SysWow64\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe “-nologo” “-noexit” “-command” ”& {%1}” PSPath : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\batfile\shell\Run with PowerShell\command PSParentPath : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\batfile\shell\Run with PowerShell PSChildName : command PSDrive : HKCR PSProvider : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry