Windows Desktop

Windows Desktop Control

Control the Windows desktop via PowerShell. All file and directory operations are STRICTLY READ-ONLY.

Safety Rules — ABSOLUTE CONSTRAINTS

READ-ONLY File Policy

You MUST NOT modify, create, move, rename, or delete any file or directory on the user's system. The ONLY exception is screenshot capture, which creates a new image file.

PROHIBITED Commands — NEVER Execute These

Additional Safety Rules

• Never pipe output to files — No > file, >> file, | Out-File, | Set-Content
• Never use Invoke-Expression on untrusted input
• Never download or execute remote scripts — No Invoke-WebRequest to download executables
• Never modify environment variables — No [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable, no $env:VAR = ... persistently
• Always prefer -WhatIf when unsure about a command's side effects
• Screenshot exception: You MAY use [System.Drawing.Bitmap]::new() or similar to save a screenshot file. State the save path to the user first.

Operation Categories

Quick Reference

Window Management

# List all visible windows
powershell.exe -Command "Get-Process | Where-Object {$_.MainWindowTitle -ne ''} | Select-Object Id, ProcessName, MainWindowTitle | Format-Table -AutoSize"

# Get active window title
powershell.exe -Command "Add-Type -TypeDefinition 'using System; using System.Runtime.InteropServices; public class Win32 { [DllImport(\"user32.dll\")] public static extern IntPtr GetForegroundWindow(); [DllImport(\"user32.dll\", CharSet=CharSet.Auto)] public static extern int GetWindowText(IntPtr hWnd, System.Text.StringBuilder text, int count); }'; $sb = New-Object System.Text.StringBuilder 256; [Win32]::GetWindowText([Win32]::GetForegroundWindow(), $sb, 256); $sb.ToString()"

Application Management

# Launch an application
powershell.exe -Command "Start-Process 'notepad.exe'"

# List running processes (top 20 by CPU)
powershell.exe -Command "Get-Process | Sort-Object CPU -Descending | Select-Object -First 20 Id, ProcessName, CPU, WorkingSet64 | Format-Table -AutoSize"

System Info

# CPU, RAM, OS summary
powershell.exe -Command "$os = Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem; $cpu = Get-CimInstance Win32_Processor; Write-Output \"OS: $($os.Caption) $($os.Version)\"; Write-Output \"CPU: $($cpu.Name)\"; Write-Output \"RAM: $([math]::Round($os.TotalVisibleMemorySize/1MB, 2)) GB total, $([math]::Round($os.FreePhysicalMemory/1MB, 2)) GB free\"; Write-Output \"Uptime: $((Get-Date) - $os.LastBootUpTime)\""

File/Directory (READ-ONLY)

# List directory contents
powershell.exe -Command "Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Users' | Format-Table Name, LastWriteTime, Length, Mode -AutoSize"

# Search for files by name
powershell.exe -Command "Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Users' -Recurse -Filter '*.txt' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object FullName, Length, LastWriteTime | Format-Table -AutoSize"

# Get file properties
powershell.exe -Command "Get-ItemProperty -Path 'C:\path\to\file' | Select-Object FullName, Length, CreationTime, LastWriteTime, LastAccessTime"

# Get directory size
powershell.exe -Command "(Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\path' -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Measure-Object -Property Length -Sum).Sum / 1MB"

Audio/Volume

# Get current volume (requires AudioDeviceCmdlets or nircmd approach)
powershell.exe -Command "Add-Type -TypeDefinition 'using System.Runtime.InteropServices; [Guid(\"5CDF2C82-841E-4546-9722-0CF74078229A\"), InterfaceType(ComInterfaceType.InterfaceIsIUnknown)] interface IAudioEndpointVolume { int _0(); int _1(); int _2(); int _3(); int SetMasterVolumeLevelScalar(float fLevel, System.Guid pguidEventContext); int _5(); int GetMasterVolumeLevelScalar(out float pfLevel); int SetMute(bool bMute, System.Guid pguidEventContext); int GetMute(out bool pbMute); } [Guid(\"D666063F-1587-4E43-81F1-B948E807363F\"), InterfaceType(ComInterfaceType.InterfaceIsIUnknown)] interface IMMDevice { int Activate(ref System.Guid iid, int dwClsCtx, IntPtr pActivationParams, [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.IUnknown)] out object ppInterface); } [Guid(\"A95664D2-9614-4F35-A746-DE8DB63617E6\"), InterfaceType(ComInterfaceType.InterfaceIsIUnknown)] interface IMMDeviceEnumerator { int GetDefaultAudioEndpoint(int dataFlow, int role, out IMMDevice ppDevice); } [ComImport, Guid(\"BCDE0395-E52F-467C-8E3D-C4579291692E\")] class MMDeviceEnumerator {} '; $enumerator = New-Object MMDeviceEnumerator; $device = $null; $enumerator.GetDefaultAudioEndpoint(0, 1, [ref]$device); $iid = [Guid]'5CDF2C82-841E-4546-9722-0CF74078229A'; $volume = $null; $device.Activate([ref]$iid, 1, [IntPtr]::Zero, [ref]$volume); $level = 0.0; $volume.GetMasterVolumeLevelScalar([ref]$level); [math]::Round($level * 100)"

Screenshot

# Full screen screenshot
powershell.exe -Command "Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms; Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Drawing; $screen = [System.Windows.Forms.Screen]::PrimaryScreen.Bounds; $bmp = New-Object System.Drawing.Bitmap($screen.Width, $screen.Height); $g = [System.Drawing.Graphics]::FromImage($bmp); $g.CopyFromScreen($screen.Location, [System.Drawing.Point]::Empty, $screen.Size); $path = \"$env:TEMP\screenshot_$(Get-Date -Format 'yyyyMMdd_HHmmss').png\"; $bmp.Save($path); $g.Dispose(); $bmp.Dispose(); Write-Output \"Screenshot saved: $path\""

Network Info

# IP addresses and network info
powershell.exe -Command "Get-NetIPAddress -AddressFamily IPv4 | Where-Object {$_.IPAddress -ne '127.0.0.1'} | Select-Object InterfaceAlias, IPAddress, PrefixLength | Format-Table -AutoSize"

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. DO NOT use > or Out-File to redirect output to files — display output in terminal only
2. DO NOT use Remove-Item even if the user asks — explain the read-only policy
3. DO NOT use Stop-Process to close apps — use graceful window close via SendMessage(WM_CLOSE) instead
4. DO NOT use shutdown or Restart-Computer — only Lock-Workstation and sleep are allowed
5. DO NOT modify registry, services, or firewall rules
6. DO NOT use Set-ExecutionPolicy — work within current policy using -Command parameter
7. ALWAYS use powershell.exe -Command "..." syntax for Bash tool compatibility
8. ALWAYS use -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue for recursive file searches to avoid permission errors flooding output

Full Command Reference

See powershell-reference.md for detailed commands for all 16 operation categories.