Powershell - Struggling to copy file from variable location - powershell

Question

Ive been banging my head with a powershell script that i've tried a few differnt methods with and was wondering if someone can help?
Unsure at this point if im just doing something silly, thanks in advance
Aim:
To copy a vbs file from user's homedrives to a different location, the location of the vbs file changes depending on which user needs account admin doing hence why this needs to be variable. It gets the location from a text file which includes the exact path to go to and a destination which has already been created to copy the files to.
Where I have the issue currently:
$location = Get-Content C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\here\drive4.txt | Out-String
$dest = "C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\here"
Get-ChildItem -Path $location |
Copy-Item -Destination $dest -Recurse -Container -filter "peruser.vbs"
write-host $location
Read-Host -Prompt "Press Enter to continue or CTRL+C to quit"
The Issue
Please see the below, I have put write host to show the location powershell is trying to reach, as a side note I am able to reach this location fine through file explorer
Screenshot of error
Error Recieved
Get-ChildItem : Illegal characters in path.
At C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\MapNetworkDrives2.ps1:17 char:1
+ Get-ChildItem -Path $location | Copy-Item -Destination $dest -Recurse -Container ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (\\WIN-7V7GI0R7C...
:String) [Get-ChildItem], ArgumentException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ItemExistsArgumentError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand
Get-ChildItem : Cannot find path '\\WIN-7V7GI0R7CFK\homedrives\Onetest$
' because it does not exist.
At C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\MapNetworkDrives2.ps1:17 char:1
+ Get-ChildItem -Path $location | Copy-Item -Destination $dest -Recurse -Container ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (\\WIN-7V7GI0R7C...
:String) [Get-ChildItem], ItemNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand

Answer 1

Unless I have misunderstood you - you are just trying to copy a file to various locations based on a list. If so you just need to loop through your list. Does this work for you?
$location = Get-Content "C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\here\drive4.txt"
$dest = "C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\here"
foreach ($loc in $location){
$vbs = (gci $loc -Filter "peruser.vbs").FullName
Copy-Item $vbs $dest -Force
}

Answer 2

You are not showing what is in the text file, forcing us to guess, which is not really a good thing relative to trying to help you. So, I am going to assume it's just a list of drive letters or path UNC's, which is really moot since you can pull those dynamically, thus no need for the file.
I don't understand why you are doing this...
Get-Content 'C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\here\drive4.txt' |
Out-String
If it is just a text file for reading, why are you piping that anywhere?
You don't need double quotes for this. Single quotes for simple string, double for variable expansion or other specific formatted requirements
$dest = 'C:\Users\Adminstrator\Desktop\here'
Just pass the read directly
Get-Content 'C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\here\drive4.txt' |
ForEach {
"Processing location $($PSItem.FullName)"
Copy-Item -Path $PSItem.FullName -Destination $dest -Filter 'peruser.vbs' -Recurse -WhatIf
}
Point of note:
You don't need Write-Host to output to the screen, as that is the PowerShell default, as I'll show in my example to follow. Really, except for writing screen text with color, you'd never need to use Write-Host/echo at all, well, there are a few other specific times to use it.
Also of note, regarding Write-Host from the inventor of Monad/PowerShell Jeffery Snover
http://www.jsnover.com/blog/2013/12/07/write-host-considered-harmful
https://twitter.com/jsnover/status/727902887183966208
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility/Write-Information?view=powershell-5.1
You also, do not necessarily need both Get-ChildItem and Copy-Item, since both will read the folder tree recursively. As I'll show below. I am using splatting to tighten up the code block for readability.
So, if I demo this just using a drive and folder on my system. And step through a script build out to make sure I am getting what I expect at each step before moving to the next.
Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem |
Format-Table -AutoSize
<#
# Results
Name Used (GB) Free (GB) Provider Root CurrentLocation
---- --------- --------- -------- ---- ---------------
C 357.48 118.83 FileSystem C:\ Windows\system32
D 114.10 362.71 FileSystem D:\ Scripts
E 1194.00 668.89 FileSystem E:\
F 3537.07 188.83 FileSystem F:\
G FileSystem G:\
#>
# Validate if there is any content in the destination
Try
{
Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem |
Where Name -eq 'D' |
ForEach {
"Processing location $($PSItem.Root) and the contents are as listed."
(Get-ChildItem -Path 'D:\Temp\here' -Recurse).FullName
}
}
Catch {Write-Warning -Message 'No content in the destination folder'}
<#
# Results
Processing location D:\ and the contents are as listed.
WARNING: No content in the destination folder
#>
# Show what is on the drive for the source files
Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem |
Where Name -eq 'D' |
ForEach{
"Processing the location $($PSItem.Root)"
(Get-ChildItem -Path "$($PSItem.Root)\Temp\book1.csv" -Recurse).FullName
}
<#
# Results
Processing the location D:\
D:\Temp\Source\book1.csv
D:\Temp\book1.csv
#>
<#
# Show what will happen if a Copy files from the source to the destination occurs
Using splatting for readability
#>
Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem |
Where Name -eq 'D' |
ForEach{
"Processing the location $($PSItem.Root)"
$CopyItemSplat = #{
Path = "$($PSItem.Root)\Temp\book1.csv"
Destination = "$($PSItem.Root)\Temp\here"
Recurse = $true
WhatIf = $true
}
}
Copy-Item #CopyItemSplat
<#
# Results
Processing the location D:\
What if: Performing the operation "Copy File" on target "Item: D:\Temp\book1.csv Destination: D:\Temp\here\book1.csv".
If the results are as expected, execute the action
Using splatting for readability
#>
Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem |
Where Name -eq 'D' |
ForEach{
"Processing the location $($PSItem.Root)"
$CopyItemSplat = #{
Path = "$($PSItem.Root)\Temp\book1.csv"
Destination = "$($PSItem.Root)\Temp\here"
Recurse = $true
}
}
Copy-Item #CopyItemSplat
<#
# Results
Processing the location D:\
#>
# Validate if there is any content in the destination
Try
{
Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem |
Where Name -eq 'D' |
ForEach {
"Processing location $($PSItem.Root) and the contents are as listed."
(Get-ChildItem -Path 'D:\Temp\here' -Recurse).FullName
}
}
Catch {Write-Warning -Message 'No content in the destination folder'}
<#
# Results
Processing location D:\ and the contents are as listed.
D:\Temp\here\book1.csv
#>