Powershell: Copy-Item fails without exceptions

Question

I use The following powershell code to copy file from a remote machine on the same network to the actual machine where this powershell is executed. The firewall is disabled. The $UpdateSourceFolder is a shared folder where all users have access. The problem is that copy-item never returns me exception but the file are not copied from one location to another.

Try {
    Copy-item "$UpdateSourceFolder\*" "$UpdateDestinationFolder" -Force -Recurse -ErrorAction Stop
    Add-Content $LogFilePath "SUCCESSFULLY COPIED FILE"
}
catch {
    $errorMessage = $_.Exception.Message 
    Add-Content $LogFilePath $errorMessage
}

Is there something I can do to force Powershell to give me the exception?

The absence of errors suggests that wildcard pattern "$UpdateSourceFolder\*" doesn't match anything, which simply makes the Copy-Item call a quiet no-op. See if Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $UpdateSourceFolder -Force | Copy-Item -Destination $UpdateDestinationFolder -Force -Recurse -ErrorAction Stop results in errors. — mklement0
– mklement0, Commented Mar 25 at 14:56
Thank you for your suggestion. Unfortunately none of that worked. I add also that I discovered that It depens on the user I use to run this powershell. If I run it using an administrator user it works. Otherwise, If I use service account like System or Network Service the file are not copied and no exception is logged — aSpagno
– aSpagno, Commented Mar 26 at 7:25
One potential explanation is that these special accounts are not permitted to access the target file share and that they are perhaps also not permitted to write to the log file, meaning that the attempt to record the exceptions that do occur fails. — mklement0
– mklement0, Commented Mar 26 at 12:05
@aSpagno The responses to this Reddit thread will likely help you along, based on your comment: reddit.com/r/PowerShell/comments/1gakkts/… — TylerH
– TylerH, Commented Mar 28 at 18:43

Dennis · Accepted Answer · 2025-06-24 15:30:55Z

0

For some reason, no errors are generated when using wild cards in the path of Copy-Item (as @mklement0 states in the comments). Using the Filter param instead should bypass this behavior.

Copy-Item "$UpdateSourceFolder\" -Filter * "$UpdateDestinationFolder" `
  -Recurse -ErrorAction Stop

answered Jun 24 at 15:30

Dennis

2,1282 gold badges20 silver badges46 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Powershell: Copy-Item fails without exceptions

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related