I have a .msi file in my remote machine which is in a different domain from my local machine. I am able to connect to the remote machine with powershell but how can I install the msi there. The installation process has a lot of inputs to be given along with pressing 'Next' and then again giving a particular input and radio buttons and many more. Thus it is an interactive installation. In my local I am able to do it with [System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys] to imitate the keyboard inputs but as the process will be running in background in the remote machine I don't think SendKeys will work. And 'psexec' is not an option here because in my remote machine I cannot include PSTools with my Powershell. Is there any way to do it with Invoke-Command and -ArgumentList??
If there is a way then how can I choose sequentially whether to input a text in a particular field or click the next button or click any other button within the application window??
I finally got to solve this puzzle with the help of a automation tool called AutoIt. This tool has its own scripting language and can create .exe files to run a particular application and do the corresponding installation steps based on each successive window the application installer pops. After creating the .exe I copied it to my remote machine using Copy-Item or you can use robocopy, then invoked the .exe remotely with the help of psexec. As I had the misconception previously about psexec, it only needs to be integrated with powershell at the local and thus it automatically creates a session of its own and interacts with the remote machine. This is the command to run the .exe on remote machine:-
psexec -i 2 -s -d \\remote_machine_name -u Username -p Password C:\Path_to_exe\installer.exe
You can actually log on to the remote machine and see in the GUI that it is happening. And yes, obviously you need to have the .msi which will be called to be present there in the remote machine so that the .exe can do its job locally in the remote session.
Related
I've been trying to write a powershell script that automates my windows workspace setup and configuration and am currently stuck trying to redirect input to WSL when executing it for the first time. The core of the problem is that Ubuntu's first launch prompts for a username and password, then logs in to a bash shell. I tried writing down the input lines into a text file like so:
Username
Password
Password
exit
Then, I tried redirecting the input of wsl to the file:
Start-Process ubuntu2004.exe -RedirectStandardInput stdin.txt -NoNewWindow -Wait
The above didn't work as executing WSL just starts spamming Enter new UNIX username: adduser: only one or two names allowed. I tried doing same in CMD with the < input redirection, but the result is the same.
This is not exactly the answer to your question, but in my opinion, ansible is better suited for such a task.
I myself recently became interested in assembling a workspace in wsl and ansible seemed to me the best solution.
Before starting the build, you will need to perform minimal steps (create a user and install several packages, all this can be placed in the readme), but then there will be no restrictions.
You can find several ready-made examples of wsl assembly via ansible on github.
A few ideas for setting the username/password in a new Ubuntu WSL instance:
First, a "PowerShell sendkeys" via COM or Interop might work for this. It's probably the closest in behavior to what you are actually asking.
Second, and perhaps most promising, I just tried this with a new Debian WSL installed from the Store (since I didn't want to mess with my Ubuntu install).
When running debian.exe (like ubuntu2004.exe), I let it run the install, then I Ctrl+C'd out of it when it started asking for the default username/password. At that point, the WSL instance is installed, but with only root. I assume that your script can let the command run for a certain period of time, then kill the process to replicate this.
From your script, you should then be able to run wsl -u root useradd --create-home --user-group --groups adm,dialout,cdrom,floppy,sudo,audio,dip,video,plugdev,netdev --password "encryptedPassword" username (see here for creating the encrypted password). I think that will get you a stock Ubuntu user the way that WSL sets it up.
You'll then need to either create a /etc/wsl.conf file (instructions) letting the instance know that that user is the default, or LxRunOffline lists this as one of its features.
But I'd also throw in that you might just want to keep a "backup" of an existing WSL instance that you start from. Do a wsl --export <distroname> <imagename.tgz>, then you can import it when setting up the new Windows host by copying the tgz over and doing a wsl --import <DistroName> <DirectoryWhereYouwantItToLive> <imagename.tgz>.
If you want, you can keep this image up to date with your desired WSL configuration, so that you don't have to recreate it when you rebuild the Windows hosts. That said, this is where I do follow #Mystic's suggestion of using Ansible to store my WSL "configuration as code". It allows me to not only recreate my WSL instances, but also that same configuration when I set (or reset) a Linode host or another Linux system.
Background:
I have several registry keys that are saved and used to update/configure remote PCs in my environment. I may not have deployed the device, previously, but I use these registry keys to update the PC as I fix/repair/etc...I am part of a team of 45 managing about 25,000 workstations and peripherals in our region of the enterprise.
if I use this command from my Win 10 PC to a Win 7 PC, it executes without problems.
psexec \remotecomputer -u domain\adminaccount regedit.exe /i /s "\server\share\directory1\directory2\directory3\someregistry.reg"
psexec starts regedit, imports the above registry file and closes.
If I run that exact same command from my Win 10 PC to another Win 10 PC, I get the following error, from CMD as ADMIN,
"PsExec could not start regedit.exe on REMOTEPC_HOSTNAME:
The system cannot find the file specified."
it can't find regedit??? WTF??
I'm curious why Win 10 is blocking me, as an admin, from importing a registry key?
I've tried reg import as a solution, but I keep getting syntax errors and it can't find the file/pathway.
It's almost like the remote PC, doesn't recognize admin input due to UAC settings?
In testing, I've set the group policy editor to enable remote registry tools, no change. I've enabled remote registry services and set to start the service automatically. I can access the PC registry via remote registry...but psexec just won't work on the remote device.
I can RDP to the device and run the command line equivalent:
regedit.exe /i /s "\UNC\pathway...\etc*.*reg" it executes, without issues.
this proves that regedit is working
Can anyone provide some expertise on this?
add -s flag to psexec to run regedit
The old PsExec trick of running RegEdit doesn't always work. This is because psexec depend on a hidden SMB Administrator service. (Which in any security sense should be disabled.)
PsExec allows redirects of the input and output of a remotely started
executable through the use of SMB and the hidden $ADMIN share on the
remote system. With this share, PsExec uses the Windows Service
control Manager API to start the PsExecsvc service on the remote
system which creates a named pipe that PsExec communicates with. This
named pipe is what allows for input/output redirection back to the
system that launched PsExec.
So instead, in order to remove any TrustedInstaller owned registry Keys, you can use a different tool. This worked:
ExecTI - Run as TrustedInstaller
Run it to open the ExecTI GUI and enter: C:\Windows\regedit.exe
I am trying to set up a simple bat file to help non-tech people execute scripts by just clicking a file on desktop.
I haven't used windows in a while, and don't have a real dev environment set up on the computers they are going to be using. I installed putty, and can manually ssh into the pi's and run commands, but I can't teach that process to the employees.
I would like to create a simple bat file that runs the following commands:
ssh pi#192.168.1.xxx
<enter password>: 'xxx'
sudo reboot
Is there a way to do this?
Thank you!
Downloaded Plink #
https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html
I moved it, AND putty to c:/windows/system32 instead of changing PATH
This doesn't seem necessary, as the next step will automatically locate the file and change the path.
On desktop, right click and create a new shortcut.
In the shortcut path, I typed:
plink -ssh username#192.16.1.xxx -pw raspberry sudo reboot
This worked.
if you recheck the shortcut again, it should automatically change the path to execute plink
The UPS software I am using has functionality to run a script on the management PC (PC1) when it goes into battery mode. I have come up with a powershell script (ShutdownVM.ps1) that works fine on its own to Invoke-Commands on the VM server; shutting down VM's gracefully and turning off the host machine (SERVER). The first problem arose when the UPS software could not directly run a .ps1 file.
Simple enough, I thought I would make a simple .bat (shutdown.bat) file to run the .ps1 file on PC1 to shut everything off on SERVER. Running my .bat file from the desktop pc worked perfectly, but as the UPS software would run it as a service, my poor .bat file would run from Session 0.
Here is the code i used in Shutdown.bat:
#echo on
Powershell.exe -executionpolicy unrestricted -command C:\Windows\ShutdownVM.ps1
The interactive services manager would pop up and my computer would hang and finally the UPS software would turn it off and I'd be back to square one, with SERVER and its VM's still running. So I thought I would download and use PSExec to execute my shutdown.bat file.
I made another .bat file and called it PSExec.bat and below is the code in it:
#echo on
psexec.exe -accepteula \\PC1 -h -u user -p pass -i 2 C:\Windows\shutdown.bat
Finally! It tries to run! Upon checking the interactive services manager, it showed the PSExec was throwing the error "the system cannot find the file specified"
"The System Cannot Find The File Specified"
I have no idea what file it is even looking for, I have double, triple checked the path names in my scripts and still have no idea as to what it is doing. If anyone could shed any light (or let me know of an easier way to achieve what I am trying to do) that would be great. Thanks!
-F
I have maintained a sikuli script which runs good for a GUI application on my PC, say PC-A. Also I have PsExec installed on it. My GUI application is installed on PC-B.
What I need to do is, run the sikuli script (on PC-A) to execute for GUI app on (PC-B) using PsExec as mediator, which should pass on my commands at every single line and return the results back to PC-A from GUI application.
SikuliX Script(PC-A) ====== PsExec.exe(PC-A) ======= GUI App(PC-B)
Regards,
Bharath
To run interactively in a specific session of a remote PC you'll need to know the session id on the remote system.
You can then use psexec's -i option to run in that session. From psexec -?
-i Run the program so that it interacts with the desktop of the
specified session on the remote system. If no session is
specified the process runs in the console session.