PowerShell script run from TaskScheduler yielding empty array of running VM's - powershell

Question

I can run my powershell script as administrator in powershell, and it yields good list of running VM's. But when I run it in TaskScheduler with highest privileges, it's showing an empty list of running VM's. We have Server 2008 R2, PowerShell V3, and I downloaded the Hyper-V module for powershell recently. I created an account on the server with Administrators privileges, and Administrators have full control for all directories that the script is copying files from/to.
Also, when I run the script through powershell, I needed to run as administrator. When I run it with the powershell prompt this is what it looks like:
C:\windows\system32> powershell -NoProfile -noninteractive -ExecutionPolicy bypass -Command "& c:\Scripts\BackupVhdShell_2_param.ps1 -single_backup_file_to_loc 'E:\' -single_backup_file_from_loc 'S:\SQL-bak.vhd'"
So that works from powreshell to start/stop vm's and copy files.
In Task Scheduler, this is how I have it set up and it yields the empty list of running VM's:
Run with highest privileges is checked. I have my login credentials saved so it can wake up the server when I'm not here or if it's not up.
In The Program/script field: %SystemRoot%\SysWow64\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe
In the Add Arguments field: -NoProfile -noninteractive -ExecutionPolicy bypass -Command "& c:\Scripts\BackupVhdShell_2_param.ps1 -single_backup_file_to_loc 'E:\' -single_backup_file_from_loc 'S:\SQL-bak.vhd'"
Any thoughts? I'm not sure if TaskManager isn't finding HyperV module? Or maybe I need Runas to get it to be administrator? I'm having trouble finding info on that. This link was similar but different: http://ss64.com/nt/runas.html Same thing as this: http://peter.hahndorf.eu/blog/
This is what the majority of the script looks like. Note that I have since added logging to the file and know that this line is coming up empty when the script is run through TaskScheduler: <[array]$vmNames = #(Get-VM -Running | %{$_.elementname})>
Again, it works fine through powershell.
The script:
param($single_backup_file_to_loc, $single_backup_file_from_loc)
function StopVMsInOrder ([array][String]$vmNames){
#this function will stop VM's in list, sequentially
Write-Host "Processing virtual machines in order"
foreach ($name in $vmNames) {
Write-Host "Analyzing $name"
Try {
#Write-Host "...Saving $name"
#Save-VM -VM $name -wait -Force
Write-Host "..shutdown $name" #name)"
Invoke-VMShutdown -VM $name -Force #$vm.name
} #try
Catch {
Write-Host "Failed to get virtual machine $name"
} #catch
}#foreach
} #function StopVMsInOrder
function StartVMsInOrder ([array][String]$vmNames){
#this function will start VM's in list, sequentially as opposed to all at once
Write-Host "Processing virtual machines in order"
foreach ($name in $vmNames) {
Write-Host "Analyzing $name"
Try {
Write-Host "..Starting $name"
Start-VM -VM $name -wait
} #try
Catch {
Write-Host "Failed to get virtual machine $name"
} #catch
}#foreach
} #function StartVMsInOrder
function CopyFileToFolder ([string]$Source,[string]$destination){
# get filename
...
}
#################start of script##############
import-module Hyperv
#get list of running vm's
[array]$vmNames = #(Get-VM -Running | %{$_.elementname})
Write-Host "To: $single_backup_file_to_loc"
Write-Host "From: $single_backup_file_from_loc"
#call function to stop vm's
StopVMsInOrder $vmNames
if($single_backup_file_to_loc -ne " ")
{
#someone passed in a parameter for one-off use of script
[array]$destFileArray = #($single_backup_file_to_loc)
[array]$sourceFileArray = #($single_backup_file_from_loc)
}else
{
Write-Host "To Loc not Defined as param"
#get set up for what need to backup vhd's
#where back it up to
}
$i=0
for ($i = $sourceFileArray.GetLowerBound(0); $i -le $sourceFileArray.GetUpperBound(0); $i++) {
$tempSource = $sourceFileArray[$i]
$tempDest = $destFileArray[$i]
CopyFileToFolder $tempSource $tempDest
Write-Host "i: $i"
}
Write-Host "Done with vhd backup"
#call function to start vm's
StartVMsInOrder $vmNames
Write-Host "Done with vm start"

Answer 1

I finally figured it out! I changed it so I was using the other version of powershell in TaskScheduler: %SystemRoot%\system32.... Now it's finding the VM's.