Hello Im teaching myself Powershell and i cannot seem to run this code
Get-Process -computerName (import-csv .\computer_names.csv|
select -property hostname)
Instead of testing each Computername it tests only the first listed computer
In the book it says it should test each computer name. If i change the first computer name it only scans the first and works but never goes to the next ones 
Below is a pic of my CSV file
trickyspeed,
welcome to the forums.
Please do not post pictures of code or error messages or console output or sample data. Instead you should post the text and format it as code with the code posting icon </>. Thanks in advance.
Do you have computers in your network with the names âWin8â, âwin10â and " * " ?? 
When you carefully read the error message what you should do always you will notice that it says it couldnât connect to the remote computer. So it tries to check but because there are no computers with these names it throws an error.
You probably need to expand the hostname, itâs looking for an string array of computers:
Get-Process -ComputerName (Import-Csv -Path .\computer_names.csv | Select-Object -ExpandProperty HostName)
So this looks like it tries to work. We now get a delay of 5 seconds and get this error below.
<Get-Process : Couldnât connect to remote machine.
At line:1 char:1
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-Process], InvalidOperationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.InvalidOperationException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetProcessCommand />
It only provides this error and still doesnât check any other iterations
Olaf, Thank you for your patience, Some of these machines do not exist, but the book iâm reading seems to make it seem like it should check each machine name in the list whether or not a error is thrown
Heres a raw quote
Because the Hostname property contains text strings, -ExpandProperty is able to expand those values into plain String objects, which is what -ComputerName wants. This means the following works:
PS C:\> Get-Process -computerName (import-csv .\computers.csv |
select -expand hostname)
OK, if you excpected to get some errors everything is fine though. 
BTW: in the picture of code you posted initially youâre not using -ExpandProperty. Thatâs why youâve got the unexpected errors.
My fault I think I just misunderstood how PS handles Errors with that cmdlet.
Basically the cmdlet will error out and not check all Instances of names in the string array.
I changed my CSV file to something along the lines of:
< hostname,OperatingSystem
localhost,windows
localhost,windows />
and Wallah! It even seems to grab all the services TWICE and combines it into onel
So if I ran the command with the new csv I get this
< andles NPM(K) PM(K) WS(K) CPU(s) Id SI ProcessName
292 16 6068 22000 1408 0 backgroundTaskHost
292 16 6068 22000 1408 0 backgroundTaskHost
415 18 2420 5356 344 0 csrss
415 18 2420 5356 344 0 csrss
292 16 2220 5704 416 0 csrss
292 16 2220 5704 416 0 csrss
384 15 4100 15496 1956 0 ctfmon
384 15 4100 15496 1956 0 ctfmon
378 31 15380 21340 2388 0 dfsrs
378 31 15380 21340 2388 0 dfsrs
153 8 2012 6032 2664 0 dfssvc
153 8 2012 6032 2664 0 dfssvc
224 22 4620 12116 1992 0 dllhost
224 22 4620 12116 1992 0 dllhost
10311 7412 128548 126356 2408 0 dns
==============================================
But running <PS C:\Users\Administrator> Get-Process -ComputerName localhost
/>
returns
< 402 17 2420 5340 344 0 csrss
287 16 2220 5700 416 0 csrss
384 15 4100 15496 1956 0 ctfmon
381 31 15312 21332 2388 0 dfsrs
153 8 2012 6032 2664 0 dfssvc
213 16 3284 11296 1992 0 dllhost
10311 7412 128548 126356 2408 0 dns
632 39 43964 80488 872 0 dwm
1620 70 30412 22200 3200 0 explorer
49 6 1756 4756 2228 0 fontdrvhost
49 6 1424 3700 2236 0 fontdrvhost
0 0 56 8 0 0 Idle
129 12 1968 5600 2420 0 ismserv
1632 111 51632 52108 544 0 lsass
475 27 32820 42592 2324 0 Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.WebServices
221 13 3128 10212 3912 0 msdtc
529 68 173888 90144 2476 0 MsMpEng
205 40 3308 9736 2824 0 NisSrv
264 14 2800 20036 272 0 notepad
242 14 2664 9028 4612 0 notepad
813 53 126236 62132 1072 0 powershell_ise
/>
Is it just me or is this just odd error handling?
(sorry the code tags do not mix with copying table data
You may try it again as they usually work just as expected. You can even go back and edit your existing posts and correct them.
For your local computer you can omit the parameter -ComputerName and just run the cmdlet as it is without any parameter: (If you want to post code click on the </> icon first and then post your code)
Get-Process
The output looks something like this:
Handles NPM(K) PM(K) WS(K) CPU(s) Id SI ProcessName
------- ------ ----- ----- ------ -- -- -----------
180 10 2460 6540 9816 0 aesm_service
381 23 12684 28808 5,81 16776 1 ApplicationFrameHost
251 14 11632 17096 1.982,30 17532 0 audiodg
341 17 35288 59116 5,39 13936 1 chrome
76 5 2288 1148 0,00 1480 1 cmd
588 46 361660 100780 38,58 12268 1 Code
453 52 44628 1800 4,89 12612 1 ColorPickerUI
139 7 1460 8156 0,02 10688 1 CompPkgSrv
109 8 1452 6456 0,03 10168 1 conhost
992 42 3972 5856 876 1 csrss
498 18 30428 21492 51,92 8308 1 ctfmon
335 12 3120 7372 5384 0 dasHost
2396 21 6800 12508 5,83 5608 1 dllhost
If you want to have control about errors you should read the help about_Try_Catch_Finally
You can shorten Rob-Simmers code sample somewhat:
Get-Process -ComputerName (Import-Csv -Path .\computer_names.csv).HostName