Running a Powershell script from c#

Question

I'm trying to run a PowerShell script from C# code, but I'm having some (maybe environmental) issues:

On a machine where I try to run it, the following occur:

PowerShell starts and loads as Admin
PowerShell window immediately closes (apparently) without error

Notes:

The script works. When I run it from ISE, it runs without errors.
If I right click the script and choose Run with PowerShell, I get a Execution Policy error even though I don't change it in the script.

Set-ExecutionPolicy : Windows PowerShell updated your execution policy successfully, but the setting is overridden by a policy defined at a more specific scope. Due to the override, your shell will retain its current effective execution policy of RemoteSigned. Type "Get-ExecutionPolicy -List" to view your execution policy settings. For more information please see "Get-Help Set-ExecutionPolicy". At line:1 char:46 + if((Get-ExecutionPolicy ) -ne 'AllSigned') { Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : PermissionDenied: (:) [Set-ExecutionPolicy], SecurityException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ExecutionPolicyOverride,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.SetExecutionPolicyCommand

Get-ExecutionPolicy -List

     Scope                ExecutionPolicy
     -----                ---------------
 MachinePolicy              Unrestricted
    UserPolicy                 Undefined
       Process                    Bypass
   CurrentUser              Unrestricted
  LocalMachine              Unrestricted

I believe that this is environmental because:
- It ran fine a few days ago
- It runs fine on other computers

This is the code I use to invoke the script:

if (File.Exists("Start.ps1"))
{
    string strCmdText = Path.Combine(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory(), "Start.ps1");

    var process = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(@"C:\windows\system32\windowspowershell\v1.0\powershell.exe ", strCmdText);
    process.WaitForExit();
}

The script itself is irrelevant, as I have changed it to a simple

Write-Host "Hello"
$d=Read-Host

and I have the same issue.

Have you tried this switches -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy UnRestricted ? — bot_insane
Hmm. How about changing the script to a Copy-Item call so you can trace if it actually does something? Sadly, cannot test the C# code, although I can emulate it in Powershell. EDIT: emulated and in case of my PC, Powershell->Powershell did work with a test script, that is, it waited for Read-Host to provide data. — Vesper
Please post exact code on how do you set execution policy, and whether it's a C# or Powershell code, and how it's called. Probably you might just ignore the error, especially if you're setting the policy to a more restrictive one. — Vesper

Ioana Nicu Ioana Nicu · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-15T13:32:25

The problem was in the path of the script. It had spaces on this particular machine and I had not handled that.

The window closed too fast to see any error but setting

process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;

helped me catch it.

The execution policy had nothing to do with my error.

To fix it I changed the path in the c# code like explained here: Executing a Powershell script in CMD.EXE from a location with "Illegal characters in path"

Complete code:

if (File.Exists("Start.ps1"))
            {
                File.GetAttributes("Start.ps1");
                string strCmdText =   Path.Combine(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory(), "Start.ps1");
                var process = new Process();
                process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
                process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
                process.StartInfo.FileName = @"C:\windows\system32\windowspowershell\v1.0\powershell.exe";
                process.StartInfo.Arguments = "\"&'"+strCmdText+"'\"";

                process.Start();
                string s = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
                process.WaitForExit();

                using (StreamWriter outfile = new StreamWriter("StandardOutput.txt", true))
                {
                    outfile.Write(s);
                }

            }

Running a Powershell script from c#

Notes:

This is the code I use to invoke the script:

2 Answers