Retrieving file from remote server in Powershell - powershell

Is there any way I can invoke a command that gets the content of a file on the remote server and then writes the content to a file on my local machine?
Was hoping for something like:
Invoke-Command -ComputerName ###.##.###.## { $file= Get-Content C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts } -Credential $cred
$file | Out-File \\path\to\local\machine

You were almost there.
$file = Invoke-Command -ComputerName ###.##.###.## { Get-Content C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts } -Credential $cred
$file | Out-File \\path\to\local\machine

Why not to use copy-item together with -FromSession argument. ??
I know that you need to open session first, but I believe it's more save for some special files.

Related

Powershell - "Copy-item" command in scriptblock of Invoke-Command

I need to copy file from one remote server to other using powershell script.
What I have tried :-
While i use following powershell commands it's work fine.(means file copied from one server to other)
But while i use following script it gives error "cannot find path..." as follows
Actually, file is exist at that path.
I have tried to refer following stack-overflow already question-answer
Error with PowerShell command for copying file to remote server with credential
'Session' Parameter is null or empty in PowerShell script
powershell remote
Invoke-Command with remote session: Cannot validate argument on parameter
Unable to copy a binary to a remote Azure VM
PowerShell Command to Copy File on Remote Machine
I have also tried to get help using
Get-Help Invoke-Command
Question :-
How can i use "Copy-Item" command inside "Invoke-Command(Scriptblock)" in script(2) to copy file?
Is there any better way to achieve this(means best practice)?
Invoke-Command has the parameter -ArgumentList wich can be used to supply the values of local variables in the remote session. The Problem is: it's just the VALUE of the variable. No file!
What you can do:
Use Get-Content -Raw on small files to save the contant in a variable. On the target system create a New-Item with the -Value of that file. However thats not very efficent.
Example:
$txt = Get-Content -Raw -Path "C:\test\oldFile.txt"
$Session = New-PSSession 127.0.0.1
Invoke-Command -Session $Session -ScriptBlock { Param($Txt) New-Item -Path c:\test\newFile.txt -Value $txt } -ArgumentList $txt
#Get-PSSession | Remove-PSSession
Result:
Verzeichnis: C:\test # Sry german OS
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name PSComputerName
---- ------------- ------ ---- --------------
-a---- 03.09.2020 12:23 658033 newFile.txt 127.0.0.1
What you should do:
I think your use of Copy-Item -ToSession $Session is the right way to do it. It's litteraly made just for your purpose. The downside is, that the target directory needs to exist. But you need a PSSession for both cmdlets anyway. So you can use Invoke-Command with the same PSSession. First Create a PSSession. Use Invoke-Command to create you directory. Then use Copy-Item to move your file to the right place. Finally you can use Invoke-Command to do some finishing steps. And don't forget to Remove-PSSession when you are done:
$DestinationPath = "C:\test"
Invoke-Command -Session $Session -ScriptBlock { Param($Destination) New-Item -Path $Destination -ItemType Directory } -ArgumentList $DestinationPath
Copy-Item -Path "C:\test\oldFile.txt" -ToSession $Session -Destination "c:\test\newFile.txt"
Invoke-Command -Session $Session -ScriptBlock { write-host "Do some stuff" }
$Session | Remove-PSSession

How to write local variable to a file in remote server using Powershell script?

On a remote server there is a .BAT file which uses a .properties file to run.
I am able to run the .BAT file calling the .properties file, but in that .properties file last line is:
exportQuery1=SELECT * FROM CI_INFOOBJECTS where SI_ID='123456'.
I am modifying that line/SI_ID value manually which actually increasing my effort.
I have tried a few options but am not able to provide the value/entire line from the local powershell commandline which will be written in the .properties file.
So I have to modify the .ps1 every time. I want to pass the entry with the local powershell command as a variable.
Deleting the old line:
Invoke-Command -computername $ServerName -Credential $Cred -ErrorAction stop -ScriptBlock {Set-Content -Path D:\Script\TestFile.txt -Value (get-content -Path D:\Script\TestFile.txt | Select-String -Pattern 'SI_ID' -NotMatch)}
Creating the New line at the end of the file:
Invoke-Command -computername $ServerName -Credential $Cred -ErrorAction stop -ScriptBlock {add-content D:\Script\TestFile.txt "exportQuery1=SELECT * FROM CI_INFOOBJECTS where SI_ID='abcdef'"}
Please help to pass the SI_ID/entire line from the command while executing the script.
Why not use a simple parameter and the using statement in a single invoke call?
param($SI_ID)
$SB = {
Set-Content -Path D:\Script\TestFile.txt -Value (get-content -Path D:\Script\TestFile.txt | Select-String -Pattern 'SI_ID' -NotMatch)
add-content D:\Script\TestFile.txt "exportQuery1=SELECT * FROM CI_INFOOBJECTS where SI_ID='$using:SI_ID'"
}
Invoke-Command -computername $ServerName -Credential $Cred -ErrorAction stop -ScriptBlock $SB
then just .\myscript -SI_ID "abcd"

Remote command output to text file (remote system)

I know I must be using these commands wrong but I can't seem to find a solution. I believe the issue is with my use of the invoke-command and out-file. I'm trying to check to see if a process is running on multiple remote machines and write their states back to a text file on the host system. Even if it wrote to the remote system I could work with that but I cant seem to get anything.
$MyDomain=’mydomain’
$MyClearTextUsername=’myusername’
$MyClearTextPassword=’mypassword’
$MyUsernameDomain=$MyDomain+’\’+$MyClearTextUsername
$SecurePassword=Convertto-SecureString –String $MyClearTextPassword
-AsPlainText –force
$MyCredentials=New-object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential
$MyUsernameDomain,$SecurePassword
$Servers = ( "server1","server2","server3")
$output = foreach ($Server in $Servers)
{
$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName $Server -Credential $MyCredentials
Invoke-Command -Session $Session -ScriptBlock
{
Get-Service -Name service | select name, status, PSComputername, Runspaceid
} | Out-File -filepath 'c:\TEMP\check.txt'
}
Write-output $output | Out-File -filepath 'c:\TEMP\check.txt'
edit: I don't believe the last line is needed but I threw it in just to see if I could get anything out.
You are not capturing anything in $output because you are redirecting all of the output from your Invoke-Command to Out-File -filepath 'c:\TEMP\check.txt'. Get-Service doesn't return that much data, especially once's it's been deserialized when it returns from the remote session, so I wouldn't bother with the Select statement. Even if you do want to include the Select statement you are specifying PSComputerName which doesn't get added until the data comes back from the remote system, so you may want to move that Select to outside of the scriptblock and after the Invoke-Command in the pipeline. Plus, since you are outputting with Out-File your local file is being overwritten each time that call is made, so the first server's results are saved, then overwritten by the second server's results, then by the third server's results. After that, since $output has nothing (as all output was redirected to file), you are outputting an empty variable to the same file, effectively erasing the service state of the third server.
But this really all becomes a moot point if the script is run with the credentials that has access to the remote servers. You can specify one or more computer names to the Get-Service cmdlet, so this could become as simple as:
$Results = Get-Service Service -ComputerName 'Server1','Server2','Server3'
$Results | Select name, status, PSComputername, Runspaceid | Set-Content 'C:\TEMP\check.txt'
Just to make sure... you are looking for a service right? Not just a process? Because if it isn't a service you would need to use Get-Process instead of Get-Service.
If you want to output the data to the remote server you could do:
$output = foreach ($Server in $Servers)
{
$Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName $Server -Credential $MyCredentials
Invoke-Command -Session $Session -ScriptBlock
{
Get-Service -Name service | Tee-Object -FilePath C:\Temp\ServiceState.txt
} | select name, status, PSComputername, Runspaceid
}
$output | Out-File -filepath 'c:\TEMP\check.txt'
That should make a file in the C:\Temp folder on each server with the state of the service, as well as pass the information back to the local host, where it is passed to Select and stored in $output. At the end I output $output to file, just as you did.
I guess in the end you could just remove the Out-File call from within your loop, and it would probably do what you want it to.

Run Registry File Remotely with PowerShell

I'm using the following script to run test.reg on multiple remote systems:
$computers = Get-Content computers.txt
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $computers -ScriptBlock {
regedit /i /s "\\SERVER\C$\RegistryFiles\test.reg"
}
The script doesn't error, but the registry entry doesn't import on any of the systems.
I know test.reg file is a valid registry file because I copied it over, ran it manually, and the registry key imports. I also made sure PowerShell Remoting is enabled on the remote computers.
Any ideas why the registry key isn't importing?
I found the best way not to mess with issues related to server authentication and cut down on complexity just to pass Reg file as parameter to function.
$regFile = #"
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Tcpip\Parameters]
"MaxUserPort"=dword:00005000
"TcpTimedWaitDelay"=dword:0000001e
"#
Invoke-Command -ComputerName computerName -ScriptBlock {param($regFile) $regFile | out-file $env:temp\a.reg;
reg.exe import $env:temp\a.reg } -ArgumentList $regFile
I posted on some PowerShell forums and finally got this working.
I had to 1) move the $newfile variable inside the loop and 2) comment out the $ in the path stored in the $newfile variable.
For reference, the final script looks like this if anyone wants to use it:
$servers = Get-Content servers.txt
$HostedRegFile = "C:\Scripts\RegistryFiles\test.reg"
foreach ($server in $servers)
{
$newfile = "\\$server\c`$\Downloads\RegistryFiles\test.reg"
New-Item -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -ItemType directory -Path \\$server\C$\Downloads\RegistryFiles
Copy-Item $HostedRegFile -Destination $newfile
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $server -ScriptBlock {
Start-Process -filepath "C:\windows\regedit.exe" -argumentlist "/s C:\Downloads\RegistryFiles\test.reg"
}
}

PowerShell Command to Copy File on Remote Machine

I have a requirement to copy file from local machine to remote machine using PowerShell. I can copy the file to remote computer using following command:
copy-item -Path d:\Shared\test.txt -Destination \\server1\Shared
the above command uses network share path to copy the file. I don't want to use network share option as the folder will not be shared on the remote machine. I tried following commands but not working.
copy-item -Path d:\Shared\test.txt -Destination \\server1\c$\Shared
Invoke-Command -ComputerName \\server -ScriptBlock {
copy-item -Path D:\Shared\test.txt -Destination C:\Shared
}
Please let me know how to make it working without using UNC path. I have full permissions on that folder on the remote machine.
Quickest way I found to this, since the account being used is Administrator, is to do the following:
New-PSDrive -Name X -PSProvider FileSystem -Root \\MyRemoteServer\c$\My\Folder\Somewhere\
cd X:\
cp ~\Desktop\MyFile.txt .\
## Important, need to exit out of X:\ for unmouting share
cd c:\
Remove-PSDrive X
Works every time.
You must have a shared folder to be able to copy files from one host to another, either on the remote host if you want to push the file:
Copy-Item -Path D:\folder\test.txt -Destination \\server1\remoteshare\
or on the local host if you want to pull the file:
Invoke-Command -ComputerName server1 -ScriptBlock {
Copy-Item -Path \\localcomputer\localshare\test.txt -Destination C:\Shared\
}
Administrative shares (\\server1\c$) can only be used if your account has admin privileges on that particular computer.
If there is not an accessible share, you'll have to make the file content itself an argument to the script:
Invoke-Command -ComputerName \\server -ScriptBlock {
$args[0] | Set-Content C:\Shared\test.txt
} -ArgumentList (Get-Content D:\Shared\test.txt -Raw)
Powershell 5 (Windows Server 2016)
Also downloadable for earlier versions of Windows. -ToSession can also be used.
$b = New-PSSession B
Copy-Item -FromSession $b C:\Programs\temp\test.txt -Destination C:\Programs\temp\test.txt
Earlier versions of PowerShell
Does not require anything special, these hidden shares exist on all machines.
Copy-Item -Path \\serverb\c$\programs\temp\test.txt -Destination \\servera\c$\programs\temp\test.txt
Invoke-Command -ComputerName compname -Credential $cred -ScriptBlock { Get-Content C:\myfolder\result.txt } >>res.txt
Note the C:\myfolder\result.txt is on the remote computer
Here's a script that worked for me for small files. Run as admin.
#pre 5.0 powershell copy-item to remote computer
Write-Host "Remote copy a file"
$servers = #("server01.dot.com", "server02.dot.com")
foreach($server in $servers) {
$username = 'USERNAME'
$password = 'PASSWORD'
$pw = ConvertTo-SecureString $password -AsPlainText -Force
$cred = New-Object Management.Automation.PSCredential ($username, $pw)
$myfile = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes("C:\Temp\srctest.txt")
$s = New-PSSession -computerName $server -credential $cred
Enter-PSSession $s
Invoke-Command -Session $s -ArgumentList $myfile -Scriptblock {[System.IO.File]::WriteAllBytes("C:\Temp\desttest.txt", $args)}
Write-Host "Completed"
Remove-PSSession $s
}