Why does PsExec hang after successfully running a powershell script?
The script is fairly straight forward. Simply tries to start a bunch of windows services. Execution locally works fine when on the target machine. The script is actually executing fine as well when done via PsExec, it just never returns until I hit the "enter" key on my CMD prompt. This is a problem, because this is being called from TeamCity, and it makes the Agent hang waiting for PsExec to return.
I've tried the following:
- Adding an
exitandexit 0at the end of the Powershell script - Adding a
< NULto the end of the PsExec call, per the answer in this SF question - Adding a
>stdout redirect
This is how I am actually calling psexec:
psexec \\target -u domain\username -p password powershell c:\path\script.ps1
No matter what I do, it hangs until I the locally on the cmd prompt. After I hit enter, I get the message:
powershell exited on target with error code 0.
Solution 1:
I know the answer comes late it would have already been figured out, If not it might be useful for future visitors.
STDIN has to be re-directed in powershell execution inorder to be able to come from hang (Here it waits in STDIN). to be able to do this use -inputformat none
powershell -inputformat none -File powershell_script.ps1 will work.
Check - https://connect.microsoft.com/PowerShell/feedback/details/572313/powershell-exe-can-hang-if-stdin-is-redirected
Solution 2:
Turns out this is a common problem. Found the solution a here. Essentially, if you pipe some data on stdin with cmd it will return propertly after execution (because it is being run via cmd, not powershell).
Example:
psexec \\target -u domain\username -p password cmd /c "echo . | powershell c:\path\script.ps1"
Solution 3:
psexec \\target -u domain\username -p password -d powershell c:\path\script.ps1
Also fixes the problem.
The -d flag for psexec is like "run and exit" in a non-interactive way:
-d Don’t wait for the application to terminate.
Only use for non-interactive applications.