Powershell: copy file to multiple firefox profiles in multiple user profiles

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Hello,

I'm hoping for some assistance on this. I've been trying different variations of what I have for powershell code and I just can't get what I need to work. I would like my powershell script to run with Admin Rights because I also have to check or add registry keys.

What's I'm trying to do is copy an item from C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\Plugins\plugin.xpi

and would like to get copied to these locations

C:\users\%users%\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\*\extensions

The issue that I'm running into is that there are multiple profiles within the Profile parent directory in AppData and I would like to have the plugin copied to those profiles into the extensions subfolder. I'm hoping I'm making sense. Please let me know if I need to clarify anything.

What I have tried:

$source = 'C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins\plugin.xpi'
Get-ChildItem C:\Users | ForEach-Object {
Copy-Item -LiteralPath $source -Destination "$($_.FullName)\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\*\extensions" -Verbose
}

I receive an error

"c\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\*\extensions".
Copy-Item : Illegal characters in path.
At C:\pathtoscript\script.ps1:75 char:5
+ Copy-Item -LiteralPath $source -Destination "$($_.FullName)\AppDa ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Copy-Item], ArgumentException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.ArgumentException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand

Posted 24-Nov-20 4:43am

User 14967065

Updated 24-Nov-20 23:46pm

v2

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Richard Deeming · Answer 1 · 2020-11-24T23:46:00

Solution 2

An extra Get-ChildItem / ForEach-Object should work, with an added Test-Path to exclude folders which don't exist:

PowerShell

$source = 'C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins\plugin.xpi'

Get-ChildItem "C:\Users" -Directory | Where-Object { Test-Path "$($_.FullName)\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles" } | ForEach-Object { Get-ChildItem "$($_.FullName)\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles" -Directory } | Where-Object { Test-Path "$($_.FullName)\extensions" } | ForEach-Object { Copy-Item $source -Destination "$($_.FullName)\extensions" -Verbose }

Get-ChildItem "C:\Users" -Directory lists the directories under the Users folder;
Where-Object { Test-Path "$($_.FullName)\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles" } filters to user folders with a Firefox profile;
ForEach-Object { Get-ChildItem "$($_.FullName)\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles" -Directory } lists the folders under each Firefox profile;
Where-Object { Test-Path "$($_.FullName)\extensions" } filters to profile folders with an "extensions" sub-folder;
ForEach-Object { Copy-Item $source -Destination "$($_.FullName)\extensions" -Verbose } copies the source to the extensions folder

Posted 24-Nov-20 23:46pm

Richard Deeming

Comments

Richard MacCutchan 25-Nov-20 6:26am

+5. That was what I was trying to get to in my comment above, but my PowerShell skills are still at a somewhat basic level. I understand what $_.FullName means, but what is the reason for the $() surrounding it?

Richard Deeming 25-Nov-20 6:35am

It lets you expand a command within an interpolated string. If you just did "$_.FullName\AppData", the string would contain "User1.FullName\AppData", where User1 was the name of the folder. By using $($_.FullName)\AppData", you get "C:\Users\User1\AppData" instead.
Powershell: Everything you wanted to know about variable substitution in strings[^]

In Powershell 7, it seems the default has changed slightly, so "$_\AppData" would return the full path (C:\Users\User1\AppData), and you could simplify those expressions.
GitHub - PowerShell/PowerShell: PowerShell for every system![^]

Richard MacCutchan 25-Nov-20 6:40am

Thanks, I have been looking (not very hard) for a good tutorial site. The book I have is about a hundred years old.

Richard MacCutchan 25-Nov-20 6:42am

I tried the open source version with VSCode but it made a bit of a mess of my views, so (blush) I reverted to cmd.exe. I really need to move with the times.

Richard Deeming 25-Nov-20 6:49am

I've been using it with Windows Terminal, and it works quite well:
Windows Terminal 1.0 | Windows Command Line[^]

The PowerShell extension for VSCode still seems to be in preview:
PowerShell - Visual Studio Marketplace[^]

Richard MacCutchan 25-Nov-20 6:51am

Yes, I have started using Windows Terminal, it's rather good. I can use a simple cmd window alongside Powershell and WSL.

paulazizeh 25-Nov-20 10:33am

@Richard Deeming and @Richard MacCutchan,

I do appreciate both of the replies. BIG thanks for the solution. I'll use this solution. Thanks again.

Richard MacCutchan · Answer 2 · 2020-11-24T05:31:00

Solution 1

You cannot use an asterisk in a path like that, it has no valid meaning. You will need to create copy commands for each item in the list returned from Get-ChildItem.

Posted 24-Nov-20 5:31am

Richard MacCutchan

Comments

[no name] 24-Nov-20 11:49am

Thank you for the quick response Richard.

With what you said, how would I incorporate that into the code I have above?

Richard MacCutchan 24-Nov-20 12:22pm

You need to get all the Child-Item entries below $_.FullName)\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles and use that list to build the destination address. So it is a For-Each on the list below C:\Users, and then another one on the profile list. Try building it up one part at a time and add the working portinons into a .ps1 script as you go.