Convert PowerShell script into non-readable format

Question

I have a PowerShell script which installs a patch (contains set of files to be added) on a customer machine. For this, I have created a batch file which executes this PowerS

Answer 1

You can convert the script to Base64 encoding, so that it's not immediately readable. To convert a PowerShell script file to a Base64 String, run the following command:

$Base64 = [System.Convert]::ToBase64String([System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes('c:\path\to\script file.ps1'));

To launch the Base64-encoded script, you can call PowerShell.exe as follows:

powershell.exe -EncodedCommand <Base64String>

For example, the following command:

powershell.exe -EncodedCommand VwByAGkAdABlAC0ASABvAHMAdAAgAC0ATwBiAGoAZQBjAHQAIAAiAEgAZQBsAGwAbwAsACAAdwBvAHIAbABkACEAIgA7AA==

Will return the following results:

Hello, world!

Answer 2

I tried the solution proposed by @TrevorSullivan, but it gave me error

The term '????' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function,
script file or operable program...

As I found out later there was a problem with bad encoding. I found somewhere another approach and when I combined those two, I got working PS command:

$Base64 = [System.Convert]::ToBase64String([System.Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetBytes([System.IO.File]::ReadAllText("script.ps1")))

Then I can redirect the result to file:

$Base64 > base64Script.txt

from where I just copy the encoded command and paste it here instead of <Base64String>:

powershell.exe -EncodedCommand <Base64String>

and it works without any problem.

Answer 3

Thanks guys for your posts. I took @Frimlik's post and created my own script to automate the process. I hope this helps someone. Save the script to a ps1 file and run it.

Function Get-FileName($initialDirectory)
{
    [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.windows.forms") | Out-Null    
    $OpenFileDialog = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog
    $OpenFileDialog.initialDirectory = $initialDirectory
    $OpenFileDialog.ShowDialog() | Out-Null
    $OpenFileDialog.filename
}

Function EncodePS1ToBat {
    $ScriptToEncode = Get-FileName
    # Encode the script into the variable $Base64
    $Base64 = [System.Convert]::ToBase64String([System.Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetBytes([System.IO.File]::ReadAllText($ScriptToEncode)))

    # Get the path and name to be used as output
    $filePath = Split-Path $ScriptToEncode -Parent
    $fileName = (Split-Path $ScriptToEncode -Leaf).Split(".")[0]

    # Output the encoded script into a batch file on the same directory of the origial script
    "@echo off`n powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -EncodedCommand  $Base64"  | 
    Out-File -FilePath "$filePath\$fileName`_Encoded.bat" -Force -Encoding ascii
}
# Call the funtion to encode the script to a batch file
EncodePS1ToBat