Strange ESXI issue

[Taclan2022]

Product, version and build: PowerShell Studio 2020 Ver. 5.7.178 x64
Operating system: Creating form exe on Win 10 x64, running it on Server 2016 x64.

I originally posted on the GUI forum, jvierra recommended reposting on the support forum.

This is a link to that post: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=14818

Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Alexander Riedel]

From what I understand the command completes correctly when run in a console exe.
There are some rare cmdlets in modules which make an assumption that a console object exists.
A Windows process in general has no console just by definition. Other cmdlets assume that the progress indicator is character and console based, which also is not always true.
It is of course possible that there is something else at play here, but these are the most common conditions for such a behavior, rare as they are.

I understand that this is frustrating, as it puts you in the middle between us saying "It's not our problem" and the other vendor who probably would say "It works fine in the console".
It is quite possible that your only solution is to use two different processes to run this from a Windows Forms application.

Before we go there though, let's see if we can find out more. You state:
"I did get to run correctly by compiling the code in a separate .exe with a script engine option of "Windows Application" then calling it from my winform based exe."
Can you be more specific as to what exact engine and settings you chose for that?

[Taclan2022]

I had the same thoughts about being between two vendors. I appreciate you guys assisting from your side.

Here are my engine settings:

For my winforms .exe the Script engine settings are:
Target: Microsoft Windows 64 Bit
Script Engines: Windows Powershell SAPIEN Powershell V5 Host (Windows Forms)
Use STA Mode (Powershell engines only): Checked

For the .exe that the winform calls, all settings are the same except:
Script Engines: Windows Powershell SAPIEN Powershell V5 Host (Windows Application)

I also tried putting the code back into my Winforms exe and changing the engine to Windows Powershell SAPIEN Powershell V5 Host (Windows Application) so that it popped open an output window. It locked up doing that too.

[Alexander Riedel]

I have been there plenty of times myself. It can be quite a challenge

Your result rules out the presence of a console to be the cause. A Windows Application also has no console.
Unfortunately I cannot test this here, so we have to take it one step at a time.
Can you package the secondary exe also as Windows Forms and try that? It won't make much difference other than that is will produce no visible output.
You will have to check in the code executing the secondary exe if it finishes, assuming you don't already do that anyway.

If that also succeeds, it is most certainly not associated with any particular type of output. The likely candidates for the problem then are threading and runspaces.
By definition, running the task in a different process will run it in a different runspace and thread.
You can potentially do that from within your Windows Forms app as well.
There can be other issues I have not thought of, so don't get your hopes up just yet.

[Taclan2022]

Changing the secondary .exe to winform engine, the code works.

[Alexander Riedel]

mmhmm. I would suggest to execute the code in question in a separate runspace next.
This might be of help if you are not familiar with that mechanism.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/560 ... -functions

[Taclan2022]

I'm not familiar with runspaces. I'll give it a go and let you know. Thanks!

[Taclan2022]

Not sure if I did this optimally but it works.

Code: [Select all] [Expand/Collapse] [Download] (Untitled.ps1)

1. $Runspace = [runspacefactory]::CreateRunspace()
2.                  $PowerShell = [powershell]::Create()
3.                  $PowerShell.runspace = $Runspace
4.                  $Runspace.Open()
5. [void]$PowerShell.AddScript({
6.                 #Gathering ESXI info
7.                 $JSONData = (Get-Content -RAW -Path c:\myapp\my.json | ConvertFrom-JSON)
8.                 $Creds = $JSONData.setup.ESXi1.RootPW
9.                 $ESX1Name = $JSONData.setup.ESXi1.Name             
10.                 #Connecting to ESXI host and setting VIB policy
11.                 (Connect-VIServer -Server $ESX1Name -User 'root' -Password "$Creds")
12.                 $esxcli = (Get-EsxCli -V2)
13.                 $esxcli.software.acceptance.set.Invoke(@{ level = 'PartnerSupported' })
14.                  })
15.                $PowerShell.BeginInvoke()
16.                $PowerShell.Dispose()

[Alexander Riedel]

Glad to hear you got it solved!