find-videos

A PowerShell utility that scans Windows user profiles for MP4 video files, generates per-user VLC playlists, and exports a consolidated CSV report.

Features

• Searches six common subdirectories within each profile under C:\Users
• Generates a VLC-compatible XSPF playlist for every user that has videos
• Exports a single CSV (all-videos.csv) with profile name and full file path for every discovered video
• Prints a summary to the console grouped by profile and subdirectory

Requirements

• Windows PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell 7+
• VLC media player (to open .xspf playlists)
• Sufficient read permissions on C:\Users and its subdirectories

Project Structure

find-videos/
├── scripts/
│   └── Start-App.ps1       # Entry point — run this
├── src/
│   └── Find-Videos.ps1     # Core search and output logic
├── data/                   # Generated output (git-ignored)
│   ├── <Profile>.xspf      # Per-user VLC playlist
│   └── all-videos.csv      # Combined CSV report
├── .gitignore
└── README.md

Usage

Run from any PowerShell prompt at the repository root:

.\scripts\Start-App.ps1

Parameters

Parameter	Default	Description
-UsersRoot	C:\Users	Root directory containing user profile folders
-DataDir	.\data	Output directory for playlists and the CSV file

Examples

# Default — scan C:\Users, output to .\data
.\scripts\Start-App.ps1

# Custom users root
.\scripts\Start-App.ps1 -UsersRoot D:\Users

# Custom output directory
.\scripts\Start-App.ps1 -DataDir C:\Reports\VideoScan

# Verbose output (prints each playlist path as it is written)
.\scripts\Start-App.ps1 -Verbose

Output

Console

john.doe
  \Videos          (12 videos)
  \Downloads       (3 videos)
  \Documents       (1 video)

jane.smith
  \Desktop         (2 videos)

CSV written: C:\development\find-videos\data\all-videos.csv (18 total videos)

all-videos.csv

"Profile","FullPath"
"john.doe","C:\Users\john.doe\Videos\example.mp4"
"jane.smith","C:\Users\jane.smith\Desktop\clip.mp4"

XSPF Playlists

Each data\<ProfileName>.xspf file can be opened directly in VLC via Media → Open File or by double-clicking if .xspf is associated with VLC.

Searched Directories

The following subdirectories are scanned recursively within each profile:

• \Videos
• \Downloads
• \AppData\Local
• \AppData\Roaming
• \Documents
• \Desktop

Directories that do not exist or contain no MP4 files are silently skipped.

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feat/your-feature
3. Commit your changes: git commit -m "feat: description"
4. Push to the branch: git push origin feat/your-feature
5. Open a pull request targeting dev

License

MIT