# Starting the default associated Windows program on WSL > Learn the simple command to open files like PDFs and HTML from your WSL Linux console using their default Windows application - powershell.exe. ---  **TL;DR** This article shares a quick WSL trick: running `powershell.exe ` (e.g. `powershell.exe guide.pdf`) from the Linux console opens that file with its default Windows application, without needing to browse to it in Windows Explorer first. `xdg-open` is mentioned as an alternative for opening the default browser. Very often, I'm in my Linux console and I'd like to open a pdf file that I've just generated or, more simply, to open an html file. But how can I do this? Without knowing the tip that is the subject of this article, at the moment I launch [Windows Explorer](/blog/wsl-windows-explorer) from my console, I then get the well-known file explorer interface and there I double-click on the file I want to open and leave it to Windows, which knows which program to launch to open this or that extension. In fact, it's much simpler... The tip: start `powershell.exe` followed by the filename to open like `powershell.exe guide.pdf` or `powershell.exe index.html`. *A typical use case: you've just generated a PDF with [Quarto in Docker](/blog/docker-quarto) and want to check the result without leaving your console.* > **Not available in Bash:** > > `powershell.exe` only works in the console. You can't use it in a Bash script (`.sh`), it won't be recognized there. > **`xdg-open`:** > > You can also use `xdg-open` to start your default browser so `xdg-open index.html` will open the file in your Windows browser. If you get the error below, you'll find a solution in the article [Windows Explorer](/blog/wsl-windows-explorer#wsl-localhost-is-not-accessible) ```bash Start : This command cannot be run due to the error: The system cannot find the file specified. At line:1 char:1 + Start "readme.html" + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [Start-Process], InvalidOperationException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperationException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.StartProcessCommand ```