Powershell – way to register python scripts to run “by themselves” under PowerShell

This sounds like the work of the File System Redirector to me. Are you running on a 64bit OS?

For example, when you make a call to C:\Windows\system32\dnscmd.exe on a 64bit OS using PowerShell (x86), this will be redirected to C:\Windows\SysWow64\dnscmd.exe. The redirection occurs at the point the folder is accessed so even though you are explicitly providing the path to the executable, you'll still be diverted. This can be disabled on the current thread via calls to native Windows APIs or can be avoided through the use of certain variables and aliases.

More information here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384187%28VS.85%29.aspx

It doesnt matter if the calling user has admin privileges, the cmdlet should be visible. You're probably not running PowerShell 2.0. You can download it here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968929

Do you get any results when you run th following (no result means you're not running v2.0 or previous CTP versions:

$PSVersionTable

A typical result (on Windows 7 ) looks like:

PS > $PSVersionTable

Name                           Value
----                           -----
CLRVersion                     2.0.50727.4927
BuildVersion                   6.1.7600.16385
PSVersion                      2.0
WSManStackVersion              2.0
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0}
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.1