I have recently rebuilt my Windows 8.1 desktop due to Powershell issues. All was fine until last Thursday when Powershell stopped working...again.

If I run any AD command (Get-aduser) i get the error:-

get-aduser : Unable to contact the server. This may be because this server does not exist, it is currently down, or it does not have the Active Directory Web 
Services running.

If I try and remote into the DC $session=new-pssession -server DC

New-PSSession : [DC] Connecting to remote server DC failed with the following error message : The handle is invalid. For more information, see the 
about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.

I can run these commands fine from the DC itself and from other servers on the network. However, not from my machine, which has my certificates and all my tools. I have also specified the DC to run the query on ( 6 different ones), but get the same error

ADWS is running on the servers (hence why other systems work) although I have restarted it as a troubleshoot. I have added myself to Domain Admins as a test, but get same error.

Powershell versions between my PC and working PC are the same (4.0, WSManStack 3.0, PSRemotingProtocol 2.2) 

I see this is quite a common issue, but as yet cannot see a solution. I do not want to have to write my script using RDP to another box, I should be able to do it from my PC. WHy is this?

Hi,

I have a list of alias in a csv file and i want to search for their LInkedmasteraccount and email address. The script below works however if the alias is not found it throws an error which is the expected behavior. However is there a way such that if the alias is not found it will add an entry to the result4.csv file that its "N/A".

This way the number of rows from my original csv  file will still match the number of rows in my result file. I tried the script below and other changes but it wont show "N/A" for the alias that it  cannot find.

import-csv D:\caller_id2.csv | ForEach-Object {
$name = $_.alias
    If (!$name)
    {
        write-host "N/A"
    }
      else 
    {
    get-mailbox -identity $name -resultsize unlimited | select Alias,LinkedMasterAccount,WindowsEmailAddres
    }
}
} | Export-Csv D:\ariesn\results4.csv -nti

PoSH newbie, BaSH Oldie

I'm new to powershell, but I recently setup a Powershell Web Access Server following this guide (http://blogs.technet.com/b/canitpro/archive/2013/11/14/step-by-step-deploy-powershell-web-access.aspx). On that server (running 2012 R2) I installed RSAT for AD with Powershell and Exchange Powershell. When I use PSWA to connect to the same server that it is hosted on and run "Import-Module ActiveDirectory" It gives me this error

WARNING: Error initializing default drive: 'Unable to contact the server. This may be 
because this server does not exist, it is currently down, or it does not have the 
Active Directory Web Services running.'.

It lets me go on to run "Get-ADUser"

Unable to contact the server. This may be because this server does not exist, it is 
currently down, or it does not have the Active Directory Web Services running.    
+ CategoryInfo          : ResourceUnavailable: (bob.smith:ADUser) [Get-ADUser], 
ADServerDownException     + FullyQualifiedErrorId : 
ActiveDirectoryServer:0,Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.Commands.GetADUser 

If I use PSWA to connect to the domain controller instead of the shell server itself, I can run these commands just fine. I can also run these commands fine if I remote desktop into the shell server and run powershell there. My goal however is to create something of an easy to use portal where a help desk tech (of varying skills) could run one of several scripts to create users or create Exchange mailboxes, without having direct access to those servers. Perhaps there is a better way to do this, but I didn't want them remoting into Exchange to run scripts or to install Exchange management tools on my Domain controllers. 

My PSWA server is running Server 2012 R2

We have two Domain controllers both running Server 2008 R2

I've checked both DCs, they both have ADWS enabled and running. I restarted the services on both and both run.

We are experimenting with Server Core for Windows Server 2012 R2. One of the big benefits of Server Core is a smaller attack surface. However, one of the downsides is the absence of Windows Explorer. Our tightly locked down environment sometimes prevents the use of the Admin shares, i.e., C$, D$, etc.

Although much of the GUI is not present in Server Core, the Operating System seems to be able to display some GUI applets, for example, Notepad, Task Manager, etc. Is there an alternative to Windows Explorer for Server Core? Maybe a PowerShell script? Something Open Source?

ThisisfromPowerShellISE under Windows 8.1

Could someone tell me what is the error in theDisconnect-VirtualDisk command please. I cannot see anything wrongwith it.

Dave

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Get-VirtualDisk

FriendlyName              ResiliencySettingName     OperationalStatus         HealthStatus              IsManualAttach                                Size
------------              ---------------------     -----------------         ------------              --------------                                ----
Test_Space                Parity                    OK                        Healthy                   False                                      19.4 TB
VMs                       Mirror                    OK                        Healthy                   False                                         3 TB
Storage space             Mirror                    OK                        Healthy                   False                                       500 GB
Home Server Pool B        Parity                    OK                        Healthy                   False                                        15 TB
Home Server Pool B2       Parity                    OK                        Healthy                   False                                        20 TB



PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Connect-VirtualDisk -FriendlyName "Test_Space"

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Disconnect-VirtualDisk -FriendlyName "Test_Space"
Disconnect-VirtualDisk : Invalid Parameter
At line:1 char:1+ Disconnect-VirtualDisk -FriendlyName "Test_Space"+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (StorageWMI:ROOT/Microsoft/...SFT_VirtualDisk) [Disconnect-VirtualDisk], CimException+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : StorageWMI 5,Disconnect-VirtualDisk


PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Get-VirtualDisk

FriendlyName              ResiliencySettingName     OperationalStatus         HealthStatus              IsManualAttach                                Size
------------              ---------------------     -----------------         ------------              --------------                                ----
Test_Space                Parity                    OK                        Healthy                   False                                      19.4 TB
VMs                       Mirror                    OK                        Healthy                   False                                         3 TB
Storage space             Mirror                    OK                        Healthy                   False                                       500 GB
Home Server Pool B        Parity                    OK                        Healthy                   False                                        15 TB
Home Server Pool B2       Parity                    OK                        Healthy                   False                                        20 TB



PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> 

I am writing a PS script to add an administrative account to a computer (local, remote, or list of computers).  You pass the desired target computer, new admin name, new admin password, existing admin name, and existing admin password.  Same existing admin name and password used to test each version.  The code that creates the credentials for executing this script are as follows (two versions... mine and one I found on the internet):

Mine... works on remote systems... but NOT on the local system.  $CredPassword was a string parameter.  

$SecCredPassword = $CredPassword | ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force | ConvertFrom-SecureString

$CurrentCred = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList $Credentials, $SecCredPassword#Fails with Access denied

Internet way... works on remote AND on the local system.

if (-not (Test-Path -Path ".\Credentials.txt")) {
    Read-Host ('Administrative password: ') -assecurestring | convertfrom-securestring | out-file .\CurrentCred.txt
}
$SecCredPassword = Get-Content .\CurrentCred.txt | convertto-securestring

$CurrentCred = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList $Credentials, $SecCredPassword#Works

I've put together a script that schedules a server reboot.  The script has a parameter set that displays any previously scheduled server reboots, removes scheduled reboots or sets a server to reboot.  I'm stuck on getting this script to accept input from a text file containing server names and a second file containing dates/times the servers will reboot.

I originally had a FOR loop under the function that would call the function for each server/time in the files but that caused the Get-Credential to request credentials for every server.  I'm just not sure how to get this function in a Begin/Process script block.  Any assistance is greatly appreciated!

Function ScheduleReboot
{
    [CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess=$true,DefaultParameterSetName="ViewOnly")]
Param
(
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false,ParameterSetName="KillSwitch")]
     [Switch]$NukeJobs,

    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,
    HelpMessage="ServerName goes here",ParameterSetName="RunOnce")]
     [string]$server,

    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,
    HelpMessage="Enter a Date/Time 07-28-15 16:00 For July 28th, 2015 at 4:00 PM",
    ParameterSetName="RunOnce")]
    [ValidatePattern('(?#Enter MM-dd-YY HH:MM 24hr clock)^(0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])[-](\d{2})\s([012]?)([0-9])[:]([012345])([0-9])\Z')]
     $date,

    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false,ParameterSetName="ViewOnly")]
     [switch]$ViewOnly
 )

Switch ($PSCmdlet.ParameterSetName)
{
"KillSwitch"{
if($env:PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE -eq "x86")
{
set-alias ps64 "$env:windir\sysnative\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe"
$script2 = [ScriptBlock]::Create("IF(Test-Path -Path C:\Windows\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\ScheduledJobs\$server) `
{Remove-Item -Force -Path C:\Windows\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\ScheduledJobs\$server}")"Removing previous scheduled server reboot data"
ps64 -command $script2
}

Else
    {
        Get-ScheduledJob | Unregister-ScheduledJob
    }
}#End killswitch block.

"RunOnce" {"$server will reboot on $date"

    $user = Get-Credential -UserName $env:USERNAME -Message "UserName/password for scheduled Reboot"
    $trigger = New-JobTrigger -once -at $date
    $script = [ScriptBlock]::Create("D:\Scripts\Scheduled-Reboot-Single.ps1 -server $server | Out-File -Force \\SysLogSvr\d$\scripts\$server-Reboot.log")

Register-ScheduledJob -Name $server -Credential $user -Trigger $trigger -ScriptBlock $script
}#end fullrun block.

"ViewOnly"
{
    Get-ScheduledJob | Get-JobTrigger
    Get-ScheduledJob | Select Name,Command | FT -AutoSize
}#end Viewonly block.

}#End param switch

}#end function.

Hi,

I am very new to PowerShell and am looking for a script that can be run remotely against a list of Windows Server 2008 64bit, Windows Server 2008 R2 64bit. This is the script I was given from another website, but when running it, nothing it displayed;

function Get-WindowsKey {
    ## function to retrieve the Windows Product Key from any PC
        param ($targets = ".")
    $hklm = 2147483650
    $regPath = "Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion"
    $regValue = "DigitalProductId64"
    Foreach ($target in $targets) {
        $productKey = $null
        $win32os = $null
        $wmi = [WMIClass]"\\$target\root\default:stdRegProv"
        $data = $wmi.GetBinaryValue($hklm,$regPath,$regValue)
        $binArray = ($data.uValue)[52..66]
        $charsArray = "B","C","D","F","G","H","J","K","M","P","Q","R","T","V","W","X","Y","2","3","4","6","7","8","9"
        ## decrypt base24 encoded binary data
        For ($i = 24; $i -ge 0; $i--) {
            $k = 0
            For ($j = 14; $j -ge 0; $j--) {
                $k = $k * 256 -bxor $binArray[$j]
                $binArray[$j] = [math]::truncate($k / 24)
                $k = $k % 24
            }
            $productKey = $charsArray[$k] + $productKey
            If (($i % 5 -eq 0) -and ($i -ne 0)) {
                $productKey = "-" + $productKey
            }
        }
        $win32os = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -computer $target
        $obj = New-Object Object
        $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty Computer -value $target
        $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty Caption -value $win32os.Caption
        $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty CSDVersion -value $win32os.CSDVersion
        $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty OSArch -value $win32os.OSArchitecture
        $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty BuildNumber -value $win32os.BuildNumber
        $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty RegisteredTo -value $win32os.RegisteredUser
        $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty ProductID -value $win32os.SerialNumber
        $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty ProductKey -value $productkey
        $obj
    }
}

I copied the script in to notepad and saved it as windowskey.ps1 and then elevated my powersheel execution to be able to run the script, but no output is shown. I was trying this on my local Windows 7 OS first, just to test it worked.

Hello,

we're currently working on an application that hosts a PowerShell runspace/pipeline and executes PowerShell scripts. Now there's something my colleague and I noticed which we can't explain.

The PSHostUserInterface interface exposes different methods to write console output to, specifically in this case Write(ConsoleColor, ConsoleColor, String), Write(String) as well asWriteLine(ConsoleColor, ConsoleColor, String), WriteLine(String) andWriteLine().

These methods are called as soon as a script writes something to the PowerShell host, for example a simpleWrite-Host "Hello World!". Now the problem here is that our code behaves differently while running unit tests on my and my colleague's PC. The difference seems to be that I recently upgraded to Windows 10 (PowerShell 5.0) while he's still running Windows 8.1 (PowerShell 4.0). (This is just what we think is the cause, it could be something else though). The project runs with .NET 4.5.1

They behave the following way:

Windows 8.1 (PowerShell 4.0)

Write-Host "Hello World!" -> Calls/triggers Write(ConsoleColor, ConsoleColor, String) with the for-/backgroundcolor and the string value (Hello World!) first and thenWriteLine(ConsoleColor, ConsoleColor, String) with the colors and empty string value, which should represent a newline.

Write-Host "Hello World! -NoNewLine -> Calls/triggers Write(ConsoleColor, ConsoleColor, String) with the for-/backgroundcolor and the string value (Hello World!) only.

Windows 10 (PowerShell 5.0)

Write-Host "Hello World!" -> Calls/triggers WriteLine(ConsoleColor, ConsoleColor, String) with the for-/backgroundcolor and the string value (Hello World!) only. There's also no appended newline.

Write-Host "Hello World!" -NoNewLine -> Calls/triggers WriteLine(ConsoleColor, ConsoleColor, String) with the for-/backgroundcolor and the string value (Hello World!) only. Also no newline here (which shouldn't be of course).

----

That is the basic problem. It seems like under Windows 8.1 the framework is executing and triggering the right methods for the Write-Host cmdlet but it's different with Windows 10/PowerShell 5.0. We're just talking about carriage returns, but when writing the output to a list and using that list for further processing, I'm sure most of you can imagine that this is a problem.

Does anyone has experienced the same behavior? Is this a bug in the new PowerShell? Why is this happening?

Hi Guys,

Im really sorry if this has been posted before but im not able to see a thread that has so far helped me out. I am running a script that sends an email to a user if their windows password is about to expire.

This was all working fine until I was asked to exclude a number or OU's

The line that I am having issues with is below.

$users=get-aduser-filter*-SearchBase"Domain Users OU"-Property*|?{$_.DistinguishedName-notmatch"Leavers OU"-and$_.DistinguishedName-notmatch"Contractors OU"} -propertiesName,PasswordNeverExpires,PasswordExpired,PasswordLastSet,EmailAddress|where{$_.Enabled-eq"True"}|where{$_.PasswordNeverExpires-eq$false}|where{$_.passwordexpired-eq$false}

When I run this line I get the error below.

"

Where-Object : A parameter cannot be found that matches parameter name 'properties'.

Without the -notmatch entries the properties are found.

Any help with getting this command to work would really help me out.

Thanks

Aaron

Hello,

has anybody successfully connected SAP Web Services with PowerShell?

With

$uri = "http://Server.domain.net:8000/sap/bc/srt/wsdl/flv_10002A111AD1/bndg_url/sap/bc/srt/rfc/sap/y0000bc_user_change/902/y0000bc_user_change/y0000bc_user_change?sap-client=902"
$password = "PWinPlainText" | ConvertTo-SecureString -asPlainText -Force
$username = "myuser"
$PSCredential = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential($username,$password)
$ws=New-WebServiceProxy -uri $uri -Credential $PSCredentia

I got the error:

New-WebServiceProxy : Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\Users\WinUserName\AppData\Local\Temp\2\gt10vvrk.dll' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot
find the file specified.
At line:5 char:5
+ $ws=New-WebServiceProxy -uri $uri -Credential $PSCredential
+     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [New-WebServiceProxy], FileNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.IO.FileNotFoundException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.NewWebServiceProxy

*gt10vvrk.dll seams to be a temp dll. The name varies with every try ...

I guess it's perhaps a setting in SAP. But I'm not sure what is missing to go to the SAP department.

With SoapUi I'm able to connect but not to write updates: "Receiving response: HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error" ...

Regards,

Stefan

www.sc-orchestrator.eu , Blog sc-orchestrator.eu

I can no longer use Get-ADPrincipalGroupMembership on Windows 8.1 enterprise. Whenever I run the cmdlet I get this error:

Get-ADPrincipalGroupMembership : The server was unable to process the request due to an internal error.  For more information about the error, either turn
on IncludeExceptionDetailInFaults (either from ServiceBehaviorAttribute or from the <serviceDebug> configuration behavior) on the server in order to send
the exception information back to the client, or turn on tracing as per the Microsoft .NET Framework SDK documentation and inspect the server trace logs.
At line:1 char:1+ Get-ADPrincipalGroupMembership -Identity johndoe+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (johndoe:ADPrincipal) [Get-ADPrincipalGroupMembership], ADException+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ActiveDirectoryServer:0,Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.Commands.GetADPrincipalGroupMembership

This happens whether I pipe an AD user to the cmdlet or use explicit parameters. I found one other article where this happened because some group names contained a "/" character, but I have verified that none of our groups contain anything other than alphanumeric characters, spaces, and ampersands.

I have tried fully removing and re-installing the Windows 8.1 RSAT, but this did not fix the issue. To work around this I am currently running AD cmdlets on a server, but would like to fix this on my workstation.

I am running PS version 5.0.10105.0. I know this is a preview version, but I have been running the previews since the February release and this has been working until now. Thanks!

Does anyone know why this might be happening?

Hi

i am collecting cpu and mem usage every 5 minutes and storing in a html file, but it creates column header everytime, is there any other way of appending the values to html file? or

$CPUAvg = Get-WmiObject win32_processor |Measure-Object -property LoadPercentage -Average | Select Average
$MemAvg = gwmi -Class win32_operatingsystem |Select-Object @{Name = "MemoryUsage"; Expression = {“{0:N2}” -f ((($_.TotalVisibleMemorySize - $_.FreePhysicalMemory)*100)/ $_.TotalVisibleMemorySize) }}
$time =get-date | Select-Object @{Name = "Time"; Expression ={"$_"}}

[array]$results += [PSCustomObject] @{
        Time = "$($time.'Time')"
        'CPU-Usage' = "$($CPUAvg.Average)%"
        'Mem-Usage' = "$($MemAvg.MemoryUsage)%"
    }
    $results |ConvertTo-Html -head $a –body $body | add-content c:\1.html

I need to run a task on only two computer models.

I have a script working for a single model, but when I add a second one I get a TRUE all the time.

What is the error:

((Get-WmiObjectWin32_Computersystem).model-eq'Precision Tower 7910'-or'Precision Tower 7810')

Write-Host"7910 or 7810"

Write-Host"None Suported Model"

Without -or everything works...

Thank you.

Hello,

This is kind of basic, but I'm having trouble combining these lines of code.  A one line solution would be helpful for putting this out to other folks.  Plus I just want to understand.

Trying to combine this:

This is a 2 issue subject

I am trying to create a FSRM screen with a command action but it's not firing and no events are logged except the event log event I also have in the screen. At this point i'm not sure how to troubleshoot this.

In an attempt to troubleshoot and because I also need ot be able to create this screen via PowerShell I decided to use the example PowerShell action and add it to a screen but it is erroring out

The example is

New-FsrmAction Command -Command "c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe"-CommandParameters "echo [source file path] >> c:\log.txt" -ShouldLogError

This works, then to create the screen I am doing the following which fails

New-FsrmFileScreen -Path "$drive" -Active: $false -IncludeGroup "BLARG1" -Notification $Notification

New-FsrmFileScreen : 0x80070057, The parameter is incorrect and gives the below error
At line:1 char:5
+     New-FsrmFileScreen -Path "$drive" -Active: $false -IncludeGroup "BLARG1" -No ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (MSFT_FSRMFileScreen:Root/Microsoft/..._FSRMFileScreen) [New-FsrmFileScreen], CimException

If I replace the New-FSRMAction line with

$Notification = New-FsrmAction -Type Event -EventType Warning -Body "User [Source Io Owner] attempted to save [Source File Path] to [File Screen Path] on the [Server] server."

This works so I suspect the command line is off somehow even though I grabbed it from the help and TechNet.

Hopefully someone can point out my mistake

Thanks Jrv

I am trying to add text to RDWEB home page. I can't get the \ to display.

I want to give the example of logging in as moa\peisenberg but this display as moapeisenberg

What do I add to below command line to display \

PS C:\Windows\system32> Set-RDWorkspace -Name 'MARIN CANCER CARE - LOGIN EXAMPLE - moa\peisenberg' -ConnectionBroker ma
-mqrdp1.ccc.local
PS C:\Windows\system32>

In order to do so, open up a new PowerShell window and import the RemoteDesktop module
Import-Module RemoteDesktop

Next use the set-RDWorkspace command to change the name of the workspace
SYNTAX
    Set-RDWorkspace [-Name] <string> [-ConnectionBroker <string>]  [<CommonParameters>]

For example, the command to change the workplace to "XYZ Applications" you can use the following command:
set-RDWorkspace -Name "XYZ Applications" -ConnectionBroker broker01.company.local