I have a PowerShell script that starts a task on a remote server. The task takes hours to run so I need to have a loop in my code to check the task every few minutes to see if it's still running before the script proceeds to the next step. I tried running the following:
$svc_cred = Get-Credential -Credential <DOMAIN>\<ServiceAccount>
$global:Remote_session = New-PSSession -ComputerName <Server> -Credential $svc_cred
Invoke-Command -Session $global:Remote_session -ScriptBlock {
$results = Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName "Export_users" -TaskPath "\"
Write-Output "Taskname: $results.TaskName"
Write-Output "State: $results.State"
}
But this produces the output:
Taskname: MSFT_ScheduledTask (TaskName = "Export_users", TaskPath = "\").TaskName
State: MSFT_ScheduledTask (TaskName = "Export_users", TaskPath = "\").State
My desired outpout is:
Taskname: Export_users
State: Running
How do I code this to allow access the script to check if State is equal to "Running"?
You can use the State property of a scheduled task on a while loop, like this:
Start-ScheduledTask -TaskName 'SomeTaskName'
while ((Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName 'SomeTaskName').State -ne 'Ready') {
##Wait a while
Start-Sleep -Seconds 10
}
The comment from Santiago Squarzon answered my question.
"Taskname: $($results.TaskName)" and "State: $($results.State)" or even simpler, $results | Select-Object TaskName, State –
Santiago Squarzon
Related
Good Afternoon:
I have written a PS Script that can create a task on my local machine; however, it is my intention to have this configure a task on multiple machines from a list. I cannot seem to find a way on how to do this. I did see something on using New-CimSession, but I dont think that is what I am looking for...
Here is my script:
foreach ($confighost in (Get-Content -Path "C:\Users\*User*\Documents\Test.txt"))
{
#Check for existent script in Task Scheduler
$taskpath = "\\$confighost\c$\Windows\System32\Tasks\LocalUserCleanUp"
$testtask = Test-Path -path $taskpath
If ($testtask -eq $true)
{
#If Task is already present, Do Not Run
Write-Host "CleanUp Task Listed in Task Scheduler On" $confighost ". Will not Implement Task..."
}
else
{
#If Task Does Not Exist Create Task
New-CimSession -ComputerName $confighost
Write-Host "No CleanUp Task Listed in Task Scheduler, Creating Task..."
$action = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute 'Powershell.exe' -Argument "C:\Users\*Users*\Documents\ProfileCleanup.ps1"
$trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Daily -At 2am
$settings = New-ScheduledTaskPrincipal -UserId "SYSTEM" -LogonType ServiceAccount -RunLevel Highest
Register-ScheduledTask -Action $action -Trigger $trigger -Principal $settings -TaskName "LocalUserCleanUp" -Description "Checks user accounts nightly to see if they are older than 30 days"
}
}
I look forward to your insight. Thanks again for all your assistance!
You can use Invoke-Command to execute your task creation code on a target server:
$cred = Get-Credential # There are a number of methods to automate reading the credential from a file
Invoke-Command -Credential $cred -ComputerName server01, server02, server0X {
# Your task creation code here
}
If you have any variables defined in your local session that you need available in the remote code, you can reference them in your Invoke-Command ScriptBlock reference the variable from the using scope by prefixing the local variable with $using:.
I tried to run few Azure cmdlets in background (i tried it by switch parameter "-asJob" and by with Start-Job cmdlet), i push cmdlet operations to the hashtable with certian keys and then iterate running jobs.
The problem is that all cmdlet change state to "Completed" in the same time, even if some job in hashtable actually ended by "Completed".
Feels like that all jobs end with last ending job.
Below i write some example code with problem
$vmssInstances = Get-AzVmssVM -ResourceGroupName $(agentPoolName) -VMScaleSetName $(agentPoolName)
$groupedVmssInstancesByComputerName = #{}
foreach($vmssInstance in $vmssInstances)
{
$groupedVmssInstancesByComputerName[$vmssInstance.OsProfile.ComputerName] = #{vmmsInstance = $vmssInstance; agents = #(); isFullyUpdated = $false}
}
foreach($key in $groupedVmssInstancesByComputerName.Keys)
{
$vmssInstance = $groupedVmssInstancesByComputerName[$key]["vmmsInstance"]
Write-Host "Trying to reimage instance $($vmssInstance.InstanceId)..."
$groupedVmssInstancesByComputerName[$key]["reimageOperation"] = Set-AzVmssVM -Reimage -InstanceId $vmssInstance.InstanceId -ResourceGroupName $(agentPoolName) -VMScaleSetName $(agentPoolName) -AsJob
}
while($true)
{
Get-Job
Start-Sleep -Seconds 10
}
I cant understand what is going on.
Maybe i dont know some features of powershell.
Please help me, guyes!
Try using Wait-Job - Suppresses the command prompt until one or all of the PowerShell background jobs running in the session are completed.
Get-Job | Wait-Job
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/wait-job?view=powershell-6
I'm trying to get one master PowerShell script to run all of the others while waiting 30-60 seconds to ensure that the tasks are completed. Everything else I tried wouldn't stop/wait for the first script and its processes to complete before going through all the others at the same time and would cause a restart automatically.
Main script, run as admin:
$LogStart = 'Log '
$LogDate = Get-Date -Format "dd-MM-yyy-hh-mm-ss"
$FileName = $LogStart + $LogDate + '.txt.'
$scriptList = #(
'C:\Scripts\1-OneDriveUninstall.ps1'
'C:\Scripts\2-ComputerRename.ps1'
);
Start-Transcript -Path "C:\Scripts\$FileName"
foreach ($script in $scriptList) {
Start-Process -FilePath "$PSHOME\powershell.exe" -ArgumentList "-Command '& $script'"
Write-Output "The $script is running."
Start-Sleep -Seconds 30
}
Write-Output "Scripts have completed. Computer will restart in 10 seconds."
Start-Sleep -Seconds 10
Stop-Transcript
C:\Scripts\3-Restart.ps1
1-OneDriveUninstall.ps1:
Set-ItemProperty -Path REGISTRY::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System -Name ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin -Value 0
taskkill /f /im OneDrive.exe
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall
2-ComputerRename.ps1:
$computername = Get-Content env:computername
$servicetag = Get-WmiObject Win32_Bios |
Select-Object -ExpandProperty SerialNumber
if ($computername -ne $servicetag) {
Write-Host "Renaming computer to $servicetag..."
Rename-Computer -NewName $servicetag
} else {
Write-Host "Computer name is already set to service tag."
}
The log file shows:
Transcript started, output file is C:\Scripts\Log 13-09-2019-04-28-47.txt.
The C:\Scripts\1-OneDriveUninstall.ps1 is running.
The C:\Scripts\2-ComputerRename.ps1 is running.
Scripts have completed. Computer will restart in 10 seconds.
Windows PowerShell transcript end
End time: 20190913162957
They aren't running correctly at all though. They run fine individually but not when put into one master script.
PowerShell can run PowerShell scripts from other PowerShell scripts directly. The only time you need Start-Process for that is when you want to run the called script with elevated privileges (which isn't necessary here, since your parent script is already running elevated).
This should suffice:
foreach ($script in $scriptList) {
& $script
}
The above code will run the scripts sequentially (i.e. start the next script only after the previous one terminated). If you want to run the scripts in parallel, the canonical way is to use background jobs:
$jobs = foreach ($script in $scriptList) {
Start-Job -ScriptBlock { & $using:script }
}
$jobs | Wait-Job | Receive-Job
Thought I would share this quick function I made for myself, feel free to adapt it and improve it according to your needs.
Sometimes you want to run commands as the logged on user of a remote computer.
As you know, some commands show output for the user who runs it and if you run the same command with Invoke-Command, it won't return the user's information, but yours). Get-Printer is an example amongst many others.
There is no easy, quick way of running commands as the logged on user natively without any third-party apps like PsExec or others so I made this quick function that uses VBS, PS1 and Scheduled Task to make it happen.
It runs completly silently for the user (thanks to the VBS) and the output is shown in your console. Please note it assumes the remote computer has a C:\TEMP.
Created in a Windows 10, powershell v 5.1.17763.503 environement.
I don't pretend it's final and perfect, it's the simplest way I found to do what is needed and I just wanted to share it with you guys as it can be very useful!
Check the comments for explanation of the code and feel free to use it as you wish. Please share your version as I'm curious to see people improve it. A good idea would be to make it support multiple computers, but as I said it's a quick function I did I don't have too much time to put into refining it.
That being said, I had no problems using it multiple times as is :)
*Output returned is in form of a string, if you want to have a proper object, add '| ConvertFrom-String' and play with it :)
PLEASE NOTE: The surefire way of grabbing the username of who is currently logged on is via QWINSTA (since Win32_ComputerSystem - Username is only reliable if a user is logged on LOCALLY, it won't be right if a user is using RDP/RemoteDesktop). So this is what I used to grab the username, however, please note that in our french environement the name of the username property in QWINSTA is "UTILISATEUR",so you have to change that to your needs (english or other language) for it to work. If I remember correctly, it's "USERNAME" in english.
On this line:
$LoggedOnUser = (qwinsta /SERVER:$ComputerName) -replace '\s{2,22}', ',' | ConvertFrom-Csv | Where-Object {$_ -like "*Acti*"} | Select-Object -ExpandProperty UTILISATEUR
See code in the answer below.
function RunAsUser {
Param ($ComputerName,$Scriptblock)
#Check that computer is reachable
Write-host "Checking that $ComputerName is online..."
if (!(Test-Connection $ComputerName -Count 1 -Quiet)) {
Write-Host "$ComputerName is offline" -ForegroundColor Red
break
}
#Check that PsRemoting works (test Invoke-Command and if it doesn't work, do 'Enable-PsRemoting' via WMI method).
#*You might have the adjust this one to suit your environement.
#Where I work, WMI is always working, so when PsRemoting isn't, I enable it via WMI first.
Write-host "Checking that PsRemoting is enabled on $ComputerName"
if (!(invoke-command $ComputerName { "test" } -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
Invoke-WmiMethod -ComputerName $ComputerName -Path win32_process -Name create -ArgumentList "powershell.exe -command Enable-PSRemoting -SkipNetworkProfileCheck -Force" | Out-Null
do {
Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 200
} until (invoke-command $ComputerName { "test" } -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)
}
#Check that a user is logged on the computer
Write-host "Checking that a user is logged on to $ComputerName..."
$LoggedOnUser = (qwinsta /SERVER:$ComputerName) -replace '\s{2,22}', ',' | ConvertFrom-Csv | Where-Object {$_ -like "*Acti*"} | Select-Object -ExpandProperty UTILISATEUR
if (!($LoggedOnUser) ) {
Write-Host "No user is logged on to $ComputerName" -ForegroundColor Red
break
}
#Creates a VBS file that will run the scriptblock completly silently (prevents the user from seeing a flashing powershell window)
#"
Dim wshell, PowerShellResult
set wshell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Const WindowStyle = 0
Const WaitOnReturn = True
For Each strArg In WScript.Arguments
arg = arg & " " & strArg
Next 'strArg
PowerShellResult = wshell.run ("PowerShell " & arg & "; exit $LASTEXITCODE", WindowStyle, WaitOnReturn)
WScript.Quit(PowerShellResult)
"# | out-file "\\$ComputerName\C$\TEMP\RAU.vbs" -Encoding ascii -force
#Creates a script file from the specified '-Scriptblock' parameter which will be ran as the logged on user by the scheduled task created below.
#Adds 'Start-Transcript and Stop-Transcript' for logging the output.
$Scriptblock = "Start-Transcript C:\TEMP\RAU.log -force" + $Scriptblock + "Stop-Transcript"
$Scriptblock | out-file "\\$ComputerName\C$\TEMP\RAU.ps1" -Encoding utf8 -force
#On the remote computer, create a scheduled task that runs the .ps1 script silently in the user's context (with the help of the vbs)
Write-host "Running task on $ComputerName..."
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $ComputerName -ArgumentList $LoggedOnUser -ScriptBlock {
param($loggedOnUser)
$SchTaskParameters = #{
TaskName = "RAU"
Description = "-"
Action = (New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute "wscript.exe" -Argument "C:\temp\RAU.vbs C:\temp\RAU.ps1")
Settings = (New-ScheduledTaskSettingsSet -AllowStartIfOnBatteries -DontStopIfGoingOnBatteries -StartWhenAvailable -DontStopOnIdleEnd)
RunLevel = "Highest"
User = $LoggedOnUser
Force = $true
}
#Register and Start the task
Register-ScheduledTask #SchTaskParameters | Out-Null
Start-ScheduledTask -TaskName "RAU"
#Wait until the task finishes before continuing
do {
Write-host "Waiting for task to finish..."
$ScheduledTaskState = Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName "RAU" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty state
start-sleep 1
} until ( $ScheduledTaskState -eq "Ready" )
#Delete the task
Unregister-ScheduledTask -TaskName "RAU" -Confirm:$false
}
Write-host "Task completed on $ComputerName"
#Grab the output of the script from the transcript and remove the header (first 19) and footer (last 5)
$RawOutput = Get-Content "\\$ComputerName\C$\temp\RAU.log" | Select-Object -Skip 19
$FinalOutput = $RawOutput[0..($RawOutput.length-5)]
#Shows output
return $FinalOutput
#Delete the output file and script files
Remove-Item "\\$ComputerName\C$\temp\RAU.log" -force
Remove-Item "\\$ComputerName\C$\temp\RAU.vbs" -force
Remove-Item "\\$ComputerName\C$\temp\RAU.ps1" -force
}
#____________________________________________________
#Example command
#Note: Sometimes Start-Transcript doesn't show the output for a certain command, so if you run into empty output, add: ' | out-host' or '| out-default' at the end of the command not showing output.
$Results = RunAsUser -ComputerName COMP123 -Scriptblock {
get-printer | Select-Object name,drivername,portname | Out-host
}
$Results
#If needed, you can turn the output (which is a string for the moment) to a proper powershell object with ' | ConvertFrom-String'
I have a function that is used to purge a message queue on a machine but I'm looking to adapt it and make it a little more robust. I'd like to be able to fire the command to a machine even if the current machine doesn't have MSMQ installed.
The local command works without issue but when the invoke-command is called, the check to see if the queue exists returns false (even though the queue does exist). Has anyone run into anything like this before? Any suggestions?
This is my function:
Function Purge-MessageQueue
{
<#
.Synopsis
Use hostname to purge message queue
.DESCRIPTION
Checks if MSMQ is locally installed otherwise fire the purge
command to the machine you are purging
.EXAMPLE
Purge-MessageQueue -targetMachine $env:computername -queueName 'test'
#>
Param
(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[String]$targetMachine,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[string]$queueName
)
Write-Verbose "Purging $queueName queue on: $targetMachine"
$queueName = "$targetMachine\$queueName"
$error.clear()
[void] [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Messaging")
try {[void][System.Messaging.MessageQueue]::Exists($queueName)}
catch
{
if ($_.exception.ToString() -like '*Message Queuing has not been installed on this computer.*')
{
#push command to machine
$RemoteSuccess = Invoke-Command -ComputerName $targetMachine -ScriptBlock { Param($queueName)
[void] [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Messaging")
If([System.Messaging.MessageQueue]::Exists($queueName))
{
$queue = new-object -TypeName System.Messaging.MessageQueue -ArgumentList $queueName
Try{$queue.Purge()}
Catch{$error}
}
} -ArgumentList $queueName
}
}
If(!$error)
{
If([System.Messaging.MessageQueue]::Exists($queueName))
{
$queue = new-object -TypeName System.Messaging.MessageQueue -ArgumentList $queueName
$queue.Purge()
}
}
If(!$Error -and !$RemoteSuccess)
{
Write-Host "$queueName queue on $targetMachine cleared"
}
Else
{
Write-Warning "Failed locating queue $queueName on $targetMachine"
}
}
NOTES:
In order to identify what exactly is going on, I used write-host on the exists statement and it returns false. The queue is not being found when I pass the scriptblock. It is executing on the other machine (tested writing a file which succeeded). When I run:
Write-Host "$([System.Messaging.MessageQueue]::Exists($queueName))`n$queueName"
$objqueue = new-object -TypeName System.Messaging.MessageQueue -ArgumentList $queueName
I get the false, the correct queue name, and the following error:
Exception calling "Purge" with "0" argument(s): "The queue does not
exist or you do not have sufficient permissions to perform the
operation."
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : MessageQueueException
+ PSComputerName : XXXXXX
Running the same command directly on the machine works without issue.
I also found someone else trying to do something similar on serverfault:
https://serverfault.com/questions/399178/how-to-retrieve-names-of-all-private-msmq-queues-efficiently
And when I try this:
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $targetMachine -ScriptBlock { Get-MsmqQueue }
I get the following result:
Cannot find specified machine.
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (:) [Get-MsmqQueue], MessageQueueException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : MachineNotFound,Microsoft.Msmq.PowerShell.Commands.GetMSMQQueueCommand
This following command does return the data, but it doesn't allow me to send a purge command:
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $targetMachine -ScriptBlock {Get-WmiObject -class Win32_PerfRawData_MSMQ_MSMQQueue}
I also tried to write the content to a script file and then call the file, which when run on the machine, works without issue but not when called via invoke-command:
$filewriter = #"
[Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Messaging")
If([System.Messaging.MessageQueue]::Exists('$queueName'))
{
`$objqueue = new-object -TypeName System.Messaging.MessageQueue -ArgumentList $queueName
Try{`$objqueue.Purge()}
Catch{`$error}
}
"#
$session = New-PSSession -ComputerName $targetMachine
Invoke-Command -Session $session -ScriptBlock {Param($FileWriter)
$FileWriter | Out-File "C:\Temp\PurgeQueue.ps1"
} -ArgumentList $filewriter
$test = Invoke-Command -Session $session -scriptblock {Pushd "C:\Temp\"
.\PurgeQueue.ps1}
I have not found the cause for this, but I will summarize what I have found and my workaround
Summary:
When invoking msmq commands via invoke-command, only private queues appear and can be manipulated.
Workaround:
I've build a function to deal with purging and adding message to queues by creating scheduled tasks on the remote machine to call the script created by the command.
Function Push-MSMQRemoteCommand
{
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
$targetMachine,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
$password,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
$queueName,
[Switch]$purge,
$user,
$message)
Begin
{
If(!$user){$user = "$env:USERDOMAIN\$env:USERNAME"}
If($purge -and $message.Length -ne 0){Write-Error "Choose to purge or add... not both" -ErrorAction Stop}
$queuepath = "$targetMachine\$queueName"
#build commands to push
If($purge)
{
$scriptblock = #"
[void] [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Messaging")
If ([System.Messaging.MessageQueue]::Exists('$queuePath')) {
`$queue = new-object -TypeName System.Messaging.MessageQueue -ArgumentList $queuePath
`$queue.Purge()
}
"#
}
ElseIf($message)
{
If($message.Length -eq 0){Write-Error "No message provided to add message" -ErrorAction Stop}
$scriptblock = #"
[void] [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Messaging")
`$queue = new-object System.Messaging.MessageQueue "$queuepath"
`$utf8 = new-object System.Text.UTF8Encoding
`$msgBytes = `$utf8.GetBytes('$message')
`$msgStream = new-object System.IO.MemoryStream
`$msgStream.Write(`$msgBytes, 0, `$msgBytes.Length)
`$msg = new-object System.Messaging.Message
`$msg.BodyStream = `$msgStream
`$msg.Label = "RemoteQueueManagerPowershell"
`$queue.Send(`$msg)
"#
}
#Push Commands
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $targetMachine -ScriptBlock {
Param($user,$password,$scriptblock)
$scriptblock | Out-file -FilePath "C:\temp\ManageQueue.ps1" -Force
$action = New-ScheduledTaskAction -execute 'powershell.exe' -Argument '-File "C:\temp\ManageQueue.ps1"'
#scheudling action to start 2 seconds from now
$trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Once -At ((Get-Date)+(New-TimeSpan -Seconds 2))
Register-ScheduledTask -TaskName RemoteQueueManager `
-Action $action `
-Trigger $trigger `
-User "$user"`
-Password $password
#Start-Sleep -Seconds 10
Unregister-ScheduledTask -TaskName RemoteQueueManager -Confirm:$false
Remove-Item -Path "C:\temp\ManageQueue.ps1" -Force
} -ArgumentList $user,$password,$scriptblock
}
}
From your analysis I have feeling that it is issue of rights.
Did you check the rights for your user?
If you are a normal user you have to do the following (not an Administrator) on the
destination computer/server/VM:
1) first create a group and add there users
net localgroup "Remote PowerShell Session Users" /add
net localgroup "Remote PowerShell Session Users" the-user /add
2) Invoke GUI
Set-PSSessionConfiguration microsoft.powershell -ShowSecurityDescriptorUI
3) Add Remote PowerShell Session Users group and grant it execute (invoke) rights
4) Restart the service:
Set-PSSessionConfiguration microsoft.powershell -ShowSecurityDescriptorUI
5) the user now should be able to run remote session
The original source is here.