We have been using a PowerShell script to ping some of our servers. The PowerShell script worked fine until yesterday, Now Test-Connection $machineName -quiet returns $false even though the machine is fine!
Same script is working on another server with output. I am getting blank output( Please find the below image) while running this command- Test-connection -ComputerName $machineName . This is running on PowerShell version-5.1. Please check if someone can help.
[Please find the error below]
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I have an update script for running the Dell Command Update tool. In short dcu-cli.exe. The thing now is than when i run the same script code on the computer local then everything runs OK but when i run the exact same code in a script with invoke-command(and yes i have full admin rights) than the exitcode is 2 meaning An unknown application error has occurred instead of 0 (everything OK)
It is a very large script so i created a new one to debug this. This is the shorted code:
Invoke-Command -ComputerName "MyComputer" -ScriptBlock {
$ExitCode = 0
#Declare path and arguments
$DcuCliPath = 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\CommandUpdate\dcu-cli.exe'
$DellCommand = "/applyUpdates -autoSuspendBitLocker=enable -outputLog=C:\Dell_Update.log"
#Verify Dell Command | Update exists
If (Test-Path -Path $DcuCliPath) {
$objWMI = Get-WmiObject Win32_ComputerSystem
Write-Host ("Dell Model [{0}]" -f $objWMI.Model.Trim())
$serviceName = "DellClientManagementService"
Write-Host ("Service [{0}] is currently [{1}]" -f $serviceName, (Get-Service $serviceName).Status)
If ((Get-Service $serviceName).Status -eq 'Stopped') {
Start-Service $serviceName
Write-Host "Service [$serviceName] started"
}
#Update the system with the latest drivers
Write-Host "Starting Dell Command | Update tool with arguments [$DellCommand] dcu-cli found at [$DcuCliPath]"
$ExitCode = (Start-Process -FilePath ($DcuCliPath) -ArgumentList ($DellCommand) -PassThru -Wait).ExitCode
Write-Host ("Dell Command | Update tool finished with ExitCode: [$ExitCode] current Win32 ExitCode: [$LastExitCode] Check log for more information: C:\Dell_Update.log")
}
}
When i remove the Invoke-Command -ComputerName "MyComputer" -ScriptBlock { and then copy + run the script local on the PC then the exitcode = 0
What i also noticed than when i run the command via 'Invoke-Command' then there is also no log file created as i passed along in the arguments... So my best guess is something is going wrong with local an remote paths?
So what am i missing? I'm guessing it is something simple but i spend several hours to get this running without any luck...
Try running it this way. You should be able to see any output or error messages. I typically add to the path first rather than using & or start-process.
invoke-command mycomputer {
$env:path += ';C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\CommandUpdate';
dcu-cli /applyUpdates -autoSuspendBitLocker=enable -outputLog=C:\Dell_Update.log }
Using start-process inside invoke-command seems pretty challenging. I can't even see the output of findstr unless I save it to a file. And if I didn't wait the output would be truncated. By default start-process runs in the background and in another window. There's a -nonewwindow option too but it doesn't help with invoke-command.
invoke-command localhost { # elevated
start-process 'findstr' '/i word c:\users\joe\file1' -wait -RedirectStandardOutput c:\users\joe\out }
#js2010, thanks for your additional help. Unfortunately this didn't helped either.
So i did some more debugging and it turns out it was a bug in the dcu-cli version running on my test machine, DOH...!!
On the test machine version 3.1.1 was running and on another machine version 4.0 was running and that worked fine via remote Powershell. So i looked for the release notes, which i found here: https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/000177325/dell-command-update
And as you can see in version 3.1.3 there was this fix:
A problem was solved where dcu-cli.exe was not executed in an external interactive session of PowerShell.
Steps:
1. I have created a file known as: "test.vbs" under temp folder in machine B and in that script i have msgbox "hi"
2. From machine A - my goal is execute to test.vbs in machine B
3. In machine A. i did the following steps but i didnt get remote script executed. Can anyone please help me.
ps c:/> $s=new -pssession -computername machineB
ps c:/> Invoke-Command -Session $s-ScriptBlock{$filecount=(Get-ChildItem c:\temp\test.vbs -Recurse)}
ps c:/> Invoke-Command -Session $s-ScriptBlock{$filecount}
i received directory c:\temp and a file name as test.vbs
Now i want to execute test.vbs
ps c:/> Invoke-Command -ComputerName MachineB{& "C:\Temp\test.vbs"}
After executing the above command i dont see the test.vbs not executing remotely.
my expectation is to get hi messagebox.
I am not understanding if it got executed or not.
can anyone please help me to execute remote script locally using power shell.
thanks inadvance.
If my understanding to your question is correct, you want to execute test.vbs against machine B from machine A, I don't think it's possible in PowerShell.
I faced the same issue some time ago. Neither Enter-PsSession nor Invoke-Command can do it for you probably just because they are not designed for this purpose. They are working totally fine if you run any PowerShell cmdlets remotely e.g. Get-Item you can easily get items on machine B. But once if you try to do something beyond the PowerShell remote session, like run a vbs script which will start a new CScript.exe process, it just won't work. It's due to some reason in underlying implementation of this PowerShell remoting.
If you do need to do that, I got two workarounds
PsExec can be the best solution. It was designed to do this kind of work originally and it can easily accomplish what you want with a bunch of advanced features.
Create a scheduled task on machine B by using New-ScheduledTask and let it trigger itself on machine B locally.
If you have SCCM installed, it also provides this kind of functionality, check out this blog.
Current PS script:
Invoke-Command -ComputerName RemoteServer007.FQDN.com -ScriptBlock {
Set-Variable -Name WOWCONFIG -value "d:\ABCs\WOWzers" `
| Start-Process "d:\da-folder\Do-It-NOW-Pleez.cmd"
}
If I log on locally to the server(RemoteServer007.FQDN.com) and execute the cmd file, it runs through all of the lines(commands) within the cmd file.
When I execute it remotely, it gets about 30% of the way through the commands within the cmd file, the PS execution ends without error, but not all of the lines/commands in the cmd file had been executed.
This was discovered by simply configuring each line of the cmd file to output to txt files.
I even tried re-ranging the commands in the cmd file, thinking that perhaps there was a specific command that was causing it to exit, but that is not the case.
I'm wondering if there is some timeout or response that PowerShell is not getting? and just quitting almost immediately after starting?
Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.
There are a couple of things you can do here:
You may have a memory issue. Increasing the value of MaxMemoryPerShellMB might help
set-item WSMan:\$target\Shell\MaxMemoryPerShellMB -Value 0 -Force
You'd need to run this once on the remote machine before you execute your commands again.
You can also see possible error logs in the windows event viewer. There are categories for powershell and for Windows Remote Management which you should look at.
Finally, you can just run this process asynchronously, using the task scheduler for instance. I had a similar problem with windows in the past, and running the process from the task scheduler, outside the powershell session, fixed it. There's an example of how we did this in Cloudify here:
https://github.com/CloudifySource/cloudify/blob/master/esc/src/main/resources/clouds/ec2-win/upload/bootstrap-management.ps1#L220
I use the following command to run setup_server.exe on remote Windows box:
powershell -command "$encpass=convertto-securestring -asplaintext RPASSWORD -force;$cred = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList RUSER,$encpass; invoke-command -computername RCOMPUTERNAME -scriptblock {setup_server.exe} -credential $cred;"
setup_server.exe's task is to create some configuration files and start my_server.exe (some daemon process), then it finishes. And I want my_server.exe to keep running after setup_server.exe is finished.
So when I do it via CMD on local box (i.e. just run setup_server.exe from CMD) it works, but when I do it via powershell on remote host it doesn't work. Namely the my_server.exe gets started, but right after setup_server.exe is closed the server also gets closed(killed).
So the question is following:
Which powershell flags/cmdlets should I use to make the described scenario to work as in local mode?
NOTE: I want synchronously get output of setup_server.exe, so running remote command with -AsJob flag, probably wouldn't work for me, though I even don't know if it will keep the server alive after setup_server.exe's end.
The way to keep the remote PowerShell session running after the command has finished is to use a PSSession e.g.:
$s = new-PSSession computername
Invoke-Command -session $s { ..script.. }
... do other stuff, remote powershell.exe continues to run
Remove-PSSession $s # when you're done with the remote session
Generally though exes should run independently from the app that launched them.
Why are you using Invoke-Command. If you want a persistent Session, use Enter-PSSession.
$s = New-PSSession -Computername "Computername";
Enter-PSSession -Session $s;
setup_server.exe
# Once you are finnished
Exit-PSSession
With 'Enter-PSSession' you are not just Invoking some Command on the Server, you are directly logged-in like you probably know from SSH.
If you want your powershell session to keep running because you are running an exe, try using the -InDisconnectedSession switch. From what I understand, it will run the executable on the remote machine in a session that isn't actually connected to your computer. In essence, your computer will not destroy the session, when it disconnects, allowing the exe to continue to run.
invoke-command -computername RCOMPUTERNAME -scriptblock {start-process setup_server.exe} -InDisconnectedSession
If you need to do this on multiple computers. Setup an array of all the computer names.
Note: I don't believe this works with sessions that are already created.
In order to keep a powershell code running on the session exit it should be a process. And the windows way to keep the process is running a .exe or a windows service.
To keep a Powershell shell open after executing a command, I use the -NoExit switch, e.g. this script starts a remote interactive PS session on servername with user administrator
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -NoExit
-Command "Enter-PSSession -ComputerName servername -Credential administrator"
http://powershell-guru.com/powershell-tip-13-prevent-powershell-from-exiting-once-script-finished/
I've been playing around with powershell remoting and I've come across a problem that I am unable to resolve. I have a script that creates a remote session and after setting up some variables does the following:
Invoke-Command -Session $remote_session -ScriptBlock $block -ArgumentList $args
Within the block everything works fine except when it comes to a specific line, at which point the script hangs. The pertinent line is:
& '.\external_command.exe' $argument_list
When I log into the computer that is hosting the remote powershell session I can see external_command.exe in the process list but it's not doing anything. Does anyone have any ideas on how to resolve the issue?
I had similar problems with remote execution of installers. As a workaround I now first create a cmd batch file through powershell and then run this batch file. Something like this:
"c:\external_command.exe argument1" > c:\run.cmd
&"c:\Run.cmd" |Out-Null