PowerShell

Hi Swapnil,

got it. You are right. If you notice the error on the tree, it somehow misses “c:\”

 C:\Users\Ratan\desktop> $p = "$env:programfiles(x86)"; tree $p
Folder PATH listing for volume Windows
Volume serial number is 2E3F-D6FD
C:\PROGRAM FILES(X86)
Invalid path - \PROGRAM FILES(X86)      #<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
No subfolders exist

when one uses $v = “$Env:ProgramFiles(x86)”, it will parse it as:

C:\Users\Ratan\desktop> $v = "$Env:ProgramFiles(x86)"; $v
C:\Program Files(x86)

where as the actual folder is ‘C:\Program Files (x86)’, that is the reason Test-Path is failing. If I try the string literal using ‘..’ it does return true.

C:\Users\Ratan\desktop> $v = 'C:\Program Files (x86)' ; Test-Path $v
True

Something is wrong with the parsing. Setting it to a variable using

${env:ProgramFiles(x86)}

as I did earlier works. But I am not sure how use the same for a variable.

Hi Mike, thanks.

Yes that works.

$p=$env:ProgramFiles ; tree $p

But things fail when you go for $env:ProgramFiles(x86) or you store ‘C:\Program Files (x86)‘ to a variable, as in the screenshots above.

I figured out the trick would be to create a variable like below

$d= ${env:ProgramFiles(x86)}
tree $d

But the problem is I have the folder address stored in a different variable (e.g., $x) and I don’t know how create a ${$x}. There is Microsoft Doc and I read your article on 4SysOps too.

4sysops

Microsoft doc

A little background of my project:

I have an unresponsive security software that cannot be uninstalled from the control panel or the usual methods. One has to delete stuff manually- registry keys, folders and driver files. My approach to the problem was the following.

1. Get the installLocation or uninstall key from registry

$appString6432 = 'badSoftware'
$reg6432 = 'HKLM:\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*'
$app6432 = Get-ItemProperty $reg6432 | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like $appString6432}
$Path_app = $app6432.InstallLocation

2. D0 a “tree” on $Path_app to find out the directory structure for that app. There is a nice way to achieve this on Mac.

sudo pkgutil --only-dirs --files com.vendor.pkg.security-agent | more

3. Proceed on manually removing them after the necessary NTFS permission tweaks

It affected a large number of users. Therefore I was trying to do a script – dealing registry keys especially while remoting to users computers was a mess. So was going to individual folders and files.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by PowerMe!.

As you see in the original script I am using to get the address from the registry, I have to use the variable returned from $InstallLocation.

I guess I could set a check if it is “C:\Program Files (x86)” $p =${env:ProgramFiles(x86)}. But honestly, why would they stick that kind of folder naming while everyone knows its not code-friendly!