Powershell: Exception calling "GetOwner" : "Not found " when invoked as job - powershell

Question

I need to get some procs by the owner. My demo script below will first look for procs by owner locally, then it will do the same thing, but it invokes the command on the same box:
cls
write-host 'LOCAL CALL: '
$procs = #(Get-WmiObject win32_process |? {($_.getowner().user -eq 'APP_ACCOUNT') })
write-host $procs.count
$func = {
$procs = #(Get-WmiObject win32_process |? {($_.getowner().user -eq 'APP_ACCOUNT') })
write-host $procs.count
}
write-host 'REMOTE CALL: '
$session = New-PSSession -ComputerName 'SERVER'
$job = Invoke-Command -Session $session -ScriptBlock $func -AsJob
Wait-Job -Job $job
$job | Receive-Job
$job | Remove-Job
Remove-PSSession -Session $session
Most of the time when I run my script it errors with the following output:
LOCAL CALL:
38
REMOTE CALL:
Id Name PSJobTypeName State HasMoreData Location Command
-- ---- ------------- ----- ----------- -------- -------
26 Job26 RemoteJob Completed True SERVER ...
Exception calling "GetOwner" : "Not found "
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : WMIMethodException
+ PSComputerName : SERVER
38
So that first 38 is the number of procs it found for the owner running locally. It finds 38 the second time as well, but errors calling getowner. I don't understand why since it worked the first time. Is it operating in some kind of "bubble" when I invoke the command? In my larger script this is causing me more severe issues as the job state goes to failed and execution halts even though it is throwing the same error. One problem at a time though.

Answer 1

Seems I needed to do a better job of making sure my processes still exist before filtering by owner:
$procs = #()
$allProcs = #(Get-WmiObject win32_process)
foreach($proc in $allProcs)
{
$procActive = get-process -Id $proc.processId -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if($procActive)
{
if($proc.getowner().user -eq 'jdholbrook')
{
$procs += $proc
}
}
}
write-host $procs.count

Answer 2

This is probably because the process for which you want to query the owner doesn’t exist anymore.
You can simulate this behaviour on your local PC as follows:
Start some application, like notepad.exe for example. Now run:
$w = (Get-WmiObject win32_process) # Your notepad process will now be the last in the `$w` array.
Close the notepad.exe process.
Now pipe the contents of $w to get the owners:
$w | % {$_.getowner()}
For the last object you will get:
Exception calling "GetOwner" : "Not found "
At line:1 char:20
+ $w | % {$_.getowner <<<< ()}
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : WMIMethodException
To make sure this is the notepad.exe you just closed you can double-check:
$w[-1]; # last object
$w[-1].getowner(); # error
So, now you know what is causing, you can start thinking about how to handle it...