Logging actual error when script fails - powershell

Question

I have a script here that reads a list of computers and changes the administrator password. When the script is ran, it'll have a log file that says whether the task succeeded or fail. But I also want to log the actual error to the log when it fails. How do I accomplish this?
[cmdletbinding()]
param (
[parameter(mandatory = $true)]
$InputFile,
$OutputDirectory
)
if(!$outputdirectory) {
$outputdirectory = (Get-Item $InputFile).directoryname
}
$failedcomputers = Join-Path $outputdirectory "output.txt"
$stream = [System.IO.StreamWriter] $failedcomputers
$stream.writeline("ComputerName `t IsOnline `t PasswordChangeStatus")
$stream.writeline("____________ `t ________ `t ____________________")
$password = Read-Host "Enter the password" -AsSecureString
$confirmpassword = Read-Host "Confirm the password" -AsSecureString
$pwd1_text = [Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto([Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($password))
$pwd2_text = [Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto([Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($confirmpassword))
if($pwd1_text -ne $pwd2_text) {
Write-Error "Entered passwords are not same. Script is exiting"
exit
}
if(!(Test-Path $InputFile)) {
Write-Error "File ($InputFile) not found. Script is exiting"
exit
}
$Computers = Get-Content -Path $InputFile
foreach ($Computer in $Computers) {
$Computer = $Computer.toupper()
$Isonline = "OFFLINE"
$Status = "SUCCESS"
Write-Verbose "Working on $Computer"
if((Test-Connection -ComputerName $Computer -count 1 -ErrorAction 0)) {
$Isonline = "ONLINE"
Write-Verbose "`t$Computer is Online"
} else { Write-Verbose "`t$Computer is OFFLINE" }
try {
$account = [ADSI]("WinNT://$Computer/username,user")
$account.psbase.invoke("setpassword",$pwd1_text)
Write-Verbose "`tPassword Change completed successfully"
}
catch {
$status = "FAILED"
Write-Verbose "`tFailed to Change the administrator password. Error: $_"
}
$obj = New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property #{
ComputerName = $Computer
IsOnline = $Isonline
PasswordChangeStatus = $Status
}
$obj | Select ComputerName, IsOnline, PasswordChangeStatus
if($Status -eq "FAILED" -or $Isonline -eq "OFFLINE") {
$stream.writeline("$Computer `t $isonline `t $status")
}
}
$stream.close()
Write-Host "`n`nFailed computers list is saved to $failedcomputers"

Answer 1

Change this:
catch {
$status = "FAILED"
Write-Verbose "`tFailed to Change the administrator password. Error: $_"
}
to this:
catch {
$status = "FAILED"
Write-Verbose "`tFailed to Change the administrator password. Error: $_"
$errmsg = $_.Exception.Message
}
to preserve the error message(s). And change this:
if($Status -eq "FAILED" -or $Isonline -eq "OFFLINE") {
$stream.writeline("$Computer `t $isonline `t $status")
}
to this:
if($Status -eq "FAILED" -or $Isonline -eq "OFFLINE") {
$stream.writeline("$Computer `t $isonline `t $status `t $errmsg")
}
to include the error message in the log.
If you want to unroll inner exceptions as well you can use this:
$e = $_.Exception
$errmsg = $e.Message
while ($e.InnerException) {
$e = $e.InnerException
$errmsg = "`n" + $e.Message
}
instead of just
$errmsg = $_.Exception.Message