VMware PowerCLI Variables in ScriptText

Question

Hello I'm having a bit of problem with the Invoke-VMScript cmdlet I have made a script that creates a virtual Windows 7 machine and then some powershell script executes on the machine for example renaming the computer to the correct name.

But if I run

Invoke-VMScript -ScriptText {(Get-Wmiobject -Class Win32_ComputerSystem).Rename($strName)}

The $strName variable doesn't get resolved, anyone have any idea on how to do this?

Anthony Neace · Answer 1 · 2013-09-11T14:02:18.153

0

Your haven't correctly scoped your variable. Here's a simple experiment you can try in your console:

PS C:\> $test = "Resolve!"
PS C:\> $test
Resolve!

# This scriptblock will not resolve the variable.
PS C:\> {$test}
$test

# This scriptblock will resolve the variable.
PS C:\> [scriptblock]::Create($test)
Resolve!

Invoke-VMScript's documentation suggests you should pass -ScriptText as a string instead of a ScriptBlock. So in this case, we can mimic example 2:

$string = "(Get-Wmiobject -Class Win32_ComputerSystem).Rename($strName)"
Invoke-VMScript -ScriptText $string

Variables enclosed by " " will be resolved.

edited Sep 11 '13 at 14:02

answered Sep 11 '13 at 13:55

Anthony Neace

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Hmmhmhm dumb of me to not RTFM But when I pass it as a string I get an errormessage saying I am missing ')' in final method call. $strScript = "(Get-WmiObject -Class win32_ComputerSystem).Rename($strName)" Invoke-VMScript -ScriptText $strScript – TelefoneN Sep 11 '13 at 15:30
Sounds like a syntax error. Make sure the contents of `$strName` isn't breaking anything, or otherwise look up how `Invoke-VMScript` escapes characters and make sure it isn't breaking your input. – Anthony Neace Sep 11 '13 at 15:46

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 13 '13 at 17:50

I don't have a guest handy for renaming, but following LucD, here's a working example using variables to build up input for scriptText:

$svcName = "vmtools"
$guestScript = 'get-wmiObject win32_service | where {$_.name -eq "' + $svcName + '"}'
Invoke-VMScript -vm myVMname -scriptText $guestScript

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 28 '13 at 17:42

#Rename Computer command line script
$renamecomputer = "wmic path win32_computersystem where ""Name='%computername%'"" CALL     rename name='$VM'"
#Send command line script to GuestOS
Invoke-VMScript -VM $VM -GuestUser $GU -GuestPassword $GP -ScriptType Bat -ScriptText   $renamecomputer

This is what i use for my renaming script. Works well

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 18 '15 at 15:57

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I got this working:

Invoke-VMScript -VM $vm -ScriptText "(Get-WmiObject win32_computersystem).rename(""${vmName}"")"

answered Feb 18 '15 at 15:57

Evren Kuzucuoglu

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VMware PowerCLI Variables in ScriptText

4 Answers4