easy𝓅ea𝓈y

Productivity boost for Windows using PowerShell

The easypeasy PowerShell module simplifies and automates common tasks in Windows environments:

• manage locations on the system path
• manage environment variables
• create and remove start menu shortcuts
• create scheduled tasks
• switch between light and dark themes
• create timestamps
• show disk usage
• run a command as administrator (sudo)
• verify administrator privileges

---

Examples

🅰️ = requires Administrator privileges

System PATH

List the folders in the system PATH

in a specific scope (machine or user)
default: effective in current shell

> path

Scope   Location
-----   --------
Machine C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7
Machine C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\bin
Machine C:\Windows\system32
Machine C:\Windows
User    C:\Users\me\go\bin
Process C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7
...

path is an alias for Get-SystemPath, which you should use in scripts.
Each location is tagged with its scope: Machine, User, or Process — the last for entries present only in the current shell's PATH and not persisted.

Find a folder in the system PATH

> path *Windows*

Scope   Location
-----   --------
Machine C:\Windows\system32
Machine C:\Windows
...

*Windows* is the -Filter parameter, which you should name explicitly in scripts.

Find a folder on the system PATH and the scope it lives in

> Get-SystemPathLocation "C:\Windows"
> Get-SystemPathLocation -Filter "*\Git\*"
> Get-SystemPathLocation -Filter "*\Git\*" -User

Scope   Location
-----   --------
Machine C:\Windows

Both commands accept an exact -Location (positional) or a -Filter wildcard, and the scope switches -Machine and -User. Each result carries the scope it was found in: Machine, User, or Process.

Test whether a folder is on the system PATH

in a specific scope (machine or user)
default: effective in current shell

> Test-SystemPathLocation "C:\Program Files\Git\bin"
> Test-SystemPathLocation -Filter "*\Git\*" -Machine

True

Add or remove a folder to/from the system PATH permanently

in a specific scope (machine 🅰️ or user)
default: machine scope

> addpath "C:\Program Files\MyApp"
> addpath -User "C:\Program Files\MyApp"
> addpath -Front "C:\Program Files\MyApp" # this folder will be searched first

> rmpath "C:\Program Files\MyApp" # removes every occurrence of this path

addpath and rmpath are aliases for Add-SystemPathLocation and Remove-SystemPathLocation respectively, which you should use in scripts.

Remove duplicate folders from the system PATH

in a specific scope (machine 🅰️ or user), or both combined
default: both, keeping a cross-scope duplicate on the machine PATH

> deduppath                # both scopes; keeps machine on overlap
> deduppath -KeepMachine   # both scopes; keeps machine on overlap (explicit)
> deduppath -KeepUser      # both scopes; keeps user on overlap
> deduppath -Machine       # machine PATH only
> deduppath -User          # user PATH only

deduppath is an alias for Remove-DuplicateSystemPathLocations, which you should use in scripts.
Within a scope, the first occurrence of each folder is kept.

Move a folder between the machine and user system PATH 🅰️

> movepath "C:\Program Files\Git\bin" -ToUser     # machine -> user
> movepath "C:\Program Files\Git\bin" -ToMachine  # user -> machine

movepath is an alias for Move-SystemPathLocation, which you should use in scripts.
The folder is removed from the source PATH and added to the target PATH.

Back up the effective system PATH environment variable to a file in the temp folder

> Backup-SystemPath

Environment Variables

Get the value of a variable

in a specific scope (effective, machine or user)
default: effective in current shell

> getenv JAVA_HOME
> getenv -Machine JAVA_HOME
> getenv -User JAVA_HOME

C:\Java\jdk-21

getenv is an alias for Get-EnvironmentVariable, which you should use in scripts.

Set the value of a variable or remove it permanently

in a specific scope (machine 🅰️ or user)
default: machine scope

> setenv JAVA_HOME "C:\Java\jdk-21"
> setenv -User JAVA_HOME "C:\Java\jdk-21"

> rmenv JAVA_HOME
> rmenv -User JAVA_HOME

setenv and rmenv are aliases for Set-EnvironmentVariable and Remove-EnvironmentVariable respectively, which you should use in scripts.

Start Menu Shortcuts

Create a shortcut for MyApp in the Start Menu

for all users (default) 🅰️ or the current user (-User)
The shortcut will be created as MyApp in the MyApp programs folder. The argument -Debug will be passed to the executable.

> New-StartMenuShortcut `
        -AppName MyApp `
        -Executable "C:\Program Files\MyApp\MyApp.exe" `
        -Arguments "-Debug" `
        -Icon "C:\Program Files\MyApp\MyBeautifulIcon.ico"

> New-StartMenuShortcut -User -AppName MyApp -Executable "C:\Program Files\MyApp\MyApp.exe"  # current user, no admin

An existing shortcut is left untouched and a terminating error is reported, unless -Force is given to overwrite it.

> New-StartMenuShortcut -Force -AppName MyApp -Executable "C:\Program Files\MyApp\MyApp.exe"

Remove a Start Menu shortcut

in the all-users (default) 🅰️ or the current user's (-User) Start Menu

> Remove-StartMenuShortcut MyApp
> Remove-StartMenuShortcut -User MyApp

The shortcut's containing folder is removed too when it becomes empty. A terminating error is reported if the shortcut does not exist.

Add shortcut to a PowerShell command to the start menu

> New-PowershellStartMenuShortcut `
       -AppName "Kill Node.js" ` 
       -Command "Stop-Process -Name node -Force"

> New-PowershellStartMenuShortcut -AppName "Run System Update" `
       -Script "C:\Scripts\system-update.ps1" `
       -Maximized -KeepOpen -Admin

-Script is an alias for -Command that can be used for expressiveness.
-Admin is an alias for -RunAsAdministrator that can be used for conciseness.
Both accept -Force to overwrite an existing shortcut.

Start an application at logon

equivalent to checking Process Explorer's menu item Options > Run At Logon 🅰️

Register-LogonTask `
    -Name "Process Explorer-${env:\USERDOMAIN}-${env:USERNAME}" `
    -Executable "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\WindowsApps\procexp.exe" `
    -Argument "/t" `
    -Force

Dark Mode

Switch between light and dark theme

> theme

theme is an alias for Switch-Theme. Get-Theme, Set-Theme, Switch-Theme and theme will be removed in v2.

> theme dark
> theme light

Utilities

Quick timestamp creation

> time

2024-01-01_20.15.00

> & .\system-update.ps1 > "$env:TEMP\system-update-$(time).log"

time is an alias for Get-Timestamp, which you should use in scripts.

Run a command as administrator (sudo)

Runs the given command in an elevated PowerShell session via the Windows sudo command, prompting for confirmation through the User Account Control dialog.

> sudops addpath -Machine "C:\Tools"
> sudops setenv -Machine JAVA_HOME "C:\Java\jdk-21"
> sups Set-Theme dark

sudops (and the shorter sups) is an alias for Invoke-Elevated, which you should use in scripts. Requires the Windows sudo feature to be installed and enabled.

Verify that the current user is an administrator

> Assert-Administrator
Assert-Administrator: This operation requires administrator privileges.

Output the disk usage for the current folder

> Get-Usage

Name                           Sum (MB)      Sum
----                           --------      ---
C:\easypeasy\systempath.ps1    0,011    11297,00
C:\easypeasy\startmenu.ps1     0,006     5961,00
C:\easypeasy\environment.ps1   0,006     5873,00
C:\easypeasy\easypeasy.psd1    0,005     5748,00
C:\easypeasy\README.md         0,005     5243,00
C:\easypeasy\theme.ps1         0,003     2692,00
C:\easypeasy\task.ps1          0,001     1497,00
C:\easypeasy\specialfolder.ps1 0,001     1299,00
C:\easypeasy\.vscode           0,001     1116,00
C:\easypeasy\LICENSE.txt       0,001     1070,00
C:\easypeasy\shortcut.ps1      0,001      991,00
C:\easypeasy\volume.ps1        0,001      628,00
C:\easypeasy\timestamp.ps1     0,001      541,00
C:\easypeasy\explorer.ps1      0,000      481,00
C:\easypeasy\.github           0,000      432,00
C:\easypeasy\administrator.ps1 0,000      374,00
C:\easypeasy\easypeasy.psm1    0,000      349,00

du is an alias for Get-Usage. Both will be removed in v2.

Installation

Installation from PowerShell Gallery

To install the easypeasy module from the PowerShell Gallery, run the following command in PowerShell:

Install-Module easypeasy

Manual Installation

To install the easypeasy module, follow these steps:

1. Download the module folder from GitHub to your computer.

2. Open PowerShell and run the following command to check the installation path for PowerShell modules: $env:PSModulePath

3. Copy the easypeasy module folder to one of the paths listed in the output of the previous command, e.g. the user's module path: $HOME\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\

4. Open a new PowerShell session or reload your profile to make the module available. You can check if the module is available by running: Get-Module -ListAvailable

Contributing

Please contribute to the easypeasy module. Issues and pull requests are very welcome. Thank you!

License

The easypeasy module is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See the LICENSE.txt file for details.

Copyright 2023-2026 Igor Akkerman

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to everyone supporting and contributing to easypeasy.