Get-EventLog not parsing Message when run by SYSTEM user - powershell

Problem
I am trying to schedule a job that monitors events on remote machines.
I wrote the script based on the Get-EventLog command and it works properly when run by my account. But when I run the Get-EventLog as SYSTEM user, the .Message attribute of the returned objects shows the following error:
The description for Event ID '4724' in Source 'Microsoft-Windows-Security-Auditing' cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display the message, or you may not have permission to access them. The following information is part of the event: {somedata}
When I use the Get-WinEvent command as SYSTEM user, the problem does not appear and the .Message part displays properly.
I would stick with Get-WinEvent, especially since the data is much easier to parse (thanks to the ToXML() method), but the Get-EventLog happens to be terribly faster :(
Question
Does anyone have any idea why the Get-EventLog fails to render .Message when run by SYSTEM user and perhaps how to fix it?
To avoid obvious answers:
the COMPUTER$ account is member of DOMAIN\Event Log Readers group,
the COMPUTER$ account does have the read privileges over the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Security on remote machines,
obviously, the registry entries for Microsoft-Windows-Security-Auditing and related DLL's are identical on both the source and target computers.

Try:
Get-WinEvent -LogName “Microsoft-Windows-Security-Auditing” | where ID -eq 4724 | select-object -ExpandProperty Message

Related

Scheduling a Powershell process does not yield the same results as when I run it manually

I wrote a small PowerShell script that I am using to query the Server Log, clean the return values and use some of the results to perform some server maintenance. However, when I schedule the save to file piece is not writing the whole content to the file and it is getting truncated, just like what I ma posting below, exactly. As you can observe, the end of the file is truncated with three dots added to replace the missing values:
Login failed for user 'sa'. Reason: An error occurred while evaluating the password. [CLIENT: 2...
However, if I run the code manually with Local Admin access, the content gets saved to the local file like this, exactly:
Login failed for user 'sa'. Reason: An error occurred while evaluating the password. [CLIENT: 112.103.198.2]
Why is this the case when I schedule the process or PS file to run under a schedule. BTW, I tried to run it under the SYSTEM context with full or highest privileges and even used the same Admin account that I use to run it manually to schedule and still do nt get the full content of the event that I save.
This is creating an issue and I am not able to use the content to process the IP.
Here is the PS code that I am using to query and save the content to file:
$SQL = 'C:\SQL.txt'
Remove-Item $SQL -ErrorAction Ignore
Get-EventLog -LogName Application | Where-Object {$_.EventID -eq 18456} |
Select-Object -Property Message | Out-File $SQL
The problem lies with out-file because it has a default character limit of 80 per line.
You can change it with -width property and give a value of say 200. However set-content doesn't have these limits set in. So it might be a more suitable option.
All that being said, I am not sure why it does it one way when ran manually vs another when the system runs it.
Out-file defaults to unicode when writing files
set-file defaults to ascii when writing files

Is there a way to find which user run what application on a server using Powershell

I am trying to find a way to find out who has ran an application (for example SQL) on a server, just to get some idea.
I tried Get-Process but this doesn't give me historic information, I want to get historical information
Get-Process -IncludeUserName *
what I want the return resule is "name of application", "user who ran it" and the last datetime it was ran by that user'
As for ...
I am trying to find a way to find out who has ran an application (for
example SQL) on a server, just to get some idea.
What you are asking for here is software metering.
SQL is a service that is always running once it is installed, so, no individual user is ever going to be running it. So, that is a bad example. MS Word for example would be a better example.
Yet there is nothing native in PowerShell that does this, software metering, but of course PowerShell can look at event logs. Yet if your auditing is not setup correctly then it's moot. This is better for a software metering tool, and there are several out there. So, why try and reinvent the wheel.
As for ...
I tried Get-Process but this doesn't give me historic information, I
want to get historical information
That is not what a process is nor what Get-Process is for. It, Get-Process only checks for and lists whatever process is currently running, regardless of what/who launched it.
As for...
what I want the return resule is "name of application", "user who ran
it" and the last datetime it was ran by that user'
As long as the process is running, you can get this, with that cmdlet.
However, what are you trying to accomplish by this?
Again, there are purpose built tools to meter software use.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sccm/apps/deploy-use/monitor-app-usage-with-software-metering
If you must go down this reinvent the wheel road, using scripting, then you need a task watcher on the target machines, which watches for the WinWord process to appear.
Get-Process -IncludeUserName |
Where ProcessName -EQ 'Winword'
... you then write those results to a file or database or your own event log each time you see that process.
Use PowerShell to Create and to Use a New Event Log
New-EventLog -LogName ScriptingGuys -Source scripts
When the command runs, no output appears to the Windows PowerShell console. To ensure the command actually created a new event log, I use
the Get-EventLog cmdlet with the –List parameter. Here is the command
and the associated output.
Write-EventLog -LogName ScriptingGuys -Source scripts -Message “Dude, it works … COOL!” -EventId 0 -EntryType information
Or just to a file
Get-Process -IncludeUserName |
Where ProcessName -EQ 'Winword' |
Select-Object -Property Name, StartTime, Username |
Export-Csv -Path 'F:\Temp\AppLaunchLog.csv' -Append
Import-Csv -Path 'F:\Temp\AppLaunchLog.csv'
# Results
Name StartTime UserName
---- --------- --------
WINWORD 5/23/2019 9:02:53 PM WS01\LabUser001

Get Associated Application of a Disabled / Stopped Service

Problem
I am working with a PowerShell script to skim through a lists of known application services and, for any that are disabled, the script is expected to uninstall them. I have been researching how to get the application name/path of a target service, but failed to find anything suitable to my needs. I had tried working with Get-Service in hopes of that getting me what I need, but was not able to get the desired results.
Question
How do I get the associated application of a target service that is currently stopped or disabled using PowerShell?
PS: Please understand that PowerShell is a requirement of this.
The running state of the service shouldn't really impact what information you get back. However Get-Service doesn't give you all of the configuration info for a Service, in particular the Path of the process being invoked.
To get that you can use Get-WMIObject Win32_Service. For example:
Get-WMIObject win32_service | Where {$_.name -eq 'wuauserv'} | Select *
This returns a PathName property amongst others that I think you will find useful.

How should I create a reusable "log" object in Powershell?

I'm new to PowerShell and am writing my first application. The application will check the state of a Windows service and (depending on a number of factors) can do a number of things, such as stop it, start it or restart it. I need to produce a log showing what it's done. I'm wanting to use modules so my code will be reusable and also flexible (for example, if I schedule it to run automatically, the log will need to be sent by e-mail or written to a text file, if I run it manually, I will want it outputting with something like Write-Host).
My question is, how do I create the log? In Java for example, I would use a log class with public void addToLog(String log) and public String getLog() methods which just deal with strings and leave it up to e-mail/display it etc.
I have a quite complex set of scripts for installing our platform (relying on BizTalk, SQL Server, Enterprise Single Sign-on, IIS, Enterprise Library and a few other things). These scripts start and stop services, BizTalk orchestrations, create or update databases and so on. I tried several things for logging and, finally, I picked log4net for its ease of use and flexibility. Using it from PowerShell is a breeze.
Refer to a similar question which I had asked on SO few days ago. Might help. I am using the same Logging Module referred there in the ANSWER - Powershell: Debug in Production / Good Exception Handling
If you need a log for people who are in charge of the production you can add your own application log using dedicated Cmdlets. A the moment I create and use one PowerShell log for all my scripts to publish details of the execution (information) and errors (in coordination with good exception handling) for people who are in charge of the production. You can dedicate a log for one script (as it exists a log for DNS etc.)
Here is an example :
# List of logs
Get-EventLog -list
# Creating your own log
New-EventLog -LogName "SlxScripting" -Source "MaSource"
# List of logs
Get-EventLog -list
# Writting in your own log
Write-EventLog -LogName "SlxScripting" -EventId 12 `
-Message "Mon Message"
-Source "MaSource" -EntryType Warning
# Reading in your own log
Get-EventLog -LogName "SlxScripting"
# Suppressing your log
Remove-EventLog -LogName "SlxScripting"

check for last number of users logged in to machine?

I'm trying to come up with a powershell script thatcan determine the last number of users that logged on to a machine. I'm stuck on to how to approach it. If I'm correct, using a get-wmiobject call will only get the last user. I'm wondering if maybe there is a call I can do to get the history of something like the user folder and get the last users that modified that?Or is there some simpler way?
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/winserverpowershell/thread/c61dc944-6c40-4ab8-93f8-8c345c37b0d4
Basically, all user logins are saved in the security log of each windows server. These are set in the log with the following eventIDs: 528 and 540. These two IDs are for a direct or a remote login to a machine. For my specific need, I have to following line in my script. If you have a similar need, be sure to read up on windows eventIDs on a site like this one
Get-EventLog -logname security -ComputerName $svr -Newest 100 | where {$_.eventID -eq 528
-or 540} | select time,user
enjoy!