WSH, Part 1: File Types

Windows Script Host (WSH) is a powerful, useful, and flexible facility for executing scripts in the Windows environment, but with its power comes a degree of complexity. This month, to begin an examination of WSH, I'll describe what WSH is and how it provides a way to run scripts in Windows. Then I'll look at the various types of script files and means of running them. In future articles, I'll cover the specifics of the .wsf script file format and Windows Script Components (WSC).

What Is WSH?
WSH is a Windows component that provides an environment for executing scripts at the OS level rather than in some other context (such as in a Web browser). WSH isn't a language like Perl or a script interpreter like perl.exe; it's a COM-based script host that executes scripts in Windows. WSH is a native OS component in Windows 2000 and later. You can install it on earlier platforms such as Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 98 after downloading it from Microsoft's Web site. . . .