PowerShell 3.0 behavior when getting external process exit code

Question

I have been using this code from another post from this site:

$pinfo = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
$pinfo.FileName = "notepad.exe"
$pinfo.RedirectStandardError = $true
$pinfo.RedirectStandardOutput = $true
$pinfo.UseShellExecute = $false
$pinfo.Arguments = ""
$p = New-Object System.Diagnostics.Process
$p.StartInfo = $pinfo
**$p.Start() | Out-Null**
#Do Other Stuff Here....
**$p.WaitForExit()**
$p.ExitCode

It has worked fine under PowerShell 2.0. The server was upgraded to PowerShell 3.0, and now the two bold like fail with:

Exception calling "Start" with "0" argument(s): "The system cannot find the
file specified"
At \\asdnsom3978\optim_windows\script_master\exportall.ps1:126 char:1
+ $p.Start() | Out-Null
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Win32Exception

Exception calling "WaitForExit" with "0" argument(s): "No process is
associated with this object."
At \\asdnsom3978\optim_windows\script_master\exportall.ps1:128 char:1
+ $p.WaitForExit()
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperationException

Why did it broke and how do I correct it so it works for both version 2.0 and 3.0?

Keith Hill · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-25 14:19:17Z

2

Hmm, I can't repro the error on my V3 system. But why are you going to all this trouble when you can just use the Start-Process command to do this e.g.:

$p = Start-Process Notepad -Wait -PassThru
$p.ExitCode

edited Nov 25, 2013 at 14:19

answered Nov 23, 2013 at 4:28

Keith Hill

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2 Comments

EdLipson Over a year ago

I copied the code, so I did not change it very much. I will try start-process and see what happens. My workstation is v2, code runs. Server has been upgraded from V2 to V3 and throws the errors. Another workstation, upgraded to V3, throws the same errors. That led me to conclude it was a V2/V3 thing.

EdLipson Over a year ago

I just completed a test and this start-process works from both a V2 workstation and V3 server. Thanks!

mikekol · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-22 19:31:42Z

1

You might want to try providing a fully-qualified path to notepad.exe, like "C:\Windows\notepad.exe".

answered Nov 22, 2013 at 19:31

mikekol

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