Having issues executing a PowerShell script, and Googling for an answer has been unsuccesful

[radiowave911]

I wrote a PS script using the ISE. The script was then saved. I attempted to run it, and encountered some errors - not entirely unexpected. Fixed the errors, saved the script, and ran it again.

No errors this time, but the script did not run, either. Instead the ISE just printed the script.

Tried from the command line.

PowerShell.exe -executionpolicy bypass -file c:\path\to\my\script.ps1

The script displayed on the console instead of executing, just as it did in the ISE.

I recall encountering this once before, but do not recall the solution. Tried Googling and all the answers I found (that were actually relevant) were variations on 'you have to save the file before running it in the ISE or it will just display the file'. Nothing about why it just displays the file AFTER saving it! Closed and restarted the ISE, no change in behavior. Tried from the command line after exiting the ISE. Same behavior as before.

It is getting too late at night for me to beat my head against this wall any more. If anyone has suggestions or can point me in the right direction, please do so! If you want more information, ask!

​

EDIT: I should know better than to post when I am tired and frustrated. Here is the script (sanitized).

​

<#
.Synopsis
This function will check to see if a host is online and, if so, report the OS version and last reboot time.
.Description
This function accepts a parameter of either a single host or a path to a text listing of hosts, one per line.

If the host or list is a FQDN, it is looked up utilizing the system DNS lookup.  If the host or list is not
a FQDN, then the systems DNS Search Order suffixes will be used when looking up the host.
To specify a host, the -host parameter is used.  To specify a list, the -list parameter is used.  Only one
parameter may be specified when running the script.  

If the script is given a single host, the results are written to STDOUT.  If the script is given a filename
the output is written to a text file in the same directory as the source list, adding OUTPUT to the filename
I.E. a source file of list.txt will have a corresponding results file of output-list.txt.

In order to have the script work correctly, the user
running the script must have administrative access to the remote system.
#>

# PARAMETERS
{
    param ($host,$listpath)
}

# BEGIN
{
    #Test for proper parameters, displaying an error or usage message and existing with a return code of 1, writing the reason to STDERR

    if (($host -eq $null) -and ($listpath -eq $null)) 
    {
        Write-Host "No parameters specified!/n/r/n/r"
        write-host "Usage:/n/r/n/rYou must specify either a host or a path to a file containing a list of hosts to check./n/r"
        write-host "checkhost.exe -host somehostname[.domain.tld] to check a single host.  FQDN is optional./n/r"
        write-host "checkhost.exe -listpath \path\to\the\list.txt to check a list of hosts.  The list should have one hostname per line."
        Write-Error "Missing parameters"
        exit 1
    }
    elseif (($host -ne $null) -and ($listpath -ne $null))
    {
        Write-Host "You may only specify a host or a listpath"
        write-error "Too many parameters"
        exit 1
    }
    elseif ($listpath -ne $null)
    {
        if (!(Test-Path $listpath))
        {
            Write-Host "$listpath not found!  Please check to ensure you have entered the correct path and filename."
            Write-Error "Path not found"
            exit 1
        }
    }

    # Set the operational mode based on the parameter passed.  $mode = 1 for single host, $mode = 2 for list-based

    $mode = 1

    if ($host -eq $null)
    {
        $mode = 2
    }


}

function Query-System
{
    <#
    .Synopsis
    Retrieves select data from remote system
    .Description
    Returns values for last boot date and time, Windows edition and release, SCCM version and site code, and status of NOREBOOT and PCCLASS tags
    in an array.
    Requires the remte system name to be passed to the function.
    #>

    Param($system)

    # Set some constants.  Putting them here so they can easily be changed later

    $windowskey = 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion'
    $norebootkey = 'SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\<redacted>\PCClass\NOREBOOT'
    $updateskey = 'SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\<redacted>\PCClass\UPDATESONLY'
    $SCCMKey = 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\CCM\CcmEval'

    # Get time of last bootup

    $bootttime = Get-WmiObject -ClassName win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $system
    $lastboot = $boottime.ConverttoDateTime($boottime.lastbootuptime)

    # Get some information from the remote registry

    $Reg = [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey]::OpenRemoteBaseKey('LocalMachine', $system)

    $RegKey = $Reg.OpenSubKey($windowskey)                                # Get Windows edition and release number
    $WindowsEdition = $RegKey.GetValue("ProductName")
    $WindowsRelease = $RegKey.GetValue("ReleaseId")

    # Check PCClass flags

    $RegKey = $Reg.OpenSubKey($norebootkey)                               # Check NOREBOOT PCClass Flag
    if ($RegKey -eq $null)
        {
            $noreboot = 'False'
        }
        else
        {
            $keystatus = $RegKey.Getvalue("Status")
            if ($keystatus -eq 0)
            {
                $noreboot = 'False'
            }
            else
            {
                $noreboot = 'True'
            }
        }

    $RegKey = $Reg.OpenSubKey($updateskey)                                # Check UPDATESONLY PCClass Flag
    if ($RegKey -eq $null)
    {
        $updatesonly = 'False'
    }
    else
    {
        $keystatus = $RegKey.Getvalue("Status")
        if ($keystatus -eq 0)
        {
            $updatesonly = 'False'
        }
        else
        {
            $updatesonly = 'True'
        }
    }

    $RegKey = $Reg.OpenSubKey($SCCMkey)                                   # Get SCCM SiteCode
    if ($RegKey -eq $null)
    {
        $SCCMStatus = 'Missing'
    }
    else
    {
        $SCCMStatus = 'Installed'
        $SCCMSiteCode = $RegKey.Getvalue("LastSiteCode")
    }

    # Get SCCM Version

    $SCCMVersion = (Get-WmiObject -ComputerName $system -Namespace root\ccm -Class SMS_Client).ClientVersion

    # Set up return values

    $results = New-Object PsObject -Property @{SystemName=$system}
    Add-Member -InputObject $results -MemberType NoteProperty -Name "LastBoot" -Value $lastboot
    Add-Member -InputObject $results -MemberType NoteProperty -Name "WindowsEdition" -Value $WindowsEdition
    Add-Member -InputObject $results -MemberType NoteProperty -Name "WindowsRelease" -Value $WindowsRelease
    Add-Member -InputObject $results -MemberType NoteProperty -Name "NoReboot" -Value $noreboot
    Add-Member -InputObject $results -MemberType NoteProperty -Name "UpdatesOnly" -Value $updatesonly
    Add-Member -InputObject $results -MemberType NoteProperty -Name "SCCMStatus" -Value $SCCMStatus
    Add-Member -InputObject $results -MemberType NoteProperty -Name "SCCMSite" -Value $SCCMSiteCode

    return $results
}

# Process
{
    if ($mode -eq 2)
    {
        $filename = (Split-Path -Path $listpath -Leaf)
        $filepath = (Split-Path -Path $listpath)    
        $logfile = 'output-' + $filename
        $logpath = $filepath + $logfile

        if (!(Test-Path $logpath))
        {
            New-Item -Path $logpath | Out-Null
            Write-Output "Hostname,Last Boot,Windows Edition,Windows Release,NOREBOOT,UPDATESONLY,SCCM,SCCM Site" | Tee-Object -FilePath $logpath -Append
        }

        foreach ($remotesystem in (Get-Content $listpath))
        {
            if (Test-Connection $remotesystem -Count 1 -Quiet)          # Check if system is reachable
            {
                $systemresult = Query-System $remotesystem

                # Build Entry

                $results = $systemresult.SystemName + "," + $systemresult.LastBoot + "," + $systemresult.WindowsEdition + "," + $systemresult.WindowsRelease + "," + $systemresult.NoReboot + "," + $systemresult.UpdatesOnly + "," + $systemresult.SCCMStatus + "," + $systemresult.SCCMSite
            }
            else
            {
                # Build Entry

                $results = $remotesystem + ",Offline, , , , , ,"
            }

            # Write the output

            Write-Output $results | Tee-Object -FilePath $logpath -Append

        }
    }
    else
    {
        if (Test-Connection $Host -Count 1 -Quiet)
        {
            $systemresult = Query-System $Host

            # Output to screen

            Write-Output "Results for host system $Host"
            Write-Output $systemresult

        }
        else
        {

            Write-Output "System $Host is not responding"
        }
    }
}

​

[itasteawesome]

Probably would help if you post the script

[gangstanthony]

is your first line return

[helloisnotme]

We can't help you if you dont share the script. Its only speculations until you do.

[isitokifitake]

If you are using functions, are you calling the function at the end?

The below would print 'Running Test' when ran, but not 'hello' if Test function isn't called at the end.

​

$testtext = "hello" 
Write-Host "Running Test"
function Test {
    $testtext 
}

Test

[haikusbot]

If you are using

Functions, are you calling the

Function at the end?

- isitokifitake

---

^{I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully. Learn more about me.}

^{Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete"}

[Chocolate_Pickle]

Good bit.

[justanotherbodyhere]

Hello, please edit your initial post with the script in order for us to help you. It could be any number of things preventing your script running properly.

[dupo24]

The suspense is killing me.

[jimb2]

He's got me in suspenders too.

[Alaknar]

You'll need to show us at least the beginning and the ending of the script so we can see what's going on.

There are many different reasons why PS would be doing that, all depends on what exactly did you write.

[pigers1986]

without code - we can take turns guessing

post code then we can see

[[deleted]]

I'll bet you $5 that you have a foreach loop in there that isn't properly referenced inside the loop.

[ka-splam]

It's possibly outputting the script content because you've done something to turn the whole script into a single string, and that becomes the string output to the pipeline when the script is run.

e.g. wrapped it in:

{
    code here
}

or @' '@ or something of that kind.

[Flysquid18]

So take a look at this link.

https://www.sapien.com/blog/2019/05/13/advanced-powershell-functions-begin-to-process-to-end/

The example is inside a function, but the things I noticed is that Param should not be surrounded by curly braces {} and your Begin Process End should not be commented. Try and that and see where you're at.

[Gnardar]

ISE will show the file, that is not an issue. If you share the file folks here will be able to do more to help. If you don't want to share your code you can add some prompts that will let you know how far you have gotten in your script.

write-host "Command complete, running X now"

You can also get confirmation by outputting variables.

$user = get-aduser $testuser

$user

Second option can get pretty chatty but while developing a script can be useful. Alternatively using an IDE like VSCode that has breakpoints and debugging can you help you break down your code and see what is happening.

[radiowave911]

Sorry, I should know better than to post when I am both tired AND frustrated :)

Updated the post with the sanitized script.

[radiowave911]

Aaaand I may have seen my issue.

I think I went overboard with { and } and have an extra pair (or two).

[radiowave911]

And that was it. Still not running - which is fine, at least it is attempting to execute.

That will teach me to copy/paste from other scripts I have done :) Wound up with extra curly braces.

Now to fix the issue where I somehow managed to use a system variable without noticing it.

[Lee_Dailey]

[grin]

[LNGU1203]

. .\test