How to run an executable on a VM with PowerShell

Question

I want to run an executable on a remote virtual machine. The executable is already on the remote virtual machine. The cmdlet I use is:

$command = "c:\users\<username>\desktop\Myexecutable.exe"

Invoke-Command -ComputerName Machine98 -ScriptBlock {$command} -Credential <domain_name>\<username>

I anonymized the <value> but I am sure they are corrects.

At the command prompt of Powershell, there is no error message. And the prompt becomes accessible after the cmdlet, so it does not hang.

I am sure the service WS-Management is running and is correctly configured on the remote virtual machine because this cmdlet works:

enter-pssession -computername Machine98 -credential <domain_name>\<username>

Can you help me find what is wrong with my solution or propose another way of achieving things?

It sounds like there is no error on the machine you are using to execute the command from but there may be one on the remote machine. Is there a log you can look at on it? It might be worth adding `Start-Transcript` In your scriptblock. — Clayton Lewis, Sep 18 '18 at 18:34
Another good resource for troubleshooting is `Test-Connection`. See `help Test-Connection -Full` for more details. — lit, Sep 18 '18 at 19:08

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 18 '18 at 19:06

$Command is defined in the local machine and won't be available inside the scriptblock. When you the variable inside a scriptblock, you have to pass it as an argument.

Invoke-Command -Computer Name -ScriptBlock {
    Param(
        [string]$Command
    )
    & $Command
} -ArgumentList $Command

So here, its just executing an empty ScriptBlock(as the variable $Command is null), hence no error.

How to run an executable on a VM with PowerShell

1 Answers1