Converting Error when calling OpenRemoteBaseKey

Question

I am getting a converting error from powershell when I run my code. I get a "Cannot convert argument "0", with value: "The sid of whatever user is try", for OpenRemoteBasekey. Can anyone look at my code and see where I went wrong?

The script is supposed to give me a list of printers for a specific user on the domain by viewing their registry entries. I had to convert their username to their SID to correctly map their registries.

echo "What is the User name?"  

$user = [Console]::ReadLine()

#Convert Given username into an SID variable
$sid = ([wmi]"win32_userAccount.Domain='mydomain',Name='$user'").sid

echo "What is it's ip address?" 

#This can be an ip address or a host name
$ipuser = [Console]::ReadLine() 

Write-Host "Check 1"

#Get Local printers   
$Printers = @(Get-WmiObject win32_printer -computername $ipuser | Select Name)

#Get Network Printers 

$Reg = [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey]::OpenRemoteBaseKey( $sid, $ipuser)

$RegKey = $Reg.OpenSubkey('Printers\Settings') 
$Printers += @($RegKey.GetValueNames())

#Output List of Printer
Write-Output $Printers |
  ft -Property @{Name="Printer Name"; Expression={$_.Name}} -AutoSize

#Get Default Printer
$Reg = [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey]::OpenRemoteBaseKey($sid, $ipuser)
$RegKey= $Reg.OpenSubKey('Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows')
$DefaultPrinter = $RegKey.GetValue("Device")

#Output the Default Printer
Write-Output $DefaultPrinter |
  ConvertFrom-Csv -Header Name, Provider, Order |
  Select Name |
  ft -Property @{Name="Default Printer Name";Expression={$_.Name}} -AutoSize

where did you find this script? – Luke Jul 31 '15 at 16:18 — Luke, Jul 31 '15 at 16:18

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 31 '15 at 16:28

have you looked at a script like this that is fully powershell?

Required Modules:
PSRemoteRegistry, and Active Directory

How the script functions:
Create a text file that contains a list of Computer names that you want to get the mapped network printers info for.
Execute the script and you will be prompted for the path to the text file that contains the list.
Connectivity will be verified to each of the computers by pinging each of them.
Via WMI it will check to see which user is logged into the computers that responded to the ping.
Next it will query Active Directory for the SID of each of the users that were currently logged into one of the active computers polled.
Using the users SID a Remote Registry query is created to enumerate the list of mapped network printers for the logged on user.

The Log files and CSV file containing the list of mapped printers is located in C:\temp\logs
FileNames:
MappedPrinters-(currentdate).csv -- Contains the list of mapped printers.
NoMappedPrinters-(currentdate).log -- Contains list of users that do not have network printers mapped on their computer.
NoReply-(currentdate).csv -- Contains list of computers that did not respond to ping.
NoUsrLoggedIn-(currentdate).log -- Contains list of computers that responded to ping but did not have a user logged into it.
RemoteRegNotRunning-(currentdate).log -- Contains a list of computers where the Remote Registry service is not running.
WmiError-(currentdate).log -- If there are computers that it is not able to connect to via wmi it will be listed here.

function global:Ping-Host {   
BEGIN {  

}  
    PROCESS {  
    $results = gwmi -Query "SELECT * FROM Win32_PingStatus WHERE Address = '$_'"  
    $obj2 = New-Object psobject  
    $obj2 | Add-Member Noteproperty Computer $_  
    $obj2 | Add-Member Noteproperty IPAddress ($results.protocoladdress)  

    if ($results.statuscode -eq 0) {  
    $obj2 | Add-Member NoteProperty Responding $True  
    } else {  
    $obj2 | Add-Member NoteProperty Responding $False  
}  
    Write-Output $obj2  

}  
END {}  

}  
function VerifyConnectivity {  
param (  
[parameter(ValueFromPipeline=$true)]  
$compList  
)  
BEGIN {  
$modeMSG = "Verifying Connectivity to Desktops"  
$HostComputer = @()  
$d = Get-Date  
$strDate = $d.ToString()  
$month = $d.Month  
$day = $d.Day  
$year = $d.Year  
$cDate = "$month-$day-$year"  
$logFilePath = "C:\temp\logs\"  
$NoReplyLog = $logFilePath + "NoReply-" + $cDate + ".csv"  
}  
PROCESS {  
$i = 1  
$numComp = $compList.Count  
If ($numComp -ge 1){  
Talk $modeMSG  
$HostComputer = $HostComputer + $(  
foreach ($computer in $compList){  
Write-Progress -Activity $modeMSG -Status "Currently Processing: $computer" -CurrentOperation "$i of $numComp" -PercentComplete ($i/$numComp*100)  
$computer | Ping-Host  
$i = $i + 1  

})  

}  
ElseIf ($numComp -lt 1){  
Write-Host "No Computers to Process"  
Exit  
}  
}  
END {  
$Alive = $HostComputer | Where {$_.Responding -eq "$true"}  
$global:Dead = $HostComputer | Where {$_.Responding -ne "$true"}  
$global:Dead | select Computer | Export-Csv -Path $NoReplyLog  
$Acomp = $Alive | select Computer  
$Acomp  
}  

}  

function GetPrinterInfo {  
param (  
[parameter(ValueFromPipeline=$true)]  
$compList  
)  
BEGIN {  
$d = Get-Date  
$strDate = $d.ToString()  
$month = $d.Month  
$day = $d.Day  
$year = $d.Year  
$cDate = "$month-$day-$year"  
$global:logFilePath = "C:\temp\logs\"  
$NoPrtMapLog = $logFilePath + "NoMappedPrinters-" + $cDate + ".log"  
$WmiErrorLog = $logFilePath + "WmiError-" + $cDate + ".log"  
$MappedPrinters = $logFilePath + "MappedPrinters-" + $cDate + ".csv"  
$NoUsrLoggedIn = $logFilePath + "NoUsrLoggedIn-" + $cDate + ".log"  
$RemoteRegNotRunning = $logFilePath + "RemoteRegNotRunning-" + $cDate + ".log"  
$ErrorActionPreference = 'SilentlyContinue'  
Import-Module activedirectory  
Import-Module psremoteregistry  
$global:wmiErrors = @()  
$global:NoUserLoggedIn = @()  
$CompUserInfo = @()  
$arrCompLogonInfo = @()  
$arrRemoteRegSvcStopped = @()  
$arrNoMappedPrinters = @()  
$arrMappedPrinters = @()  
$statusMSG = "Getting Logged on User Information"  
$statusMSG2 = "Getting User SID from Active Directory"  
$statusMSG3 = "Collecting Mapped Printer Information"  
}  
PROCESS {  
$u = 1  
$Responded = VerifyConnectivity $compList  
if ($Responded.count -gt 0){  
Talk $statusMSG  
foreach ($client in $Responded){  
[string]$c = $client.Computer  
$numClient = $Responded.Count  
$logonInfo = $null  
Write-Progress -Activity $statusMSG -Status "Currently Processing: $c" -CurrentOperation "$u of $numClient" -PercentComplete ($u/$numClient*100)    
$logonInfo = Get-WmiObject -ComputerName $c -Query "select * from win32_computersystem" | select Username  
if ($?){  
    if ($logonInfo.Username -ne $null){  
        [string]$strUserName = $logonInfo.Username  
        $arrStrUserName = $strUserName.Split("\")  
        $strUser = $arrStrUserName[1]   
        $objCUinfo = New-Object psobject  
        $objCUinfo | Add-Member NoteProperty Workstation $c  
        $objCUinfo | Add-Member NoteProperty User $strUser  
        $CompUserInfo = $CompUserInfo + $objCUinfo              
    }  
    elseif ($logonInfo.Username -eq $null){  
    $global:NoUserLoggedIn = $global:NoUserLoggedIn + $c  
    }  
}  
else {  
    $global:wmiErrors = $global:wmiErrors + "Could not Execute WMI Query to collect user logon information on $c"  
}  
$u = $u + 1  
}  
if ($CompUserInfo.Count -ge 1){  
    $u = 1  
    Talk $statusMSG2  
    foreach ($logon in $CompUserInfo){  
    [string]$userLN = $logon.User  
    $userCount = $CompUserInfo.count  
    [string]$wrksta = $logon.Workstation  
    Write-Progress -Activity $statusMSG2 -Status "Currently Processing: $userLN" -CurrentOperation "$u of $userCount" -PercentComplete ($u/$userCount*100)  
    $getSID = Get-ADUser -Identity $userLN | select SID  
    if ($?){  
        [string]$sid = $getSID.sid  
        $LoggedOnUserInfo = New-Object psobject  
        $LoggedOnUserInfo | Add-Member Noteproperty Workstation $wrksta  
        $LoggedOnUserInfo | Add-Member Noteproperty User $userLN  
        $LoggedOnUserInfo | Add-Member Noteproperty SID $sid  
        $arrCompLogonInfo = $arrCompLogonInfo + $LoggedOnUserInfo  
    }  
    $u = $u + 1  
    }  
}  
if ($arrCompLogonInfo.count -ge 1){  
    $u = 1  
    Talk $statusMSG3  
    foreach ($comp in $arrCompLogonInfo){  
    $numT = $arrCompLogonInfo.Count  
    $Printers = $null  
    [string]$cn = $comp.Workstation  
    [string]$usid = $comp.sid  
    [string]$uName = $comp.User  
    Write-Progress -Activity $statusMSG3 -Status "Currently Processing: $cn" -CurrentOperation "$u of $numT" -PercentComplete ($u/$userCount*100)  
    $regStat = Get-Service -ComputerName $cn -Name "RemoteRegistry"  
    If ($?){  
        If ($regStat.Status -eq "Running"){  
            $Printers =  Get-RegKey -ComputerName $cn -Hive "Users" -Key "$usid\Printers\Connections" -Recurse  
            If ($Printers -ne $null){  
            foreach ($printer in $Printers){  
            [string]$printerKey = $printer.key  
            $arrPrinterKey = $printerKey.Split("\")  
            $PrinterNamePiece = $arrPrinterKey[3]  
            $arrPrinterParts = $PrinterNamePiece.Split(",")  
            $printServer = $arrPrinterParts[2]  
            $PrinterName = $arrPrinterParts[3]  
            $PrinterUnc = "\\$printServer\$PrinterName"  
            $printInfo = New-Object psobject  
            $printInfo | Add-Member NoteProperty Workstation $cn  
            $printInfo | Add-Member NoteProperty User $uName  
            $printInfo | Add-Member NoteProperty PrintServer $printServer  
            $printInfo | Add-Member NoteProperty PrinterName $PrinterName  
            $printInfo | Add-Member NoteProperty PrinterUNC $PrinterUnc  
            $arrMappedPrinters = $arrMappedPrinters + $printInfo  
            }  
            }  
            ElseIf ($Printers -eq $null){  
                $arrNoMappedPrinters = $arrNoMappedPrinters + "$uName has no mapped printers on $cn"  
                }  
        }  
        ElseIf ($regStat.Status -eq "Stopped"){  
            $arrRemoteRegSvcStopped = $arrRemoteRegSvcStopped + $cn  
        }  
    }  
    $u = $u + 1  
    }  


}  

}  
}  
END {  
$arrMappedPrinters | Export-Csv -Path $MappedPrinters  
Add-Content $NoPrtMapLog $arrNoMappedPrinters  
Add-Content $WmiErrorLog $wmiErrors  
Add-Content $NoUsrLoggedIn $global:NoUserLoggedIn  
Add-Content $RemoteRegNotRunning $arrRemoteRegSvcStopped  
}  
}  

function Talk {  
 param (  
 [parameter(ValueFromPipeline=$true)]  
$talk  
)  
 Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Speech  
 $synthesizer = New-Object -TypeName System.Speech.Synthesis.SpeechSynthesizer  
 $synthesizer.Speak($talk)  

}  

 cls  
$getPath = $(Read-Host "Enter path to the text file that contains the list of Computer Names`n")  
cls  
if ($getPath -like "*.txt"){  
$valid = Test-Path -Path $getPath  
if ($valid -eq $true){  
    $compList = get-content -Path $getPath   
    GetPrinterInfo $compList  
    Write-Host "The Script Output is located in $logfilepath"  
    Exit  

}  

Else {  
Write-Host "Path to file is not valid" -ForegroundColor Red  
}  
}  
Elseif ($getPath -notlike "*.txt"){  
Write-Host "Path to file is not valid"  
Exit  
}

I also can't take credit for the script I have just used it but the script is located here

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 31 '15 at 16:42

When in doubt, read the documentation. The OpenRemoteBaseKey() method expects a RegistryHive object as its first argument, not an SID. This should work:

$hkcu = [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryHive]::CurrentUser
$Reg  = [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey]::OpenRemoteBaseKey($hkcu, $ipuser)

Converting Error when calling OpenRemoteBaseKey

2 Answers2