PowerShell installer ignores every option I pass it

Asked 6 Jan 20263,140 views2 answers

16votes

I want the installer to also scaffold a workspace, so I tried adding the parameter to the one-liner:

powershell

irm https://sdods.com/install.ps1 | iex -Workspace C:\my-tests

PowerShell does not like that, and every variation I have tried either errors or installs with the defaults and silently ignores the parameter. What is the correct form?

install windows cli

asked by Hsu Wei-lin15,230 · 6 Jan 2026

2 answers

22votes✓
Accepted answer
iex cannot forward parameters — it evaluates a string, and the parameters you type belong to iex itself, not to the script inside the string. Build a script block instead and call it:
powershell
```
& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm https://sdods.com/install.ps1))) -Workspace C:\my-tests -Mcp claude
```
That is the documented form and it takes all the parameters: -Version, -Dir, -BinDir, -Pm, -Browsers, -Workspace, -Source, -Mcp, -ModifyPath, -Yes, -Uninstall, -DryRun, -VersionCheck, -Help.
answered by Sam Orbison9,420 · 6 Jan 2026
11votes
The other option, and the better one if this goes in a runbook where someone will read it later, is to download it first:
powershell
```
irm https://sdods.com/install.ps1 -OutFile install.ps1
.\install.ps1 -Workspace C:\my-tests -Browsers chromium
```
Every parameter also has an environment variable, which is usually cleaner in CI than either form:
powershell
```
$env:SDODS_WORKSPACE = "C:\my-tests"; $env:SDODS_BROWSERS = "chromium"; $env:SDODS_YES = "1"
irm https://sdods.com/install.ps1 | iex
```
answered by Daniel Oyelaranmaintainer24,177 · 7 Jan 2026

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PowerShell installer ignores every option I pass it

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