Powershell – Accessing remote server paths with Powershell environment variables

powershell

How do you do the equivalent of using a remote server's $env namespace without hardcoding network paths for cmdlets like Set-Location? I have a script that loops through remote servers and I'm trying to access their equivalent of $env:programfiles from a single script, but these servers have the variable set in different locations.

Basically getting a loop that navigates

c:\program files
\\server1\c$\program files
\\server2\c$\programs
\\server3\d$\apps

Using something familiar and simple like

Set-Location "${env:programfiles}"

And have the remote server's $env return a network path instead of a drive letter. The current way I'm doing it is grabbing the paths using Invoke-Command and building the path manually (replace : with $, append \\server in front of the path, turning "c:\program files" to "\\server\c$\program files")

Best Answer

This might be a little less complicated, and can easily be thrown into a foreach loop to work through your list of servers.


$RemoteServer = "KRINGER"
#The credential is required if you are working in a Workgroup 
#environment or your domain account does not have permissions
$value = Invoke-Command -ComputerName $RemoteServer -ScriptBlock {$Env:ProgramFiles} -Credential (Get-Credential) | % {$_ -replace ":","$"}

$RemoteWorkingPath = "\\" + $RemoteServer + "\" + $value + "\"
Write-Host "My remote path to use is: $RemoteWorkingPath"

Here is screenshot of the output: enter image description here

Related Solutions

Windows – Using Win32_FileSpecification WMI instances

there is no direct way to calculate an MD5 in PowerShell

That's not entirely true. Remember that PowerShell has access to the entire .NET stack, and it's certainly possible to compute an MD5 hash in .NET.

If your goal is to get an MD5 hash, then you can avoid WMI all together and use something like this:

$crypto = [System.Security.Cryptography.MD5]::Create()
$data = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes("\\path\to\file")
$md5 = [System.Convert]::ToBase64String($crypto.ComputeHash($data))

Where md5 is a base64 encoded value of the MD5 hash.

Or if you need a hex representation instead of base64 of the hash:

$md5 = [System.BitConverter]::ToString($crypto.ComputeHash($data)).Replace("-", "")

You can of course wrap that up in a nice little PowerShell function:

Function MD5Hash
{
    param ($file)
    $crypto = [System.Security.Cryptography.MD5]::Create()
    $data = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes($file)
    [System.BitConverter]::ToString($crypto.ComputeHash($data)).Replace("-", "")
}

And invoke like so:

MD5Hash "\\path\to\file"

Powershell: Execute exe on remote server and capture output

Remotely execute it locally... by which I mean, execute it on the remote server in a local context, remotely, from your local machine. Well, maybe it'd just be less confusing to read on...

Sounds like your best bet here is to use PSExec to open a remote PowerShell console or command line from your local machine, which would be executing on the remote server.

So, for example:

psexec \\remoteserver cmd.exe

psexec \\remoteserver powershell.exe

You end up with an instance of PowerShell or cmd running on the remote server, that you'd be manipulating on your screen.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows – Using Win32_FileSpecification WMI instances

Powershell: Execute exe on remote server and capture output

Related Topic