Powershell script in Notepad works but not as .ps1

PowerShell Help
1

Hi, I have a powershell script, that I created in word, which opens O365 and gets mailbox sizes etc automatically, then closes. To run it, I normally copy the text into powershell straight from Notepad, and it all works as expected. I thought I’d change it to a .ps1 extension, and just pull it directly into powershell, but I’m getting 403 event errors, and the powershell window opens and closes so rapidly I can’t get a handle on the error?

Any ideas?

 

thanks

Jason

[pre]

$Path = “F:\Data\2 - Reports\XXXXX”
$Password = Get-Content $Path\O365Pwd.txt | ConvertTo-SecureString
$User = Get-Content $Path\O365User.txt
$Credential = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PsCredential($User,$Password)

Import-Module MsOnline

Connect-MsolService -Credential $Credential
$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/ -Credential $Credential -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

Import-PSSession $Session
$H = hostname
$Date = ((Get-Date).ToString(‘dd-MM-yyyy’))

[/pre]

this is part of the code (I have the O365 modules installed, and as stated, if i copy direct from Notepad into powershell works fine)

2

sorry typo - I created the original script in Notepad!

3

Can you post the error message ?

4

I don’t actually get to see the error, the window closes too quickly…but I have the following from EventViewer:

[pre]

Log Name: Windows PowerShell
Source: PowerShell
Date: 12/11/2018 13:17:54
Event ID: 403
Task Category: Engine Lifecycle
Level: Information
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Jason-XXXX
Description:
Engine state is changed from Available to Stopped.

Details:
NewEngineState=Stopped
PreviousEngineState=Available

SequenceNumber=15

HostName=ConsoleHost
HostVersion=5.1.17134.228
HostId=152fe65e-9439-433e-a9ab-2d17e5bb7a1c
HostApplication=C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe F:\Data\2 - Reports\XXXX\4 - XXXX O365 Mailbox List Report.ps1
EngineVersion=5.1.17134.228
RunspaceId=6f2a43f8-2764-4d49-9158-c31bddc726fc
PipelineId=
CommandName=
CommandType=
ScriptName=
CommandPath=
CommandLine=
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event”>
<System>
<Provider Name=“PowerShell” />
<EventID Qualifiers=“0”>403</EventID>
<Level>4</Level>
<Task>4</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime=“2018-11-12T13:17:54.887094900Z” />
<EventRecordID>3492</EventRecordID>
<Channel>Windows PowerShell</Channel>
<Computer>JasonXXXXX</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>Stopped</Data>
<Data>Available</Data>
<Data> NewEngineState=Stopped
PreviousEngineState=Available

SequenceNumber=15

HostName=ConsoleHost
HostVersion=5.1.17134.228
HostId=152fe65e-9439-433e-a9ab-2d17e5bb7a1c
HostApplication=C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe F:\Data\2 - Reports\XXXX\4 - XXXX O365 Mailbox List Report.ps1
EngineVersion=5.1.17134.228
RunspaceId=6f2a43f8-2764-4d49-9158-c31bddc726fc
PipelineId=
CommandName=
CommandType=
ScriptName=
CommandPath=
CommandLine=</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

[/pre]

5

Can’t see anything which can close the shell, can you call the script from an existing console or debug it in PowerShell ISE or VSCode.

6

Try putting pause at the end. Are you running it on another computer? The convertto-securestring won’t work without a key in that case.

7

hi, it’s all from the same computer (my laptop) with access to the same pwd files etc. even adding a pause doesn’t stop the windows closing fairly rapidly! so hard to diagnose.

 

Thanks for all your help - I’ll try ISE and see if that works!

8

running inside ISE - works as expected, it’s just dropping the .ps1 into Powershell standard that’s got the problem…Confuseddotcom!

9

Is there any code in this which is copied from some other source ? hidden special chars will give problems.

10

How exactly are you running the ps1 file? A .lnk shortcut with “powershell -file c:\users\me\script.ps1”?

11

Hi Js,

I’ve opened the notepad script, then saved it as a .ps1. After that I just dragged it into Powershell’s shell. I have also right clicked and ‘run with powershell’…both do not run. But if I drag it into ISE, it works as expected!

12

can you add Start-Transcript c:\temp\temp.log at the very beginning and execute once.

13

Thanks Kvprasoon, will try that now!

14

Sadly, doesn’t even log an event, just shuts donw poershell - far too quickly for me to grab anything useful!

15

What is your execution policy ?

Do a Get-ExecutionPolicy

16

hi, it’s ‘unrestricted’, as I checked that too, just in case it was ‘restricted’.

17

Did you check this ?

18

Hi,

 

No hidden code, this is a script that I created from scratch, and as stated earlier, if I just copy from notepad, works fine, also in ISE. reall head scratching on this…wanted to just drag drop and run!

 

19

I think you’ll probably find that Notepad usually saves txt files in ANSI encoding, whereas PowerShell will expect UTF8 of some form… this usually isn’t a problem, but it can occasionally cause oddities like this.

20

This will probably get off topic, but I’ve taken an interest in encoding.

Powershell 5.1:
I believe the default encoding is “ansi” (Windows-1251), definitely not ascii.
Except out-file (including “>” and “>>”) and tee encode by default in “unicode” (utf16).
Cannot decode utf8 no bom (“no signature”) (at least special characters)
Can decode utf8 with bom

Powershell 6:
Default encoding is utf8 no bom (there’s a way to reliably identify it)