Returning exit code from a batch file in a PowerShell script block

Question

I am trying to call a batch file remotely in a one liner PowerShell command as such:

PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy UnRestricted invoke-command -ComputerName Server1 -ScriptBlock {cmd.exe /c "\\server1\d$\testPath\test.bat"}

What I want to do is return any exit codes from the test.bat file back to my command. Can anyone give me an idea on how to do this?

(PS, for multiple reasons, I am not able to use PSExec).

Cheers

The .bat has a conditional exit in it. Depending on what occurs during the process, the exit may be set to any number of codes (in the 5000 to 5999 range). The last line of the .bat is exit _nnnn_ if any of the failure conditions are met or exit 0 if everything is OK. — Ash
– Ash, Commented Nov 16, 2015 at 21:51

Mathias R. Jessen · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-16 23:53:25Z

3

You should be able to get the exit code from cmd.exe with the automatic variable $LASTEXITCODE.

If you're interested in only that, and not any output from the batch file, you could change the scriptblock to:

{cmd.exe /c "\\server1\d$\testPath\test.bat" *> $null; return $LASTEXITCODE}

If you're already running powershell, there's no need to invoke powershell again, just establish a session on the remote computer and attach Invoke-Command to it:

$session = New-PSSession remoteComputer.domain.tld
$ExitCode = Invoke-Command -Session $session -ScriptBlock { cmd /c "\\server1\d$\testPath\test.bat" *> $null; return $LASTEXITCODE }
$ExitCode # this variable now holds the exit code from test.bat

edited Nov 16, 2015 at 23:53

answered Nov 16, 2015 at 7:45

Mathias R. Jessen

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4 Comments

Ash Over a year ago

OK, what I want to do is bubble that $LASTEXITCODE back up to the calling command so I can exit out of the process back to the calling command with that code. With the above, I am still getting a zero process exit code.

Ash Over a year ago

Right, I have figured out what I needed to do to get it to bubble all the way to the top as a one liner:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy UnRestricted; $var = "& invoke-command -ComputerName Server1 -ScriptBlock {cmd.exe /c '\\Server1\d$\testPath\test.bat' *> $null; return $LASTEXITCODE}"; exit $var

. Thanks for your help. It most certainly pointed me in the direction I needed.

Robert Ivanc Over a year ago

what if you need the output as well?

Mathias R. Jessen Over a year ago

@RobertIvanc Construct an object (using New-Object or equivalent) inside the scriptblock that contains both?

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