How do I time out a REGQUERY command in Powershell? - powershell

Question

I am trying to find a way (maybe with a job?) to timeout system jobs. It seems my regquery will normally time out after 42 seconds if the computer is not online, and the code can't reach the registry. I am looking to limit the query to around 5 seconds as I have a tonne of computers in our environment. I have tried to play around with creating jobs, a stopwatch, etc. but no luck :( Please help!
$File = Import-Csv 'c:\temp\regcomplist.txt'
$Results=""
$text="Machine Name,Regkey Value, Runtime"
$fileout = "C:\Temp\regquery.csv"
Write-host $text
Out-File -FilePath $fileout -InputObject $text -Force
$timeout = new-timespan -Seconds 5
$swtotal = [Diagnostics.Stopwatch]::StartNew()
foreach ($line in $file)
{
TRY{
$regkey = ""
$keyValue = ""
$machinename = $line.machinename
#trap [Exception] {continue}
$key = "SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\Print\\Environments\\Windows x64\\Drivers\\Version-3\\Lexmark Universal v2 XL"
$sw = [Diagnostics.Stopwatch]::StartNew()
#while ($sw.elapsed -lt $timeout){
$reg = [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey]::OpenRemoteBaseKey("LocalMachine",$MachineName)
$regkey = $reg.opensubkey($key)
$keyValue = $regKey.GetValue('Help File')
# return
#}
#start-sleep -seconds 5
#if ($ok -ne "OK"){$keyValue = "TIMED OUT: "+$sw.elapsed}
}
Catch{
$keyValue = "Error Opening Registry"
}
$text = $machinename+","+$keyValue+","+$sw.elapsed
$Results += $text
#Output Below Here:
Write-host $text
Out-File -InputObject $text -FilePath $fileout -Append
}
Write-host "Total time run:"$swtotal.elapsed

Answer 1

Thanks! That was exactly what I needed. I set the count to 1 ping, and it's MUCH faster than 42 second timeouts. Here is the code for anyone this might help...
$File = Import-Csv 'c:\temp\powershell\regcomplist.txt'
$Results=""
$text="Machine Name,Regkey Value, Runtime"
$fileout = "C:\Temp\powershell\regquery.csv"
Write-host $text
Out-File -FilePath $fileout -InputObject $text -Force
$timeout = new-timespan -Seconds 5
$swtotal = [Diagnostics.Stopwatch]::StartNew()
foreach ($line in $file){
$regkey = ""
$keyValue = ""
$machinename = $line.machinename
#trap [Exception] {continue}
$key = "SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\Print\\Environments\\Windows x64\\Drivers\\Version-3\\Lexmark Universal v2 XL"
$sw = [Diagnostics.Stopwatch]::StartNew()
$pingtest=Test-Connection -ComputerName $machinename -Quiet -Count 1
if ($pingtest -eq $true ){
TRY{
#while ($sw.elapsed -lt $timeout){
$reg = [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey]::OpenRemoteBaseKey("LocalMachine",$MachineName)
$regkey = $reg.opensubkey($key)
$keyValue = $regKey.GetValue('Help File')
# return
#}
#start-sleep -seconds 5
#if ($ok -ne "OK"){$keyValue = "TIMED OUT: "+$sw.elapsed}
}
Catch{
$keyValue = "Error Opening Registry"
}
$text = $machinename+","+$keyValue+","+$sw.elapsed
$Results += $text
#Output Below Here:
Write-host $text
Out-File -InputObject $text -FilePath $fileout -Append
}
else {write-host $machinename",doesn't ping!"}
}
Write-host "Total time run:"$swtotal.elapsed

Answer 2

I use a Tcp Test before querying registry:
if((Test-ComputerPort $ComputerName 445)) {
[Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey]::OpenRemoteBaseKey('LocalMachine', $ComputerName).OpenSubKey("SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment").GetValue('TEMP')
}
with Test-ComputerPort() :
function Test-ComputerPort($ComputerName,$port){
try {
$ip = [System.Net.Dns]::GetHostAddresses($ComputerName).IPAddressToString # confirm DNS resolving
if([system.Net.Sockets.TcpClient]::new().BeginConnect($ComputerName, $port, $null, $null).AsyncWaitHandle.WaitOne(40, $false) -or [system.Net.Sockets.TcpClient]::new().BeginConnect($ComputerName, $port, $null, $null).AsyncWaitHandle.WaitOne(80, $false)){ # with retry if down
return $ComputerName
}
return $false # tcp-port is down !
} catch {
return $null # conputername not resolved !
}
}