Powershell - Reboot and Continue Script

Question

I\'m looking for a way to continue a Powershell script from where it left off after calling a reboot in the script. For example, I am building a DC via Powershell automation

Answer 1

Needed to reboot my local computer and continue script after. Tried solution from @adaml but I just couldn't get the scheduled job (that ran after the reboot) to find the suspended workflow-job that should be resumed. Hence, it remained suspended.

Get-Job didn't return the job no matter credentials or elevated. Another strange thing was that if I ran the workflow by marking code in Powershell ISE and ran the section with F8, the job never got suspended... Had to run the whole script with F5 or called it from somewhere else.

To get the resume of the job working, I had to register a scheduled-Task instead of a scheduled-Job:

workflow test-restart {
    Write-Output "Before reboot" | Out-File  C:/Log/t.txt -Append

    Restart-Computer -Wait

    Write-Output "$Now2 After reboot" | Out-File  C:/Log/t.txt -Append
}

$PSPath = "C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe"
$Args = '-NonInteractive -WindowStyle Hidden -NoLogo -NoProfile -NoExit -Command "& {Import-Module PSWorkflow ; Get-Job | Resume-Job}"'
$Action = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute $PSPath -Argument $Args
$Option = New-ScheduledTaskSettingsSet -AllowStartIfOnBatteries -WakeToRun
$Trigger = New-JobTrigger -AtStartUp -RandomDelay (New-TimeSpan -Minutes 5)
Register-ScheduledTask -TaskName ResumeJob -Action $Action -Trigger $Trigger -Settings $Option -RunLevel Highest


test-restart -AsJob

Answer 2

Check out PS 3.0 with Workflows. I haven't worked with them yet but they are suppose to recover from restarts.

Answer 3

Thinking out loud, for benefit of people doing this in AWS/Your Cloud Provider...

I've got the same issue with AWS instances, that will need renaming to the client standard server name, +domain join, +cert install, +Tentacle install. I am going to have the server startup script put into the user_data field of the instance via Terraform.

I'll set EC2 instance "Renamed" tags in PS on the instance, after each part of the setup, so when the server restarts after rename, the script will look for IF "Renamed = Done" tag value, and skip this part next time the instance boots. Same logic for DomainJoined, TentacleInstalled tags etc.

Code to read the tags is like:

$instanceId = (Invoke-RestMethod -Method Get -Uri http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/instance-id)
$instance   = ((Get-EC2Instance -region $region -Instance $instanceId).RunningInstance)
$myInstance = $instance | Where-Object { $_.InstanceId -eq $instanceId }
$Renamed    = ($myInstance.Tags | Where-Object { $_.Key -eq "Renamed" }).Value

Answer 4

There is a great article on TechNet from the Hey, Scripting Guy series that goes over a situation very similar to what you are describing: Renaming a computer and resuming the script after reboot. The magic is to use the new workflows that are part of version 3:

workflow Rename-And-Reboot {
  param ([string]$Name)
  Rename-Computer -NewName $Name -Force -Passthru
  Restart-Computer -Wait
  Do-MoreStuff
}

Once the workflow has been declared (you don't assign it to a variable), you can call it as though it were a regular cmdlet. The real magic is the -Wait parameter on the Restart-Computer cmdlet.

Rename-And-Reboot PowerShellWorkflows

Source: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/scripting/powershell-workflows-restarting-the-computer/

If PowerShell v3 or later isn't an available choice, you could break your existing script into multiple smaller scripts and have a master script that runs at startup, checks some saved state somewhere (file, registry, etc.), then starts executing a new script to continue on where appropriate. Something like:

$state = Get-MyCoolPersistedState
switch ($state) {
  "Stage1" { . \Path\To\Stage1.ps1 ; break }
  "Stage2" { . \Path\To\Stage2.ps1 ; break }
  "Stage3" { . \Path\To\Stage3.ps1 ; break }
  default { "Uh, something unexpected happened" }
}

Just be sure to remember to set your state appropriately as you move through your smaller scripts.

Answer 5

Do it remotely:

Rename-Computer -ComputerName $computer -NewName "TESTDC01" -DomainCredential $domain\$username -Force -Restart

And continue your script from that 8)

Answer 6

The above answer is true, but it will only apply to remote execution of powershell scripts. According to the windows web portal, the way to have your locally running script resume from where it left off after the local machine restarted is like so:

workflow Resume_Workflow
{
    .....
    Rename-Computer -NewName some_name -Force -Passthru
    Restart-Computer -Wait
    # Do some stuff
    .....
}
# Create the scheduled job properties
$options = New-ScheduledJobOption -RunElevated -ContinueIfGoingOnBattery -StartIfOnBattery
$secpasswd = ConvertTo-SecureString "Aa123456!" -AsPlainText -Force
$credential = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential ("WELCOME\Administrator", $secpasswd)
$AtStartup = New-JobTrigger -AtStartup

# Register the scheduled job
Register-ScheduledJob -Name Resume_Workflow_Job -Trigger $AtStartup -ScriptBlock ({[System.Management.Automation.Remoting.PSSessionConfigurationData]::IsServerManager = $true; Import-Module PSWorkflow; Resume-Job -Name new_resume_workflow_job -Wait}) -ScheduledJobOption $options
# Execute the workflow as a new job
Resume_Workflow -AsJob -JobName new_resume_workflow_job

Note that the [System.Management.Automation.Remoting.PSSessionConfigurationData]::IsServerManager flag should be set to true only if the workflow actions are meant to execute locally after the restart.