Listing (and running) OS Shell Commands with PowerShell

I think I started using Shell commands when I went looking for the startup folder in Windows 8.  A post from Jasone’s  MSDN blog suggested the easiest way to open it was by typing “Shell:Startup” in from the run box (WIN+R).  I became curious about how to enumerate a list of these shortcuts, and how they could be opened with PowerShell.  I did some research and found the information about these is found in HKLM:SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\FolderDescriptions. Get-ShellFolders.ps1 is an example of how to read that information, and use it to launch a shell command within PowerShell.

#Alan Kaplan 3-15-2018
#List and open Shell Folders from within PowerShell

$regPath = 'HKLM:SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\FolderDescriptions'
$shellItem = Get-ChildItem $regPath  |
    ForEach-Object {
    $sf = Get-ItemPropertyvalue -Path $_.psPath -Name Name
    Try {
        #get real path?
        $rPath = Get-ItemPropertyvalue -Path $_.psPath -Name RelativePath
    }
    Catch {$rPath = 'none'}

    Try {
        $ePath = [environment]::getfolderpath($sf)
    }
    Catch {$ePath = 'none'}

    [PSCustomobject]@{
        'Shell Folder'  = $sf
        'Command'       = "Shell`:$sf"
        'Environment'   = $ePath
        'Relative Path' = $rPath
    } 
} |
    Sort-Object -Property 'Shell Folder'|
    Out-GridView -OutputMode Single -Title "Select Shell Folder to Open" 
    
#The pipeline broke here, so I assigned output to $ShellItem, above    
Try {
    #Invoke-Execute does not work, but start-process does
    Start-Process -FilePath $shellItem.Command
}
Catch {
    #Some disabled features may error with file not found
    Write-Warning $Error[0].Exception.Message
}

Run the script, select a shell folder, and click OK to open.