# execute remote powershell script on remote server

**URL:** <https://forums.powershell.org/t/execute-remote-powershell-script-on-remote-server/8246>\
**Category:** PowerShell Help\
**Created:** [March 16, 2017, 2:32pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/execute-remote-powershell-script-on-remote-server/8246 "2017-03-16T14:32:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ggable313](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@ggable313](https://forums.powershell.org/u/ggable313)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 2:32pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/execute-remote-powershell-script-on-remote-server/8246/1 "2017-03-16T14:32:47Z")

</div>

I have looked for weeks, and had others research with/for me, but I haven’t found the answer to this.

I have a script that lives on server 1, and needs to be executed on server 1 using certain credentials. The ultimate solution will help with decrypting files. The script must execute as a certain user on a certain server because the key pair is in the user’s key ring on that server.

I want the script to be called from server 2 as part of a larger process. Server 2 has a sql job which has the following flow:

1. Step 1 of the job uses a powershell script to download the file
2. Step 2 of the job needs to execute the script on server 1 to decrypt the file (\*\* this is the step I am talking about here)
3. Step 3 of the job will run a powershell script to check the file attributes (last written date, file size as compared to yesterday, etc)
4. Step 4 of the job will restore the log file

The script on server 1 runs locally without any issues, and produces the expected results. When attempting to have server 2 execute the script on server 1, I haven’t had any success. In order to get as simple as possible for finding out what is actually not working, I came up with a set of scripts which are simple (see below).

- When I run script 1 on server 1 (where the file physically lives), it works fine. The text file is produced with "hello world" in the file.
- When I run script 2 on server 2 (I didn't save a file, just ran it in the ISE window), it runs without errors or warnings, but the file that should be written doesn't exist on server 1 (nor on server 2 - not that it should but I checked to see anyway).

I am not a powershell guru of any kind - so I apologize now if it is a very obvious thing. 🙂

```
#-------------------------------------
# script 1
# this script lives on server 1
# file name: c:\deleteme\helloworld2.ps1

$CMD = Invoke-Expression " `"hello world`" >> C:\deleteme\helloworld.txt"
Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock { $CMD }

#-------------------------------------
# script 2
# this script is executed on server 2 and attempts to execute the script on server 1

$session = New-PSSession -ComputerName "SERVER01.lahcg.com" #-Credential $username

$CMD = "Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock { powershell.exe `"C:\deleteme\helloworld2.ps1`" } "
#write-output $CMD
Invoke-Command -Session $session -ScriptBlock { $CMD }

Remove-PSSession $session
```

Environment Info:

- Server 1: Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard with Powershell 2
- Server 2: Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter with Powershell 4

Extra Notes:

- I do have the enable remote set ok... I found that earlier when researching.
- I am using different versions of Powershell , but since the script on server 1 is running ok locally, I didn't think that was a problem.
- I have gotten the credential part to work on another script - so I am not asking about that in this post. I left it in the script, commented out for reference.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dudebro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@dudebro](https://forums.powershell.org/u/dudebro)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 4:26pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/execute-remote-powershell-script-on-remote-server/8246/2 "2017-03-16T16:26:22Z")

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There shouldn’t be a need to call powershell.exe or do this nested Invoke-Command thing. Try running it like this:

```
Invoke-Command -Session $Session -ScriptBlock { & "C:\deleteme\helloworld2.ps1" }
```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ggable313](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@ggable313](https://forums.powershell.org/u/ggable313)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 12:12pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/execute-remote-powershell-script-on-remote-server/8246/3 "2017-03-17T12:12:10Z")

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That requires the script to live locally, doesn’t it? Server 2 starts the process, then calls out to server 1 to run the script that lives on server 1.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dudebro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@dudebro](https://forums.powershell.org/u/dudebro)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 5:32pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/execute-remote-powershell-script-on-remote-server/8246/4 "2017-03-17T17:32:45Z")

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If you run this from SERVER2:

```
Invoke-Command -Session $Session -ScriptBlock { & "C:\deleteme\helloworld2.ps1" }
```

This will be executed on SERVER1 (provided that’s where the $Session variable points):

```
& "C:\deleteme\helloworld2.ps1"
```

In this case, the helloworld2.ps1 script would have to live in C:\deleteme on SERVER1.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dotnVo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@dotnVo](https://forums.powershell.org/u/dotnVo)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 8:39pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/execute-remote-powershell-script-on-remote-server/8246/5 "2024-05-16T20:39:26Z")

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