Running PowerShell from MSdeploy runcommand does not exit - powershell

Question

Im am trying to get MSDeploy to execute a PowerShell script on a remote server. This is how i execute MSDeploy:
msdeploy \
-verb:sync \
-source:runCommand='C:\temp\HelloWorld.bat', \
waitInterval=15000,waitAttempts=1 \
-dest:auto,computername=$WebDeployService$Credentials -verbose
HelloWorld.bat contains:
echo "Hello world!"
powershell.exe C:\temp\WebDeploy\Package\HelloWorld.ps1
echo "Done"
The HelloWorld.ps1 only contains:
Write-Host "Hello world from PowerShell!"
However, it seems like PowerShell never terminates. This is the output from running the msdeploy:
Verbose: Performing synchronization pass #1.
Verbose: Source runCommand (C:\temp\HelloWorld.bat) does not match destination (C:\temp\HelloWorld.bat) differing in attributes (isSource['True','False']). Update pending.
Info: Updating runCommand (C:\temp\HelloWorld.bat).
Info:
Info: C:\temp>echo "Hello world!"
"Hello world!"
C:\temp\WebDeploy>powershell.exe C:\temp\HelloWorld.ps1
Info: Hello world from Powershell!
Info:
Warning: The process 'C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe' (command line '/c "C:\Users\peter\AppData\Local\Temp\gaskgh55.b2q.bat
"') is still running. Waiting for 15000 ms (attempt 1 of 1).
Error: The process 'C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe' (command line '/c "C:\Users\peter\AppData\Local\Temp\gaskgh55.b2q.bat"'
) was terminated because it exceeded the wait time.
Error count: 1.
Anyone knows a solution?

Answer 1

Your scenario and problem look similar to this reported issue:
PowerShell.exe can hang if STDIN is redirected
If this is the case then try this workaround: use -inputformat none:
powershell.exe -inputformat none C:\temp\WebDeploy\Package\HelloWorld.ps1
I have tried this with "a fake msdeploy" program that calls the .bat file like this:
using System.Diagnostics;
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
ProcessStartInfo si = new ProcessStartInfo();
si.FileName = "cmd.exe";
si.Arguments = "/c " + args[0];
si.RedirectStandardInput = true;
si.UseShellExecute = false;
var process = Process.Start(si);
process.WaitForExit();
}
}
This demo does have the same problem that you describe and the workaround helps. If msdeploy calls the .bat file in the same or similar way then hopefully this is a solution.

Answer 2

powershell.exe -file ScriptFile.ps < CON
This solve the problem without resorting to undocumented features.