How to provide unique credentials for Set-Content calls

Question

I have a powershell script that simply updates a file on a couple different webservers. Each of these web servers have different local credentials that I need to provide in order to access the file in question. How can I update my script to allow for this?

#message
$statusMessage = "hello world"

#servers to update
$servers = @("1.1.1.1","2.2.2.2")

#update files
foreach ($server in $servers) {
  Set-Content -Path "\\$server\c$\blah\foo.htm" -Value $statusMessage
}

Again, each server has it's own local Admin credentials that I need to use.

Why local credentials? Why not a domain account that has access to all of the servers? — Bill_Stewart, Dec 28 '17 at 17:33
@Bill_Stewart current/unfortunate limitation, the best I can do is have matching local credentials — Brian David Berman, Dec 28 '17 at 17:35
Unfortunately `-Credential` doesn't work with `Set-Content`. (Run `help Set-Content -Full` - comment there notes "This parameter is not supported by any providers installed with Windows PowerShell.") — Bill_Stewart, Dec 28 '17 at 19:09

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 28 '17 at 19:08

One way to do this, if you really are forced to use local accounts (avoiding this problem is one of the purposes of having a domain), is to authenticate on the server using net use, copy the file, then disconnect. Example:

$userName = Read-Host "Enter user name for computer1"
net use \\computer1\ipc$ /user:$userName *
Set-Content \\computer1\c$\whatever\file.htm "Content here"
net use \\computer1\ipc$ /delete

Of course you can generalize the computer name within the loop. In this example, you will have to manually enter the user name and password for each computer.

Ansgar Wiechers · Answer 2 · 2017-12-28T21:34:16.117

Since the -Credential parameter of Set-Content doesn't seem to actually work (as Bill_Stewart pointed out) you basically have 3 options AFAICS:

Use net use to authenticate a session as Bill suggested in his answer, then write to the UNC path.

Map a network drive, either via net use or the PoSh way:

$username = 'Administrator'
$password = ConvertTo-SecureString 'password' -AsPlainText -Force
$cred = New-Object Management.Automation.PSCredential ($username, $password)

$drive = New-PSDrive -Name X -PSProvider FileSystem -Root "\\$server\c$\blah" -Persist -Credential $cred
Set-Content -Path 'X:\foo.htm' -Value $statusMessage
$drive | Remove-PSDrive

Run Set-Content on the remote server and have it write to a local path.

$username = 'Administrator'
$password = ConvertTo-SecureString 'password' -AsPlainText -Force
$cred = New-Object Management.Automation.PSCredential ($username, $password)

Invoke-Command -Computer $server -ScriptBlock {
    Param($msg)
    Set-Content -Path C:\blah\foo.html -Value $msg
} -ArgumentList $statusMessage -Credential $cred

For both PowerShell approaches you'll have to prepare a PSCredential object as shown above, or just pass the username (in which case you'll be prompted for the password).

I like `Invoke-Command` provided that remoting is already set up. — Bill_Stewart, Dec 28 '17 at 21:57

How to provide unique credentials for Set-Content calls

2 Answers2