Problem executing psexec - psexec

I am trying run below command
psexec \\remotemachine -u username -p password notepad
As per my understanding, above command should launch notepad on remotemachine,
but it doesn't happen.
Strangely notepad.exe process gets created(I saw the tskmgr of remotemachine) every time i execute above command but notepad doesn't show up.
Am I missing anything in the command
By the way I am using 64 bit machines and both machines are on same domain


Have you tried the -i switch?:
psexec \\\remotemachine -u username -p password -i notepad
The -i switch is described as follows:
Run the program so that it interacts
with the desktop of the specified
session on the remote system. If no
session is specified the process runs
in the console session.
The console session is what you would see on the physical screen attached to the machine. If you are using a Remote Desktop session and would like it to appear there, then first you need to determine the ID of the session in which you want the UI to appear, which you can see using Task Manager on the remote system (ID column of Users tab). Then you pass the ID after the '-i' switch as follows:
psexec \\\remotemachine -u username -p password -i 1 notepad
Omitting the session ID is the equivalent of specifying a session ID of 0.
Other switches are documented here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897553

Related

Input to psexec command

I am trying to run a batch file which is placed in a remote windows server from my local system.
For that I am using psexec command as shown: psexec \\ip address -u user\username -p password cmd /c "path to batch file". This is executing same way as it executes on remote windows server. but at some point we have to press Q on the command prompt to get to next line on the batch file.
this is how it looks:
on Remote system
But I am unable to press Q on my local psexec command prompt, this is how it looks:
on my local system
is there a way to take key inputs for psexec command?
Thanks in advance.
I tried providing -accepteula option and also pipe it with powershell and try running it.
But no luck on that.

What is meaning of 1/0 in PSExec command?

I am using PSTools to remotely running the application in Windows machine using the command
PsExec.exe \Machine-i 1 -u Username -p Password -d /accepteula
C:\Test\PsexecConsole.exe
My question is what is the 1 means in the command?

As stated in the documentation of the PsExec.exe application the -i switch is used to identify the session on the remote system:
-i Run the program so that it interacts with the desktop of the specified session on the remote system. If no session is specified the process runs in the console session.

Why does PowerShell ISE asks to confirm when an executable outputs to stderr?

I am debugging a powershell script in ISE and there I call the sysinternals pskill utility.
For some reason, PowerShell opens the following dialog:
Why? How can I configure it not to show the dialog, but just run the script as I intend?
EDIT 1
The problem is reproduced very easily:
Run ise -noprofile
Inside ise command prompt run pskill -h
Here is the result:
Although, there is no dialog, but there is error output, which I suppose is the cause for the dialog in my other scenario. So, the question is what is the cause for the error output?
It seems that pskill sends part of its help screen to the stderr, indeed, observe:
C:\Dayforce\utils> .\pskill.exe -h
PsKill v1.15 - Terminates processes on local or remote systems
Copyright (C) 1999-2012 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com
Usage: pskill [-t] [\\computer [-u username [-p password]]] <process ID | name>
-t Kill the process and its descendants.
-u Specifies optional user name for login to
remote computer.
-p Specifies optional password for user name. If you omit this
you will be prompted to enter a hidden password.
C:\Dayforce\utils> .\pskill.exe -h 2> $null
Usage: pskill [-t] [\\computer [-u username [-p password]]] <process ID | name>
-t Kill the process and its descendants.
-u Specifies optional user name for login to
remote computer.
-p Specifies optional password for user name. If you omit this
you will be prompted to enter a hidden password.
C:\Dayforce\utils>
So, it seems that I only had the problem with pskill, because it outputs to stderr and ISE considers it a good reason to open a dialog. I fix it with the -nobanner command line option.
But how to fix it in general? I do not want ISE to open any dialog if a command outputs stderr, which in itself may not be a good taste, but does not mean there is an error.

In order to suppress the confirm box when you are using Write-Debug insert this at the top of your script / function :
If ($PSBoundParameters['Debug']) {
$DebugPreference = 'Continue'
}

running a batch file in a remote machine as an administrator

I am having a virtual machine which i am using it as a server. I have my local machine as a client.
I have a windows batch file in the virtual machine, a.k.a the server which has a series of command.
I try to run the batch file from the client through psexec. I can access the file and execute the file. But not all the commands are executed. They need administrative privileges.
The command that i use is
psexec \virtualmachinename -s -u domainname\username -p PASSWORD c:\foldername\batchfile.bat
NOTE 1: I cannot select the option of "Run as Administrator" in the properties of the batch file. The check box is grayed, that means i cannot select/deselect anything.
NOTE 2: I have given the user of my virtual machine full administrative privileges.
Any insight or possible solutions will be of great help.

If the account you are logging into with is an Administrator then your code should be working.
However the first thing I would try would be to add runas /user:administrator ie:
psexec \\virtualmachinename -u domainname\username -p PASSWORD cmd && runas /user:administrator && c:\foldername\batchfile.bat

PsExec: Win7-to-Win7 Access Denied (psexesvc remains)

I have a problem, and the Internet doesn't seem to have a solution, so maybe someone here can help.
I'm trying to start a command-line prompt on a remote machine using PsExec, but I keep getting an "Access is Denied" error. Both my local and the remote machine are running Windows 7 Enterprise (local: x64, remote x86) and I'm using PsExec 1.98. I use the following command:
psexec \\remote -u domain\user -p password -i -d cmd.exe
I have also tried other commands (such as using -s, -h, etc.), it doesn't seem to make a difference. I have access to the admin$ share of the remote machine from my local one. The Event Viewer tells me that a logon (and logoff) occurs on the remote machine.
Also, PsExec creates the PSEXESVC.EXE in the windows directory, but does not delete it!
Interestingly, the same command works just fine on a Win-7-Professional (x64) and it also works perfectly fine in reverse (i.e. when executed from the remote machine to start cmd on the local one). Deactivating anti-virus and firewall on the remote machine did not make a difference. I cannot deactivate it on the local one, but I have my doubts that the error is caused there.
Does anyone have any ideas?

Bit late, I know, but I've just been trying to solve this too. Turns out it has to do with security levels / user access levels.
I was trying to run psexec from a command prompt on a local PC and had started the command prompt by right clicking and choosing "Run as administrator". Then I'd run the psexec command targetting a remote server and specify a domain admin account for the -u parameter.
However, my local account only had administrative privileges on the local machine, not the remote one and choosing "run as administrator" doesn't actually mean "run as domain administrator"! (Obviously, duh!).
So, in effect, what was happening was that it was trying to run my main command as a domain admin on the remote but the psexec part was being run as my (non-admin) domain user account - which didn't have the appropriate permissions on the server.
Solution: Instead of starting a command prompt as above use the runas command.
eg: Start -> Run -> runas /user:domain\administrator cmd
then run your psexec command and you won't need the -u flag
or, from inside a normal command prompt you could do this instead:
runas /user:domain\administrator "psexec \\remote cmd"

after trying everything and still not getting any good results I figured what was the issue at least in my case. I had a machine with logged in domain account(not domain admin but at least local to the machine admin) and few other machines that had local accounts with admin rights. Psexec worked on all of them but was not working on my machine using domain account with local admin rights. On the machine that psexec worked with the local admin account I logged in with my domain account with local admin rights - and to no surprise it did not work.
So bottom line is that you should start the psexec call to the remote server with admin account local to the machine that you are sending the call from.
Better yet just insert this before your psexec string which will go now in double quotes
runas /user: ""
this way psexec will run but using the local admin account and no need to actually log in with the local admin account

The only way which works for me was to set the network credentials:
cmdkey /list:%DOMAIN% | find "%DOMAIN_USER%" >NUL || cmdkey /add:%DOMAIN% /user:%DOMAIN%\%DOMAIN_USER% /pass:%DOMAIN_USER_PWD% >>%LOGFILE% 2>>&1
Runas was not possible with local shares and other permissions.

I know this is really late, however as it's the first search in Google I am going to reply.
Through much research I found that you need to have the username and password BEFORE the system name, so instead of:
psexec \\remote -u domain\user -p password -i -d cmd.exe
Do it this way:
psexec -u domain\user -p password -i -d \\remote cmd.exe

I wanted to install a program from a server share (the PC I'm working on, I was logged in as domain administrator) remotely on "RemotePC".
PsExec worked on RemotePC with "local" programs (local to "RemotePC") like cmd.exe:
PsExec.exe \\RemotePC cmd.exe
Initially, my full command looked like this:
PsExec.exe \\RemotePC "\\server\sharename\path to program\setup.exe" /s /v"/qn IP_SERVER=192.168.1.10 PORT=112 INSTALLDIR=\"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\path\ \" "
But the setup from the server share didn't start.
Error message:
PsExec could not start \\server\sharename\path to program\setup.exe on RemotePC
Access is denied
I tried much of the solutions I found here and on other websites like adding PsExec -u administrator -p password and using cmd.exe /c, but it didn't work.
Finally I found a working command (the /s with extra quotes around the commandline did the trick):
PsExec.exe \\RemotePC -u administrator -p AdminPassword cmd.exe /s /c " commandline "
The full working command looks like this:
PsExec.exe \\RemotePC -u administrator -p AdminPassword cmd.exe /s /c " "\\server\sharename\path to program\setup.exe" /s /v"/qn IP_SERVER=192.168.1.10 PORT=112 INSTALLDIR=\"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\path\ \" " "