Trying to Remotely use PsTools (PsExec) to Return a Result on Powershell

Question

I am trying to run a script remotely that will double check that the IP address is correct using PsExec in Powershell. The problem is I only want it to return the result True or False and not show any other lines within Powershell.

I have tried running background jobs as well but have not seemed to get that working, as when I do that it simply gives me nothing.

function remoteIPTest($Computer) {

    $result = & cmd /c PsExec64.exe \\$Computer -s cmd /c "ipconfig"

        if ($result -like "*10.218.5.202*") {
            return "True"
        }   
}

$Computer = "MUC-1800035974"
remoteIPTest $Computer

After running this, I just want the application to give return:

True

Instead of returning:

Starting cmd on MUC-1800035974... MUC-1800035974...
cmd exited on MUC-1800035974 with error code 0.
True

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 04 '19 at 04:36

psexec prints its status messages to stderr, which a variable assignment such as $result = does not capture, so these messages still print to the screen.

Variable assignments only capture stdout output from external programs such as psexec, which in this case is ipconfig's output.

Therefore, the answer is to suppress stderr, which you can do with 2>$null (2 is the number of PowerShell's error stream, which stderr maps to) - see Redirecting Error/Output to NULL.
Do note that this will also suppress true error messages.

In addition, the cmd /c calls are not needed, because you can use psexec to invoke other programs directly, if you have the path configured properly.

Instead of this:

$result = & cmd /c PsExec64.exe \\$Computer -s cmd /c "ipconfig"

Do This:

$result = PsExec64.exe \\$Computer -s ipconfig 2>$null

Hope it helps.

Trying to Remotely use PsTools (PsExec) to Return a Result on Powershell

1 Answers1