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Asynchronously running multiple PowerShell scripts from C#

Short description of what I`m trying to do:
I am working on a .Net WinForm application from where I am trying to run multiple PowerShell scripts on a remote server and display results on the form.
At this moment I`m executing the scripts synchronously and this is causing me problems with long running scripts.
Any idea on how I could make this function to be executed Asynchronously?
public string NewPsSession(string ServerName, string command)
{
Runspace runspace = RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace();
runspace.Open();
PowerShell psSession = PowerShell.Create();
psSession.Commands.AddScript("$sessions = New-PSSession -ComputerName " + ServerName + Environment.NewLine
+ "Invoke-Command -session $sessions -ScriptBlock {" + command + "}" + Environment.NewLine
+ "Remove-PSSession -Session $sessions" + Environment.NewLine);
psSession.Commands.AddCommand("Out-String");
Collection<PSObject> results = new Collection<PSObject>();
try
{
results = psSession.Invoke();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
results.Add(new PSObject((object)ex.Message));
}
runspace.Close();
StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
foreach (PSObject obj in results)
{
stringBuilder.AppendLine(obj.ToString());
}
return stringBuilder.ToString();
}
Any suggestion would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Change your NewPsSesson method to async and return a Task<string>. Then move your code into a Task<string>.Run() block and await it. Then you can either await your NewPsSession() method or monitor it as a task as I have done in Main()
class Program
{
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
Task<string> task = NewPsSession("", "");
while (!task.IsCompleted)
{
Task.Delay(500).Wait();
Console.WriteLine("Waiting...");
}
Console.WriteLine(task.Result);
Console.WriteLine("Done");
}
public static async Task<string> NewPsSession(string ServerName, string command)
{
var result = await Task<string>.Run(() =>
{
Runspace runspace = RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace();
runspace.Open();
PowerShell psSession = PowerShell.Create();
psSession.Commands.AddScript("$sessions = New-PSSession -ComputerName " + ServerName + Environment.NewLine
+ "Invoke-Command -session $sessions -ScriptBlock {" + command + "}" + Environment.NewLine
+ "Remove-PSSession -Session $sessions" + Environment.NewLine);
psSession.Commands.AddCommand("Out-String");
Collection<PSObject> results = new Collection<PSObject>();
try
{
results = psSession.Invoke();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
results.Add(new PSObject((object)ex.Message));
}
runspace.Close();
StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
foreach (PSObject obj in results)
{
stringBuilder.AppendLine(obj.ToString());
}
return stringBuilder.ToString();
});
return result;
}
}

Calling powershell from .Net Console application

I have written a console application wherein I have called a powershell script from the console. In the powershell script I have written hello world as a return variable and it is running as expected but next time when I change the string from hello world to How are you it is not displaying the changed string. I cannot figure out myself what needs to be done to clear the pipeline or cache.
I have used the below namespace apart from default namespaces
using System.Management;
using System.Management.Automation;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.Management.Automation.Runspaces;
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string _str = string.Empty;
_str= RunScript(#"C:\Powershell_Scripts\Test.ps1");
Console.WriteLine("Input String is =" + str);
Console.Read();
}
private static string RunScript(string scriptText)
{
// create Powershell runspace
Runspace runspace = RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace();
// open it
runspace.Open();
// create a pipeline and feed it the script text
Pipeline pipeline = runspace.CreatePipeline();
pipeline.Commands.AddScript("Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted");
pipeline.Commands.AddScript(scriptText);
// add an extra command to transform the script
// output objects into nicely formatted strings
// remove this line to get the actual objects
// that the script returns. For example, the script
// "Get-Process" returns a collection
// of System.Diagnostics.Process instances.
pipeline.Commands.Add("Out-String");
// execute the script
Collection <PSObject> results = pipeline.Invoke();
pipeline.Streams.ClearStreams();
// close the runspace
runspace.Close();
// convert the script result into a single string
StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
foreach (PSObject obj in results)
{
stringBuilder.AppendLine(obj.ToString());
}
return stringBuilder.ToString();
}
Powershell Script i.e. Test1.ps1
sleep 3
$a=""
$a = "Hello word"
return $a

Here is a sample how to use the PowerShell in a Runspace
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Management;
using System.Management.Automation;
using System.Management.Automation.Runspaces;
namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Create a runspace.
using (Runspace myRunSpace = RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace())
{
myRunSpace.Open();
using (PowerShell powershell = PowerShell.Create())
{
// Create a pipeline with the Get-Command command.
powershell.AddScript("Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted");
powershell.AddScript(#"C:\Users\you\Desktop\a.ps1");
// add an extra command to transform the script output objects into nicely formatted strings
// remove this line to get the actual objects
powershell.AddCommand("Out-String");
// execute the script
var results = powershell.Invoke();
powershell.Streams.ClearStreams();
powershell.Commands.Clear();
// convert the script result into a single string
StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
foreach (PSObject obj in results)
{
stringBuilder.AppendLine(obj.ToString());
}
Console.WriteLine(stringBuilder.ToString());
}
}
}
}
}
Further reference: Creating a constrained runspace

Here is a code which runs as expected
enter code here
try
{
if (System.IO.File.Exists(#"c:\disk\op.txt") && (new FileInfo(#"c:\disk\op.txt").Length != 0))
{
System.IO.File.Move(#"c:\disk\op.txt", #"c:\disk\Previous_op_" + DateTime.Now.ToString("dd_MM_yyyy hh mm") + ".txt");
log.Info("Previous Output File Successfully Renamed");
}
// TODO: Add delete logic here
log.Info("Input ActionResult - Server " + Server);
log.Info("Input ActionResult - Volume " + Volume);
log.Info("Input ActionResult - Size " + size);
string userID = "dir\\" + Session["Uname"].ToString();
string userpassword = Session["Upwd"].ToString();
log.Info("username " + userID);
StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
var con = new WSManConnectionInfo();
log.Info("Pushing username in PSCredential- " + userID.ToString().Trim());
con.Credential = new PSCredential(userID.ToString().Trim(), userpassword.ToString().Trim().ToSecureString());
Runspace runspace = RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace(con);
runspace.Open();
Pipeline pipeline = runspace.CreatePipeline();
pipeline.Commands.AddScript("Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted");
string _str = #"-Server " + Server + " -Volumeletter " + Volume + ": -deltasize " + size + " -Logfile c:\\disk\\op.txt -username " + userID + " -password " + userpassword;
log.Info("Parameter string format- " + _str.Substring(0, _str.IndexOf("-password") + 9));
pipeline.Commands.AddScript(#"C:\disk\diskerr.ps1 " + _str.ToString());
pipeline.Commands[0].MergeMyResults(PipelineResultTypes.Error, PipelineResultTypes.Output);
pipeline.Commands.Add("Out-String");
var results = pipeline.Invoke();
runspace.Close();
runspace.Dispose();
foreach (PSObject obj in results)
{
stringBuilder.AppendLine(obj.ToString());
log.Info("Output from powershell: " + obj.ToString());
}
if (System.IO.File.Exists(#"c:\disk\op.txt") && (new FileInfo(#"c:\disk\op.txt").Length != 0))
{
fileStream = new FileStream(#"c:\test\op.txt", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
using (var streamReader = new StreamReader(fileStream, Encoding.UTF8))
{
_consoleOutput = streamReader.ReadToEnd();
}
_output = Regex.Replace(_consoleOutput, #"\r\n?|\n", "<br />");
}
return Content(_output);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
log.Info("Error stackTrace inside Input ActionResult " + ex.StackTrace.ToString());
log.Info("Error Message inside Input ActionResult " + ex.Message.ToString());
return View();
}
You need to change the directory path and the powershell file name.

Powershell resultset not being picked up in C#

When button1 is clicked, the below code is executed which will run a PowerShell script to get the current SQL Server Instances. However when this is run, the result set (results variable) has a count of 0 rows from the PowerShell output. When I run the same code in native PowerShell it displays 3 rows with the instance names.
Can anyone advise if I am missing something?
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//If the logPath exists, delete the file
string logPath = "Output.Log";
if (File.Exists(logPath))
{
File.Delete(logPath);
}
string[] Servers = richTextBox1.Text.Split('\n');
//Pass each server name from the listview to the 'Server' variable
foreach (string Server in Servers)
{
//PowerShell Script
string PSScript = #"
param([Parameter(Mandatory = $true, ValueFromPipeline = $true)][string] $server)
Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Force;
Import-Module SQLServer;
Try
{
Set-Location SQLServer:\\SQL\\$server -ErrorAction Stop;
Get-ChildItem | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name;
}
Catch
{
echo 'No SQL Server Instances';
}
";
//Create PowerShell Instance
PowerShell psInstance = PowerShell.Create();
//Add PowerShell Script
psInstance.AddScript(PSScript);
//Pass the Server variable in to the $server parameter within the PS script
psInstance.AddParameter("server", Server);
//Execute Script
Collection<PSObject> results = new Collection<PSObject>();
try
{
results = psInstance.Invoke();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
results.Add(new PSObject((Object)ex.Message));
}
//Loop through each of the results in the PowerShell window
foreach (PSObject result in results)
{
File.AppendAllText(logPath, result + Environment.NewLine);
// listBox1.Items.Add(result);
}
psInstance.Dispose();
}
}

To get an possible PowerShell error I would try sth. like this:
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//If the logPath exists, delete the file
string logPath = "Output.Log";
if (File.Exists(logPath)) {
File.Delete(logPath);
}
string[] Servers = richTextBox1.Text.Split('\n');
//Pass each server name from the listview to the 'Server' variable
foreach (string Server in Servers) {
//PowerShell Script
string PSScript = #"
param([Parameter(Mandatory = $true, ValueFromPipeline = $true)][string] $server)
Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Force;
Import-Module SQLServer;
Try
{
Set-Location SQLServer:\\SQL\\$server -ErrorAction Stop;
Get-ChildItem | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name;
}
Catch
{
echo 'No SQL Server Instances';
}
";
using (PowerShell psInstance = PowerShell.Create()) {
psInstance.AddScript(PSScript);
psInstance.AddParameter("server", Server);
Collection<PSObject> results = psInstance.Invoke();
if (psInstance.Streams.Error.Count > 0) {
foreach (var errorRecord in psInstance.Streams.Error) {
MessageBox.Show(errorRecord.ToString());
}
}
foreach (PSObject result in results) {
File.AppendAllText(logPath, result + Environment.NewLine);
// listBox1.Items.Add(result);
}
}
}
}

The reason it isn't working is that psInstance.AddParameter only adds parameters to commands, it doesn't work with a script. You'll need to find another way of getting the $server parameter into the script. Try these two powershell examples to see what I mean. The first will output all processes (ignores the AddParameter) while the second only shows svchost processes.
1)
$ps = [system.management.automation.powershell]::create()
$ps.AddScript("get-process")
$ps.AddParameter("name","svchost")
$ps.invoke()
2)
$ps = [system.management.automation.powershell]::create()
$ps.AddCommand("get-process")
$ps.AddParameter("name","svchost")
$ps.invoke()

I managed to get round this issue by using the Win32_service instead of SQLPS.
Param([Parameter(Mandatory = $true, ValueFromPipeline = $true)][string] $server)
$localInstances = #()
[array]$captions = GWMI Win32_Service -ComputerName $server | ?{$_.Name -match 'mssql *' -and $_.PathName -match 'sqlservr.exe'} | %{$_.Caption}
ForEach($caption in $captions)
{
if ($caption -eq 'MSSQLSERVER')
{
$localInstances += 'MSSQLSERVER'
}
else
{
$temp = $caption | %{$_.split(' ')[-1]} | %{$_.trimStart('(')} | %{$_.trimEnd(')')}
$localInstances += ""$server\$temp""
}
}
$localInstances;

Runspace PowerShell output

I have powershell script file, which does something and outputs the result. If I'm manually running it on my remote host using cmd, I'll get the clear output.
But when I'm trying to execute script via PowerShell Runspace using c# I'm not able to see script's output. Only command itself.
using (PowerShell powershell = PowerShell.Create())
{
try
{
PowerShell ps = PowerShell.Create();
ps.AddScript("c:\temp\myps.ps1");
ICollection<PSObject> results = ps.Invoke();
using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter())
{
foreach (PSObject invoke in results)
sw.WriteLine(invoke.ToString());
outp = sw.ToString();
}
//Script errors
if (ps.Streams.Error.Count > 0)
{
outp += Environment.NewLine + string.Format("{0} errors: ", ps.Streams.Error.Count);
foreach (ErrorRecord err in ps.Streams.Error)
outp += Environment.NewLine + err.ToString();
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
// Terminating errors
outp = "Critical error: " + e.Message;
}
}
remoteRunspace.Close();
//In the end outp for me = "c:\temp\myps.ps1"
How can I access the output from C#?

See this documentation about the PowerShell class: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.management.automation.powershell(v=vs.85).aspx
Looks like you need to access the members of the PSObject to get the output. Otherwise, it will just send laim ToString() data out to the StringBuilder object. Do you have any example of what you're getting back you can show? I may be able to provide a better answer with a sample. Also, where's the remote runspace located?
Thanks!

Next code working for me:
try
{
PowerShell ps = PowerShell.Create().AddScript("c:\temp\myps.ps1", true);
ps.Runspace = remoteRunspace;
ICollection<PSObject> results = ps.Invoke();
using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter())
{
foreach (PSObject invoke in results)
sw.WriteLine(invoke.ToString());
outp = sw.ToString();
}
//Script errors
if (ps.Streams.Error.Count > 0)
{
outp += Environment.NewLine + string.Format("{0} errors: ", ps.Streams.Error.Count);
foreach (ErrorRecord err in ps.Streams.Error)
outp += Environment.NewLine + err.ToString();
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
// Terminating errors
outp = "Critical error: " + e.Message;
}
}
remoteRunspace.Close();

Execute Powershell Script from C# with users input command line

I created a website that does remotely execute powershell to specific server. I would like to know how it work to pass 2 user selected values to commandline from dropdownlist on asp.net website along with powershell script file?
I already have working code with powershell script file but now adding 2 arguments in script file.The powershell arguments is,
[string]$ContainerIn=$args[0]
[int]$ips2get=$args[1]
Here a C# working codes,
//These 3 input varaibles will pass to powershell script to get specific results
string env = "";
string container = "";
string numIPs = "";
//assign dropdown selected value to variable to pass to script
container = DropDownListContainer.SelectedValue;
numIPs = DropDownListIP.SelectedValue;
if (container == "H02" || container == "H07" || container == "H08")
{
env = "Prod";
}
else
{
env = "NonProd";
}
// Create a Powershell
Runspace runSpace = RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace();
runSpace.Open();
Pipeline pipeline = runSpace.CreatePipeline();
Command invokeScript = new Command("Invoke-Command");
RunspaceInvoke invoke = new RunspaceInvoke();
//Add powershell command/script functions into scriptblock
//Somewhere on this codes that it need to add command line to go with Get-FreeAddress.ps1 file script
ScriptBlock sb = invoke.Invoke(#"{D:\Scripts\Get-FreeAddress.ps1}")[0].BaseObject as ScriptBlock;
//ScriptBlock sb = invoke.Invoke("{" + PowerShellCodeBox.Text + "}")[0].BaseObject as ScriptBlock;
invokeScript.Parameters.Add("scriptBlock", sb);
invokeScript.Parameters.Add("computername", TextBoxServer.Text);
pipeline.Commands.Add(invokeScript);
Collection<PSObject> output = pipeline.Invoke();
//splitting results in new lines
foreach (PSObject psObject in output)
{
str = str + psObject + "\r\n";
//str = psObject + "\r\n";
//str += "\n" + psObject;
//str = str + Environment.NewLine + psObject;
}
if (str == "")
{
str = "Error";
ResultBox.ForeColor = System.Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml("#FF0000");
}
//print out powershell output result
ResultBox.Text = str;
}

I finally made this work,
I just need to modify to
ScriptBlock sb = invoke.Invoke(#"{D:\Scripts\Get-FreeAddress.ps1 '"+container+"' "+numIPs+"}")[0].BaseObject as ScriptBlock;
The powershell script argument will get container and numIPs variables.