Getting output from a Start-Job invocation - windows

Question

I have the following code that works in that it creates multiple jobs and runs what's inside the scriptblock on all of the computers in the array ($SMSMembers). The problem is that it doesn't give any sort of meaningful output back that I can use to determine if the code ran successfully or not. I have tried about 100 different things that I have Googled but none of the solutions seemed to work for me. This is the code I'm trying to run that I thought should work according to other posts I've seen on StackOverflow.
$SMSMembers = #("computer1","computer2","computer3")
$output = #()
foreach ($compName in $SMSMembers) {
$scriptblock = {
$file = {"test"}
$filepath = "\\$using:compName\c$\scripts\NEWFILE.txt"
$file | Out-File -FilePath $filepath
Start-Sleep -Seconds 5
Remove-Item $filepath
}
$output += Start-Job -ScriptBlock $scriptblock | Get-Job | Receive-Job
}
Get-Job | Wait-Job
foreach ($item in $output) {
Write-Host $item
}
This script doesn't do much except copy a file to a remote computer and then delete it. I would just like to get output if the job was successful or not. Like I said this code works like it should, I just don't get feedback.
My end goal is to be able to send a command to an array of computers ($SMSMembers) and request the current user with this code and get the username input back:
$user = gwmi Win32_ComputerSystem -Comp $compName |
select Username -ExpandProperty Username

Answer 1

You create the job, get the job info, and then receive the job back to back to back, before the job can complete. Instead, collect the job info, then outside the loop wait for the jobs to finish, and receive the output when the jobs are done.
$SMSMembers = #("computer1","computer2","computer3")
$scriptblock = {
$file = {"test"}
$filepath = "\\$using:compName\c$\scripts\NEWFILE.txt"
$file | out-file -FilePath $filepath
Start-Sleep -Seconds 5
remove-item $filepath
}
$Jobs = foreach($compName in $SMSMembers){
Start-Job -ScriptBlock $scriptblock
}
Wait-Job $Jobs
$Output = Receive-Job $Jobs
foreach ($item in $output){
write-host $item
}
Edit: Modified the script slightly so I wasn't randomly copying files around, but it should still function the same. Then tested it with the expected results:
$SMSMembers = #("computer1","computer2","computer3")
$scriptblock = {
$RndDly=Get-Random -Minimum 10 -Maximum 45
start-sleep -Seconds $RndDly
"Slept $RndDly, then completed for $using:compname"
}
$Jobs = foreach($compName in $SMSMembers){
Start-Job -ScriptBlock $scriptblock
}
Wait-Job $Jobs
$Output = Receive-Job $Jobs
foreach ($item in $output){
write-host $item
}
Id Name PSJobTypeName State HasMoreData Location Command
-- ---- ------------- ----- ----------- -------- -------
1 Job1 BackgroundJob Completed True localhost ...
3 Job3 BackgroundJob Completed True localhost ...
5 Job5 BackgroundJob Completed True localhost ...
Slept 30, then completed for computer1
Slept 27, then completed for computer2
Slept 11, then completed for computer3

Answer 2

Look at the below code and i think you should be able to figure this out.
> Get-job | Receive-Job 2>&1 >> c:\output.log
The 2>&1 >> with collect all output from Get-Job | Receive-Job it should work similarly for start-job