Replace string on XML file - Set-Content not working

Question

I'm trying to do find/replace on an start menu XML file:

The XML file:

<LayoutModificationTemplate Version="1" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/LayoutModification">
  <LayoutOptions StartTileGroupCellWidth="6" />
  <DefaultLayoutOverride>
    <StartLayoutCollection>
      <defaultlayout:StartLayout GroupCellWidth="6" xmlns:defaultlayout="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/FullDefaultLayout">
        <start:Group Name="Some Group I made Up" xmlns:start="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/StartLayout">
          <start:Tile Size="4x4" Column="0" Row="0" AppUserModelID="Microsoft.Windows.Photos_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App" />
        </start:Group>
      </defaultlayout:StartLayout>
    </StartLayoutCollection>
  </DefaultLayoutOverride>
</LayoutModificationTemplate>

The script:

$StartMenuLayout = (Get-Content 'C:\temp\StartMenu.xml')

Function Edit-StartMenuLayout {
    If ($StartMenuLayout -notlike '*Microsoft.Windows.Photos_cw5n1h2txyewy*'){ #Check iif the value is already changed
           
        Try {
            $StartMenuLayout -replace 'Microsoft.Windows.Photos_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App','Microsoft.Windows.Photos_cw5n1h2txyewy!App'| Set-Content -path $StartMenuLayout
        }
        Catch { write-host "Editing Start Menu layout XML file failed! Reason: $($ERROR.Exception)" }
        }
    Else{
        write-host "Start Menu layout XML file already contains reference to correct application Id. Skipping..."
    }
}

Edit-StartMenuLayout

The error:

Set-Content : Cannot find drive. A drive with the name '<LayoutModificationTemplate Version="1" xmlns="http' does not exist.
At line:9 char:130
+ ... Windows.Photos_cw5n1h2txyewy!App'| Set-Content -path $StartMenuLayout
+                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (<LayoutModifica..."1" xmlns="http:String) [Set-Content], DriveNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DriveNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.SetContentCommand
 
Set-Content : Illegal characters in path.
At line:9 char:130
+ ... Windows.Photos_cw5n1h2txyewy!App'| Set-Content -path $StartMenuLayout
+                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (C:\Labs\  <Layo...ellWidth="6" \>:String) [Set-Content], ArgumentException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ItemExistsArgumentError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.SetContentCommand

The error only occurs only when Set-Content is used, otherwise the replace seems to work fine.

user459872 · Accepted Answer · 2021-09-08 14:05:23Z

1

The issue is here,

Set-Content -path $StartMenuLayout

You are passing $StartMenuLayout as the path argument, which in your code is a variable holding the entire XML string. Instead you should pass a valid path name. For eg,

Set-Content -path 'C:\temp\Output.xml'

edited Sep 8, 2021 at 14:05

answered Sep 8, 2021 at 14:00

user459872

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