How can you set a time limit for a PowerShell script to run for?

Question

I want to set a time limit on a PowerShell (v2) script so it forcibly exits after that time limit has expired.

I see in PHP they have commands like set_time_limit an

Answer 1

I know this is an old post, but I have used this in my scripts.

I am not sure if its the correct use of it, but the System.Timers.Timer that George put up gave me an idea and it seems to be working for me.

I use it for servers that sometimes hang on a WMI query, the timeout stops it getting stuck. Instead of write-host I then output the message to a log file so I can see which servers are broken and fix them if needed.

I also don't use a guid I use the servers hostname.

I hope this makes sense and helps you.

$MyScript = {
              Get-WmiObject -ComputerName MyComputer -Class win32_operatingsystem
            }

$JobGUID = [system.Guid]::NewGuid()

$elapsedEventHandler = {
    param ([System.Object]$sender, [System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs]$e)

    ($sender -as [System.Timers.Timer]).Stop()
    Unregister-Event -SourceIdentifier $JobGUID
    Write-Host "Job $JobGUID removed by force as it exceeded timeout!"
    Get-Job -Name $JobGUID | Remove-Job -Force
}

$timer = New-Object System.Timers.Timer -ArgumentList 3000 #just change the timeout here
Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $timer -EventName Elapsed -Action $elapsedEventHandler -SourceIdentifier $JobGUID
$timer.Start()

Start-Job -ScriptBlock $MyScript -Name $JobGUID