WSL-PowerShell Controller

Control Windows PowerShell from WSL by executing commands and scripts on the Windows host using mounted Windows executables.

Call Windows PowerShell from WSL to control Windows host from Linux environment.

How It Works

WSL mounts Windows drives to /mnt/, allowing direct execution of Windows binaries:

• PowerShell: /mnt/c/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/powershell.exe
• CMD: /mnt/c/Windows/System32/cmd.exe

Usage

Execute PowerShell Commands

/mnt/c/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/powershell.exe -Command "Your-Command"

Execute PowerShell Scripts

/mnt/c/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/powershell.exe -File "/mnt/c/path/to/script.ps1"

Common Examples

System Information

# Get system info
powershell.exe -Command "Get-ComputerInfo"

# Get process list
powershell.exe -Command "Get-Process | Select-Object -First 10 Name,Id,CPU"

# Get service status
powershell.exe -Command "Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.Status -eq 'Running'} | Select-Object -First 10 Name,DisplayName"

File Operations

# List directory
powershell.exe -Command "Get-ChildItem C:\\Users"

# Copy file
powershell.exe -Command "Copy-Item C:\\source\\file.txt C:\\dest\\file.txt"

# Create file
powershell.exe -Command "New-Item -Path C:\\test.txt -ItemType File -Force"

Process Management

# Start program
powershell.exe -Command "Start-Process notepad.exe"

# Stop process
powershell.exe -Command "Stop-Process -Name notepad -Force"

Network Operations

# Get network config
powershell.exe -Command "Get-NetIPConfiguration"

# Ping test
powershell.exe -Command "Test-Connection -ComputerName google.com -Count 2"

Path Conversion

WSL Path ↔ Windows Path:

• WSL: /mnt/c/Users/Tao ↔ Windows: C:\Users\Tao
• Use wslpath command:

  wslpath -w /mnt/c/Users  # Output: C:\Users
  wslpath -u C:\\Users     # Output: /mnt/c/Users
  

Notes

1. Permissions: Some operations require administrator privileges, use -Verb RunAs for elevated PowerShell
2. Path Escaping: Backslashes \ in Windows paths must be escaped as \\
3. Encoding: PowerShell outputs UTF-16 by default, may need conversion
4. Execution Policy: Running scripts may require Set-ExecutionPolicy

Security Tips

• Use caution with system-level commands
• Avoid deleting critical system files
• Test commands before executing in production