powershell equivalent of running testexecute with command line arguments

i think i have figured out why it wasn't working and your first screen shot above actually confirms it. what i did was to simply create a powershell script that points to notepad.exe in the start-process and to a file name  for it to open in the -argument list. again, it ran fine when i manually ran it in powershell but would not run and open the file in notepad when i used task scheduler. i found this stackoverflow article

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39995200/task-scheduler-powershell-start-process-is-not-running

which made the point that

The application was ran in background. To make it run on foreground, had to check the box Run only when user is logged on.

so i changed the General tab from Run whether use is logged on or not to Run only when user is logged on and then the Scheduled Task worked and the file came up on notepad. i'm going to apply this to the testexecute scheduled task now and i'll report back if it is successful.  

Thanks!

Haven't actually tried it yet. wanted to get some feedback/opinions first. i will try it out in the next day or two and let you know. 

thanks! i'll take a look at that and give it a try

there did appear to be a double quote missing from the end of your example but once i corrected that, i could manually run the powershell script and it worked exactly as i wanted it to. the problem i'm having now is that i want to created a scheduled task on that VM that runs this powershell script and the scheduled task is not even getting so far as to start running testexecute. does anyone here have some experience with getting powershell scripts to run using Task Scheduler?

i have tried adding -Verb RunAs to the arguments in Task Scheduler and then also adding -Verb RunAs onto the start-process line inside the ps1 script that attempts to run TestExecute. neither way appears to work for me. i can run the powershell ps1 script manually from the ISE and it works just fine. i've also tried to changing the user that runs the scheduled task from the logged on user (which is what works manually) to SYSTEM. that doesn't work either. i found an online article (https://techgenix.com/how-to-schedule-powershell-scripts/) that suggests you can use powershell cmdlets to schedule it to run but i'm not very familiar with those so i'm still hoping to get Task Scheduler to work if possible

i have another ps1 file on the same VM that is also run as a scheduled task and it works just fine.  all I have in its program/script box for the Action in Task Scheduler is "powershell.exe" (not the entire path). rather than containing a start-process statement, all that ps1 file has in it is a Send-MailMessage, the Arguments box has the -file switch and the fully qualified pathname and file of the ps1 file and does not have a -Verb RunAs argument.  Rather than having a scheduled start time it is triggered when the computer starts. As I said, it runs perfectly

for this scheduled task the ps1 file has the start-process statement for running testexecute and I have coded it just as your recommended. i think i already mentioned that if i manually run the powershell from the ISE it completes successfully. TestExecute starts up, runs the project/unit/script and then closes. For some reason though it is not working when the task scheduler job tries to run it and I am logged on and watching it. it doesn't even fire up TestExecute. I've tried putting the -Verb RunAs on the start-process line and that doesn't help either. I've also tried bypassing the execution policy but that didn't work. 

Clearly this is not an issue with TestExecute nor is there a problem with how I have written the powershell script (since it works when i run it manually) but rather there is something wonky about Task Scheduler or possibly about the VM itself. I will continue to work on it and if i ever get it running i will come back here and post the solution. Thanks for all your help. 

if i bring up the powershell command prompt and type in TestExecute it launches TestExecute. i get an error popup about it not specifying a valid project suite or project but powershell knows about testexecute. remember, if i run the powershell script manually (with the start-process statement that you provided) it does work. the problem is getting Task Scheduler to run it. also, as i've already said before. i have another scheduled task that is triggered at system start up which also runs powershell to send an email and that works also. so task scheduler know how to run powershell. i just can't figure out why task scheduler is having an issue with the start-process cmdlet in powershell. 

i really appreciate your effort but i feel like we keep going over ground that has been covered before instead of trying something new. as i said, i'll keep after it and post the resolution when/if i ever come up with something. i'm guessing it's something weird with the VM and i'm asking our support help desk guy who set the VM up for me if he's got any ideas. thanks again!