WSL-PowerShell Controller

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