PowerShell Write-EventLog CmdLet works manually, not in script

Question

I am writing a PowerShell script to disable and move users with in AD. this part works great. However I would like to log each event in the event log. The cmdlet Write-EventLog works fine when typed manually.

Write-EventLog –LogName ManageAD –Source “ManageUsers Script” –EntryType Information –EventID 1 –Message “This is a test message"

However, when I add the cmdlet to the script it errors.

Write-EventLog –LogName ManageAD –Source “ManageUsers Script” –EntryType Information –EventID 1 –Message “User ” + $SAM + " has been disabled"

Write-EventLog : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument 'Scriptâ??'.
At C:\test\ManageUsers.ps1:12 char:16
+     Write-EventLog <<<<  â?"LogName ManageAD â?"Source â?oManageUsers Scriptâ?? â?"EntryType Information â?"EventID
 â?"Message â?oUser â?? + $SAM + " has been disabled"
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (:) [Write-EventLog], ParameterBindingException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteEventLogCommand

Any suggestions are appreciated.

If you save scripts in UTF8 encoding, than use BOM. PowerShell does not detect UTF8, if file does not have BOM. — user4003407
– user4003407, Commented Oct 7, 2015 at 16:43
@PetSerAl So if the file was encoded with UTF8 and the BOM was present this would be ok? Is this true for other encoding or just UTF8? — Matt
– Matt, Commented Oct 7, 2015 at 16:58
@Matt For me PowerShell correctly handle that special quotes in dashes, as long as it can read them properly from file. I test only UTF8 and UTF16, both correctly detected from BOM. — user4003407
– user4003407, Commented Oct 7, 2015 at 17:09

Matt · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-07 16:45:14Z

Want to say the simple answer is you have smart quotes in your code. Those came from where you originally copied that code or a product of your testing environment. Either way you need to watch out for those buggers.

Write-EventLog –LogName ManageAD –Source “ManageUsers Script” –EntryType Information –EventID 1 –Message “User ” + $SAM + " has been disabled"

Should be instead.

Write-EventLog –LogName ManageAD –Source "ManageUsers Script" –EntryType Information –EventID 1 –Message "User " + $SAM + " has been disabled"

I would like to point out from the error that I see other artifacts as well...

â?"LogName ManageAD â?"

It makes me wonder if the hyphens are the long ones like an em-dash (Comes back to an earlier question about your editor choice!).

See the difference subtle here between the hyphen and 2 dashes - – —. Also have your dash against the basic hyphen. The one on the right is the hyphen.

Was the code working inside the ISE maybe and you were running the script in the regular console?

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