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I created a small aws.bat script and then in PowerShell I navigated to the script directory.

But when I type aws then I get an error message and it does not execute the script. Is there a special thing I should be doing?

Here's what I have tried:

PS C:\G> .\aws.bat

C:\G>$BucketName = "ab-user"
'$BucketName' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

The very first and every othre command has a similar message.

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You can't just enter the name on its own, with or without file extension, you first have to tell powershell what to do with it.

You can call it as follows:

& .\aws.bat

If you need the LastExitCode returned in powershell to check if the bat file worked (0 usually means it worked, anything else usually means it didn't), use Start-Process as follows:

$batch = Start-Process -FilePath .\aws.bat -Wait -passthru;$batch.ExitCode

And if you want the batch file to be hidden when it is run by powershell do this:

$batch = Start-Process -FilePath .\aws.bat -Wait -passthru -WindowStyle Hidden;$batch.ExitCode
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5 Comments

You can enter file name without extension for .ps1 file and any file type mentioned in PATHEXT environment variable (which by default is .com;.exe;.bat;.cmd;.vbs;.vbe;.js;.jse;.wsf;.wsh;.msc).
Yep but you have to tell powershell what to do with it - the bare minimum even with .bat in your path would be to prefix with . to dot source it e.g .\aws
I tried both solutions but I get messages saying commands are not recognized. However when I type them into the Powershell window directly they are okay.
Can you please post the content of aws.bat - it looks like you are trying to execute powershell commands in an nt batch script
No, you do not have to tell PowerShell "what to do with it". You can run executables and batch files and others, as @PetSerAl suggests, without suffix and without an ampersand prefix. You were close when you suggested you need to dot-source it--but that is only to include it in the current scope. Without dot-sourcing, it is run in a child scope, so variables within are not available to the current scope after the batch file completes.

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