Question Re: Shell execute pass - Powershell Hanging in Technology Q&A

Shell execute pass - Powershell Hanging

brandonbollin — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 07:37:59 GMT

Good morning experts,
I swear I've seen this problem before but I cannot pinpoint where and searching SCN hasn't yielded results.

Anyway, I have a client who's got a Shell execute pass that's doing some work with a CSV file. When the line executes, the Powershell.exe program doesn't seem like it's closing. The instance stays resident in memory until so many instances of it are running in memory that an intervention is necessary to close all the hanging Powershell sessions.

Anyone have any ideas how to make sure the Powershell.exe instance exits once the pass has concluded?

Re: Shell execute pass - Powershell Hanging

former_member2987 — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:21:11 GMT

Hey Brandon,

Are you using any command line parameters? You might need /c with that. I think you need it just about any time you do a shell execute from IDM.

You can find a listing of the command line parameters here.

Matt

Re: Shell execute pass - Powershell Hanging

lambert-giese — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 08:57:48 GMT

Brandon,

in the task parameters of your Shell Execute pass, try adding a line:

Parameter name: CLOSEOUTPUTSTREAM
Parameter value: 1

Kind regards,
Lambert

Re: Shell execute pass - Powershell Hanging

brandonbollin — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 09:21:33 GMT

Can you share a screenshot of what something like this would look like? I'm not sure I understand this answer. Do you just put, "CLOSEOUTPUTSTREAM = 1" on a new line under the Powershell execution line?

Re: Shell execute pass - Powershell Hanging

brandonbollin — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 09:22:48 GMT

I have discussed this answer with our client and they're going to try it. Unfortunately we cannot do this ourselves directly to know if it's successful so I'll update when I have more information. Thanks as always, Matt. 🙂

Re: Shell execute pass - Powershell Hanging

lambert-giese — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 09:58:37 GMT

You don't find it because "Shell Execute" doesn't offer task parameters at all. My answer was misleading, sorry.

You'll need to use a "To Custom" pass instead of "Shell Execute", like so:

Re: Shell execute pass - Powershell Hanging

brandonbollin — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 10:12:29 GMT

I see where you're going with this. Is ToShell a preexisting Java class or would I need to create the class so IDM can call it?

Re: Shell execute pass - Powershell Hanging

lambert-giese — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 10:32:51 GMT

It exists and is the same class that would be called when using a "Shell Execute" pass. It's just that "To Custom" is more generic and hence allows passing of parameters like "CLOSEOUTPUTSTREAM", which the more specialized "Shell Execute" UI of MMC doesn't offer - for whatever reason.

Re: Shell execute pass - Powershell Hanging

former_member2987 — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 13:29:04 GMT

No worries, Brandon... You should be able to verify this on a test system easily enough as well.

Re: Shell execute pass - Powershell Hanging

brandonbollin — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 11:47:39 GMT

Test system? I like the world you live in. 🙂

Re: Shell execute pass - Powershell Hanging

brandonbollin — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 19:28:36 GMT

A year ago when I asked this question, we ended up finding another way to do what needed to be done so the PowerShell script portion was eliminated and I forgot about this question. Today, I was running into the same problem but with a different client and came back across this question. I implimented your answer and it worked! Many thanks!

Re: Shell execute pass - Powershell Hanging

former_member525588 — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 17:24:57 GMT

If you are using command line you need to add this lines before calling the ps1 file

-NoLogo -Noninteractive -InputFormat None -NoProfile