Printer Install Script Hangs

PowerShell Help
1

I have just starting trying to teach myself Powershell and I am trying to write a script to use at work to install network printers. The script does work in that the printer is installed but it hangs at the add_printer stage before the $outputBox.text= “Printer with port $var installed” line. The printer is installed but the box never goes away and I have to kill Powershell ISE to get rid of it.
Is there a way to end the install line to get it to move on ?

Many thanks,
Ian

[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName(“System.Drawing”)
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName(“System.Windows.Forms”)

$Form = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$Form.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(600,400)

############################################## Start functions

function addprinter {
$var=$InputBox.text;
pnputil.exe -a “D:\Powershell\Printer\pcl6-x64\hpbuio170l.inf” #get driver
add-PrinterDriver -name “hp universal printing pcl 6” #install driver
Add-PrinterPort -Name $var -printerhostaddress $var
add-printer -name “HP LJ 400 $var” -portname $var -drivername “hp universal printing pcl 6”
$outputBox.text= “Printer with port $var installed”
} #end addprinter

############################################## end functions

############################################## Start text fields

$InputBox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$InputBox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(20,100)
$InputBox.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(150,20)
$Form.Controls.Add($InputBox)

$objLabel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$objLabel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,50)
$objLabel.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(280,20)
$objLabel.Text = “Please enter the information in the space below:”
$Form.Controls.Add($objLabel)

$outputBox = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$outputBox.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,150)
$outputBox.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(565,200)
$outputBox.MultiLine = $True
$outputBox.ScrollBars = “Vertical”
$Form.Controls.Add($outputBox)

############################################## end text fields

############################################## Start buttons

$Button = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$Button.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(400,30)
$Button.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,50)
$Button.Text = “Install”
$Button.Add_Click({addprinter})
$Form.Controls.Add($Button)

$CancelButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$CancelButton.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(400,80)
$CancelButton.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,50)
$CancelButton.Text = “Cancel”
$CancelButton.Add_Click({$Form.Close()})
$Form.Controls.Add($CancelButton)

############################################## end buttons

$Form.StartPosition = “CenterScreen”
$Form.FormBorderStyle = [System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle]::FixedToolWindow
$Form.Text = “Install Printer by Hostname”
$Form.Topmost = $True

$Form.Add_Shown({$Form.Activate()})
[void] $Form.ShowDialog()

PS. this very much a work in progress so I will be adding in some checks to get rid of errors when port is already present etc.

2

I’d try to break this down and get out of the script context, because it’s possible you’re running into threading limitations.

What happens if you just run Add-Printer interactively from the console to do the same thing? Does it hang then?

3

Thanks for the reply Don, I actually got around to working this out just yesterday.
The issue seems to be with the way that the default Powershell ISE runs, if I check the script in PowerGUI it works fine and when I saved the script off and ran it via a batch it also runs fine.

4

And the ISE does work differently. I always test from the console!