Portable PowerShell Web Launcher

A zero-install, single-file HTML viewer for Windows. Double-click a .bat file, browse to any local HTML file or URL, and it renders in a native window — no browser install, no admin rights, no setup.

What It Does

User double-clicks .bat
  → PowerShell extracts embedded script to temp .ps1
    → WinForms GUI opens (browse file / enter URL)
      → WebBrowser control renders the HTML
        → Temp .ps1 self-deletes on exit

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Entry point	Batch script (.bat)
Runtime	PowerShell 2.0+ (built-in on Windows 7+)
GUI framework	.NET WinForms (System.Windows.Forms)
Rendering engine	WebBrowser control (MSHTML / Trident / IE11)
Browser emulation	FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION = 11001 via HKCU (no admin)

Guaranteed Run Environment

• Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, 11 — works out of the box
• No admin rights required — all registry writes go to HKCU
• No installation — nothing to install, uninstall, or configure
• No external dependencies — uses only components bundled with Windows
• Offline — no network access needed

How to Use

1. Place Portable-Powershell-Html-Launcher.bat anywhere on disk
2. Double-click it
3. Press any key when prompted
4. Browse to a local .html file or type a URL
5. Click Launch

Pros

• Truly portable — single .bat file, copy anywhere
• Works on locked-down machines — no admin, no installs, no policy changes
• Rich UI via HTML/CSS/JS — far more flexible than pure PowerShell GUI
• Self-cleaning — temp files removed on exit
• Offline-friendly — everything runs locally

Cons

• Windows-only — depends on .NET WinForms + WebBrowser control
• IE11 engine (Trident) — JavaScript limited to ES5, no modern APIs (fetch, Promise, async/await, arrow functions, let/const, Web Crypto, etc.)
• Deprecated engine — Microsoft no longer updates Trident; it works today but receives no fixes
• Performance — slower JS execution compared to modern browsers, especially for CPU-heavy tasks

Constraints for HTML Apps

Any HTML loaded by this launcher must follow these rules:

• ES5 JavaScript only — use var, for loops, function declarations
• No ES6+ syntax — no template literals, destructuring, classes, modules
• No modern Web APIs — no fetch, crypto.subtle, IntersectionObserver, etc.
• Use addEventListener — supported in IE11 mode
• Include <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" /> in your HTML