How to download a zip file with PowerShell from request stream - powershell

Question

Currently, I make a POST request to a external website then I am supposed to get a zip file in return. I can get the zip file, but it comes in an xml with just the name.zip and nothing is downloaded. I have no idea why it is not downloading. My code is below on the piece where I make the actual request. I am not sure if I am over engineering this or what else I would have to do to get the actual file to download.
$url = "https://thewebsite.net/v6_1?id=$messageID"
Write-Output($url)
$Body = [byte[]][char[]]$xmlMessage
Write-Output($Body)
$Request = [System.Net.HttpWebRequest]::CreateHttp($url);
$Request.Method="POST"
$Request.ContentType = 'text/xml;charset=utf-8'
$Request.ContentLength = $Body.Length
$Request.ClientCertificates.Add($Certificate)
Write-Output($Request.ClientCertificates)
$Stream = $Request.GetRequestStream();
$Stream.Write($Body, 0, $Body.Length);
$Response = $Request.GetResponse()
$totalLength = [System.Math]::Floor($Response.get_ContentLength()/1024)
$responseStream = $Response.GetResponseStream()
$targetStream = New-Object -TypeName System.IO.FileStream -ArgumentList "D:\path\to\save\test.txt", Create
$buffer = new-object byte[] 1GB
$count = $responseStream.Read($buffer,0,$buffer.length)
$downloadedBytes = $count
while ($count -gt 0)
{
[System.Console]::CursorLeft = 0
[System.Console]::Write("Downloaded {0}K of {1}K", [System.Math]::Floor($downloadedBytes/1024), $totalLength)
$targetStream.Write($buffer, 0, $count)
$count = $responseStream.Read($buffer,0,$buffer.length)
$downloadedBytes = $downloadedBytes + $count
Write-Output($count)
}
$targetStream.Flush()
$targetStream.Close()
$targetStream.Dispose()
$responseStream.Dispose()

Answer 1

Unfortunately without certain download URI it's hard to clarify either you case is nontrivial or you just select non optimal way to get remote file. Routine way to get ".zip" (or any other 'octet/stream' file) with Power-Shell is execute the following command
Invoke-WebRequest -uri "https://thewebsite.net/v6_1?id=$messageID" -Method "GET" -Outfile (-join($messageID,".zip"))
then $messageID.zip file would be created in directory from which you execute Power-Shell
Progress would be shown in console window automatically. I test this example just before write the answer and it works independently on method "POST"/"GET" when remote host actually return "octet/stream" in the response. Maybe in you case file is not directly returned after requesting
thewebsite.net/v6_1?id=$messageID
but it is not a point of you original question.

Answer 2

Have you tried using Invoke-WebRequest?
$path = [Environment]::GetFolderPath("MyDocuments")
Invoke-WebRequest "example.com" -OutFile "$path\ZippedFile.zip"
A variable does not have to be used, as the path can be completely defined in the Invoke-WebRequest line if desired.