Using PSRemoting to Install Dell Updates using dcu-cli.exe

Question

First, this is not the same question as this question.

I am trying to use PSRemoting to run dcu-cli.exe on a remote system first to gather the version number and later to actually install the updates. PSEXEC is not an option for me. The version of dcu-cli.exe I am using is 3.1. For right now I just want to capture the output of the /version parameter.

Running the following command from PowerShell on my local machine produces the following output:

& "C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\CommandUpdate\dcu-cli.exe" /version

Output:

Version information displayed: Dell Command | Update v3.1
Program exited with return code: 0

Here is what I've tried so far. Unless otherwise specified, the output is as follows. Sometimes the output is in a log file (depending on the command line):

An unexpected fatal error occurred
Program exited with return code: 2

From watching Process Explorer, it is actually running, but something somewhere is going wrong and I'm baffled as to what. Explicit credentials are not supplied as I am running the script as an administrator account and that account exists and is an administrator on the remote machine.

Any help would be appreciated.

Attempts:

Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Destinations[0] -EnableNetworkAccess -ScriptBlock {& "C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\CommandUpdate\dcu-cli.exe" /version}

---

Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Destinations[0] -EnableNetworkAccess -ScriptBlock {& cmd.exe /c '"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\CommandUpdate\dcu-cli.exe" /version'}

---

Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Destinations[0] -EnableNetworkAccess -ScriptBlock {& cmd.exe /c 'start "" /Wait "C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\CommandUpdate\dcu-cli.exe" /version'}

No output

---

Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Destinations[0] -EnableNetworkAccess -ScriptBlock {& cmd.exe /c 'start "" /B /Wait "C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\CommandUpdate\dcu-cli.exe" /version'}

---

$ScriptBlock={Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\CommandUpdate\dcu-cli.exe" -ArgumentList "/version" -Wait -Verb "RunAs"}
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Destinations[0] -EnableNetworkAccess -ScriptBlock $ScriptBlock

No output

---

$ScriptBlock={Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\CommandUpdate\dcu-cli.exe" -ArgumentList "/version" -Wait -RedirectStandardOutput C:\temp\version.log}
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Destinations[0] -EnableNetworkAccess -ScriptBlock $ScriptBlock

---

$ScriptBlock={Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\CommandUpdate\dcu-cli.exe" -ArgumentList "/version" -Wait -PassThru -RedirectStandardOutput C:\temp\version.log}
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Destinations[0] -EnableNetworkAccess -ScriptBlock $ScriptBlock

Process information is returned in addition to the normal erroneous output.

---

$ScriptText=@'
$ProcessInfo=[System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo]::new("C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\CommandUpdate\dcu-cli.exe")
$ProcessInfo.RedirectStandardError=$true
$ProcessInfo.RedirectStandardOutput=$true
$ProcessInfo.UseShellExecute=$false
$ProcessInfo.Arguments="/version"
$Process=[System.Diagnostics.Process]::new()
$Process.StartInfo=$ProcessInfo
$Process.Start() > $null
$Version=$Process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()
$Process.WaitForExit()
$Version
'@
$ScriptBlock=[System.Management.Automation.ScriptBlock]::Create($ScriptText)
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Destinations[0] -EnableNetworkAccess -ScriptBlock $ScriptBlock

---

$ScriptText=@'
$ProcessInfo=[System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo]::new("C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\CommandUpdate\dcu-cli.exe")
$ProcessInfo.RedirectStandardError=$true
$ProcessInfo.RedirectStandardOutput=$true
$ProcessInfo.UseShellExecute=$false
$ProcessInfo.Arguments="/version"
$ProcessInfo.Verb="RunAs"
$Process=[System.Diagnostics.Process]::new()
$Process.StartInfo=$ProcessInfo
$Process.Start() > $null
$Version=$Process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()
$Process.WaitForExit()
$Version
'@
$ScriptBlock=[System.Management.Automation.ScriptBlock]::Create($ScriptText)
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Destinations[0] -EnableNetworkAccess -ScriptBlock $ScriptBlock

Answer 1

(late answer... I know...)

You can run dcu-cli.exe remotely using either powershell or psexec

Powershell

• the problem I had was figuring out how to pass "/applyUpdates" to dcu-cli instead of having it interpreted by powershell

• Breaking the dcu-cli invocation into two separate steps works (cd ..., then .\dcu-cli)

• I am logged in to my workstation as a user with local admin rights on the remote computer.

  $pcname="ss-frontdesk"
  $exePath="\program files\dell\commandupdate"
  invoke-command -computername $pcname {cd "$using:exePath"; .\dcu-cli /applyUpdates -reboot=enable}
  

 

PSEXEC

• now being blocked by sophos endpoint -- hence my research into powershell...

• again, my local windows user is an admin on the remote workstation

  set pcname=ss-frontdesk
  set EXE=dcu-cli.exe 
  set DIR=C:\Program Files\Dell\CommandUpdate 
  set ARGS=/applyUpdates -reboot=enable 
  psexec \\%pcname% -s "%DIR%\%EXE%" %ARGS%
  

 

Notes

• I've been using a batch file w/ psexec to update the bios on my dell workstations for 2 - 3 years

  • about 15% of the time, the bios will not update using dcu-cli. Sometimes it can then be updated by running Dell Command|Update manually over RDP, sometimes that doesn't work but running Dell Command|Update directly on the system works, and sometimes that doesn't work and I have to update the bios from a USB drive

• You can get the bios version (if that's all you're looking for) using:

  set pcname=ss-frontdesk
  wmic  /node:"%pcname%" bios get smbiosbiosversion |findstr /v "SMBIOSBIOSVersion" |findstr /r /v "^$"
  

  • wmic needs quotes around %pcname% if the name contains a dash as in the example
  • The "findstr" commands eliminate everything from the output except the bios version

• Some of my systems have dcu-cli in "\Program Files (x86)" instead of in "\Program Files"...

[edit]

You can also use "sigcheck" from sysinternals to check the version of Dell Command|Update on remote systems if you have SMB access to C:\

@echo off
: F:\software\sysinternals contains sigcheck.exe...
set PATH=F:\software\sysinternals;%PATH%
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set PATHTOCHECK32=Program Files (x86)\Dell\CommandUpdate
set PATHTOCHECK64=Program Files\Dell\CommandUpdate
set FILETOCHECK=dcu-cli.exe

: Loop through all pc names included on the command line...

:start
if "%1"=="" goto :eof
call :checkit %1
shift
goto :start


:checkit
: note: PCNAME ends in 20 spaces (plus "x") for output formatting

ping -n 1 -w 1 %1 >nul 2>&1
if ERRORLEVEL 1 goto :noping

if exist "\\%1\c$\!PATHTOCHECK64!\!FILETOCHECK!" (
        set PCNAME=%1                    x
        echo |set /p=!PCNAME:~0,20!
        sigcheck -nobanner -n "\\%1\c$\!PATHTOCHECK64!\!FILETOCHECK!"
        goto :eof
)
if exist "\\%1\c$\!PATHTOCHECK32!\!FILETOCHECK!" (
        set PCNAME=%1 ^(x86^)                    x
        echo |set /p=!PCNAME:~0,20!
        sigcheck -nobanner -n "\\%1\c$\!PATHTOCHECK32!\!FILETOCHECK!"
        goto :eof
)

set PCNAME=%1                    x
echo |set /p=!PCNAME:~0,20!
echo dcu-cli.exe not found
goto :eof

:noping
        set PCNAME=%1                    x
        echo |set /p=!PCNAME:~0,20!
        echo not responding to PING
        goto :eof

:eof