PowerShell Transcript errors when transcript is already running

Question

In a PowerShell script I want to make a transcript of whatever the script is doing with Start-Transcript. However, sometimes the script failed, and a transcript is already running. In that case an error is thrown and I can't find a way to avoid that error. What can I do to fail-safe start a transcript?

If the transcript is already running I would like to simply stop it and start a new one.

The error can be reproduced by intentionally start two transcripts. Remember that in real life a previous run of the script has left the transcript open.

The error situation

PS C:\> Start-Transcript c:\test.txt # pretend that this is a transcript which was not stopped properly by a previous script

Transcript started, output file is c:\test.txt

PS C:\> Start-Transcript c:\test.txt
Start-Transcript : Transcription cannot be started.
At line:1 char:1
+ Start-Transcript c:\test.txt
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [Start-Transcript], PSInvalidOperationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CannotStartTranscription,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.StartTranscriptCommand

Ignoring the with -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue does not work!

PS C:\> Start-Transcript c:\test.txt # pretend that this is a transcript which was not stopped properly by a previous script
Transcript started, output file is c:\test.txt

PS C:\> Start-Transcript c:\test.txt -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Start-Transcript : Transcription cannot be started.
At line:1 char:1
+ Start-Transcript c:\test.txt -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [Start-Transcript], PSInvalidOperationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CannotStartTranscription,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.StartTranscriptCommand

Stopping the transcript before starting it fails if the transcript was not running

PS C:\> Start-Transcript c:\test.txt
Transcript started, output file is c:\test.txt

PS C:\> Stop-Transcript  # pretend that this is a transcript which was not stopped properly by a previous script
Transcript stopped, output file is C:\test.txt

PS C:\> Stop-Transcript
Stop-Transcript : An error occurred stopping transcription: The host is not currently transcribing.
At line:1 char:1
+ Stop-Transcript
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [Stop-Transcript], PSInvalidOperationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperation,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.StopTranscriptCommand

Sid Sid · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-11T16:22:21

So, all my testing on PS 5.0 (Which is the only one I have access to at the moment) revealed that starting a transcript again with the same output file name would throw the error you mentioned but also stops the transcript. Manually trying to stop it afterwards would tell me that the The host is not currently transcribing.

So, I think you can use the try catch method to suppress the error:

Try{Start-transcript C:\transcript.txt -ErrorAction Stop}catch{Start-Transcript C:\transcript.txt}

PowerShell Transcript errors when transcript is already running

1 Answers