Find exit code for executing a cmd command through PowerShell

Question

I am using a silent installation command to install software. I am running this command from PowerShell 3.0.

$silentInstall = C:\Users\Admin\Documents\Setup-2.0.exe exe /s /v"EULAACCEPTED=\"Yes\" /l*v c:\install.log /qn"

Invoke-Expression $silentInstall

This runs the command which installs the software, but it does not wait for it to complete and goes ahead with the next lines of code. I want to have control over the installation so that I would know if it's completed or not.

How do I get an error code for the Invoke-Expression cmdlet so that I can get to know if the cmd executed successfully or not?

Chapter and verse on running external commands: edgylogic.com/blog/powershell-and-external-commands-done-right — andyb
– andyb, Commented Aug 13, 2014 at 7:03

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-06 19:51:29Z

25

It depends on how the EXE file runs - sometimes it will kick off a separate process and return immediately, and in such cases this usually works -

$p = Start-Process -FilePath <path> -ArgumentList <args> -Wait -NoNewWindow -PassThru
$p.ExitCode

Otherwise this usually works -

& <path> <args>
$LASTEXITCODE

Or sometimes this -

& cmd.exe /c <path> <args>
$LASTEXITCODE

edited Nov 6, 2018 at 19:51

Peter Mortensen

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answered Aug 13, 2014 at 0:12

Andy Arismendi

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2 Comments

Jaans Over a year ago

$LASTEXITCODE is what I needed when not going with the Start-Process approach.

thomasb Over a year ago

+1 for the cmd.exe /c trick - this is the only thing that worked to get the exit code when running VC++ installer.

Aaron Jensen · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-25 02:22:21Z

3

It looks like you're running an MSI installer. When running from the console, control is immediately returned while MSI forks a new process to run the installer. There is no way to change this behavior.

What you'll probably need to do is use Get-Process to find a process named msiexec, and wait for it to finish. There is always an msiexec process running, which handles starting new installers, so you'll need to find the msiexec process that started after your install began.

$msiexecd = Get-Process -Name 'msiexec'
C:\Users\Admin\Documents\Setup-2.0.exe exe `
                                       /s `
                                       /v"EULAACCEPTED=\"Yes\" /l*v c:\install.log /qn"
$myMsi = Get-Process -Name 'msiexec' | 
             Where-Object { $_.Id -ne $msiexecd.Id }
$myMsi.WaitForExit()
Write-Verbose $myMsi.ExitCode

edited Aug 25, 2014 at 2:22

answered Aug 25, 2014 at 1:40

Aaron Jensen

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1 Comment

Sushwanth Over a year ago

Thank you so much, this really helps. This is what I was looking for. I could find the msiexec process running but I could not figure out how to get the exit code (to find if the installation is successful or not.)

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-06 19:49:02Z

3

You shouldn't need to use Invoke-Expression:

& C:\Users\Admin\Documents\Setup-2.0.exe /s /vEULAACCEPTED=Yes /l*v C:\install.log /qn

edited Nov 6, 2018 at 19:49

Peter Mortensen

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answered Aug 13, 2014 at 0:00

Bill_Stewart

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2 Comments

Xlea Over a year ago

This should be the accepted answer. Works out of the box, including retrieving the error code by $?.

Matthieu Over a year ago

Note that some setup.exe files (e.g. the ones generated by Inno Setup) return immediately when run with &. I had to use Start-Process -Wait -PassThru for some reason...

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