Finding and running a file - powershell

Question

I am creating a script where it searches through a bunch of nested folders to find the newest version of a software, which are in .msi form. My code currently can find the file and output it, but is not able to run the file.
I can use Select in the last line for the ForEach to output the correct file but when I change it to Start-Process, I get bombarded by errors.
$path="S:\\Releases\\Program"
$NoOfDirs=Get-ChildItem $path -Directory
ForEach($dir in $NoOfDirs){
Get-ChildItem "$path\$($dir.name)" -File -Recurse |
Where-Object {$_.LastWriteTime -gt ([DateTime]::Now.Adddays(-1))} |
Select-Object #{l='Folder';e={$dir.Name}},Name,LastWriteTime |
Sort-Object -pro LastWriteTime -Descending |
Start-Process -First 1
}
Is there a different command I should be using when running .msi files?

Answer 1

Since your code has to "search through a bunch of nested folders", I'd recommend using the -Recurse switch on Get-ChildItem.
Also use the -Filter parameter to have the search limited to .MSI files.
Something like this:
$path = "S:\Releases\Program"
$refDate = (Get-Date).Adddays(-1)
Get-ChildItem -Path $path -Filter '*.msi' -File -Recurse |
Where-Object {$_.LastWriteTime -gt $refDate} |
ForEach-Object {
# create the arguments for msiexec.exe.
# to find out more switches, open a commandbox and type msiexec /?
$msiArgs = '/i', ('"{0}"' -f $_.FullName), '/qn', '/norestart'
$exitCode = Start-Process 'msiexec.exe' -ArgumentList $msiArgs -NoNewWindow -Wait -PassThru
if ($exitCode -ne 0) {
# something went wrong. see http://www.msierrors.com/tag/msiexec-return-codes/
# to find out what the error was.
Write-Warning "MsiExec.exe returned error code $exitCode"
}
}