Developer Documentation
API Reference PowerCLI Reference
All Cmdlets by Product VMware vSphere and vSAN VM

Invoke-VMScript

This cmdlet runs a script in the guest OS of each of the specified virtual machines. To run Invoke-VMScript, the user must have read access to the folder containing the virtual machine and a Virtual Machine.Interaction.Console Interaction privilege. The virtual machines must be powered on and have VMware Tools installed. Network connectivity to the ESX system hosting the virtual machine on port 902 must be present. To authenticate with the host or the guest OS, one of the HostUser/HostPassword (GuestUser/GuestPassword) pair and HostCredential (GuestCredential) parameters must be provided. The guest account you use to authenticate with the guest operating system must have administrator's privileges. For a list of supported operating systems, see the PowerCLI User's Guide.

Syntax

Invoke-VMScript
[-VM]  <VirtualMachine[]>
-ScriptText  <String>
[-GuestCredential  <PSCredential>]
[-GuestPassword  <SecureString>]
[-GuestUser  <String>]
[-HostCredential  <PSCredential>]
[-HostPassword  <SecureString>]
[-HostUser  <String>]
[-RunAsync]
[-ScriptType  <ScriptType>]
[-Server  <VIServer[]>]
[-ToolsWaitSecs  <Int32>]
[CommonParameters]

Parameters

Required Parameter Name Type Position Features Description
required
VM
VirtualMachine[] 1
  • wildcards
  • pipeline
    •      		Specifies the virtual machines on whose guest operating systems you want to run the script.
    required
    ScriptText
    		String named Provides the text of the script you want to run. You can also pass to this parameter a string variable containing the path to the script.
    optional
    GuestCredential
    		PSCredential named Specifies a PSCredential object containing the credentials you want to use for authenticating with the virtual machine guest OS.
    optional
    GuestPassword
    		SecureString named Specifies the password you want to use for authenticating with the virtual machine guest OS.
    optional
    GuestUser
    		String named Specifies the user name you want to use for authenticating with the virtual machine guest OS.
    optional
    HostCredential
    		PSCredential named Specifies a PSCredential object containing the credentials you want to use for authenticating with the host. You need to specify host credentials only if the version of the vCenter Server or ESX you are authenticating with is earlier than 4.0, or the VIX version you have installed is earlier than 1.10.
    optional
    HostPassword
    		SecureString named Specifies the password you want to use for authenticating with the host. You need to specify host credentials only if the version of the vCenter Server or ESX you are authenticating with is earlier than 4.0, or the VIX version you have installed is earlier than 1.10.
    optional
    HostUser
    		String named Specifies the user name you want to use for authenticating with the host. You need to specify host credentials only if the version of the vCenter Server or ESX you are authenticating with is earlier than 4.0, or the VIX version you have installed is earlier than 1.10.
    optional
    RunAsync
    		SwitchParameter named Indicates that the command returns immediately without waiting for the task to complete. In this mode, the output of the cmdlet is a Task object. For more information about the RunAsync parameter run "help About_RunAsync" in the VMware PowerCLI console.
    optional
    ScriptType
    		ScriptType named Specifies the type of the script. The valid values are PowerShell, Bat, and Bash. If the virtual machine OS is Windows, the default value is PowerShell. If the virtual machine OS is Linux, the default value is Bash.
    optional
    Server
    		VIServer[] named
  • wildcards
    •      		Specifies the vCenter Server systems on which you want to run the cmdlet. If no value is provided or $null value is passed to this parameter, the command runs on the default servers. For more information about default servers, see the description of Connect-VIServer.
    optional
    ToolsWaitSecs
    		Int32 named Specifies how long in seconds the system waits for connecting to the VMware Tools. The default value is 20.

    Output

    VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Types.V1.VM.Guest.VMScriptResult

    Examples

    Example 1

    Invoke-VMScript -VM VM -ScriptText "dir" -GuestUser administrator -GuestPassword pass2

    Lists the directory entries on the guest OS.

    Example 2

    $script = '&"$env:ProgramFiles\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo\msinfo32.exe" /report "$env:Tmp\inforeport"'
    Invoke-VMScript -ScriptText $script -VM VM -GuestCredential $guestCredential

    Runs a PowerShell script. In PowerShell, to access environment variables, you must use the following syntax: $env: (for example, $env:ProgramFiles). Also, to run the program, you must specify an ampersand (&) in front of the program path. The outer quotes ($script = '...') are required because this is how you define a string variable in PowerShell. The inner double quotes are required because there are spaces in the path.

    Example 3

    $script = '"%programfiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo\msinfo32.exe" /report "%tmp%\inforeport"'
    Invoke-VMScript -ScriptText $script -VM VM -GuestCredential $guestCredential -ScriptType Bat

    Runs a BAT script. In BAT scripts, to access environment variables, you must use the following syntax: %% (for example, %programfiles%).

    Related Commands

    VM

    Get-VM
    This cmdlet retrieves the virtual machines on a vCenter Server system.
    Move-VM
    This cmdlet moves virtual machines to another location.
    Restart-VM
    This cmdlet restarts the specified virtual machines.
    Set-VM
    This cmdlet modifies the configuration of the virtual machine.
    Start-VM
    This cmdlet powers on virtual machines.
    Stop-VM
    This cmdlet powers off virtual machines.
    Suspend-VM
    This cmdlet suspends virtual machines.
    Remove-VM
    This cmdlet removes the specified virtual machines from the vCenter Server system.
    New-VM
    This cmdlet creates a new virtual machine.

    VMConsoleWindow

    Open-VMConsoleWindow
    This cmdlet opens a window to the virtual machine's console.

    VMGuest

    Get-VMGuest
    This cmdlet retrieves the guest operating systems of the specified virtual machines.
    Restart-VMGuest
    This cmdlet restarts the virtual machine guest operating systems.
    Stop-VMGuest
    This cmdlet shuts down the specified virtual machine guest OS.
    Suspend-VMGuest
    This cmdlet suspends the specified guest operating systems.

    VMGuestDisk

    Get-VMGuestDisk
    This cmdlet retrieves storage volumes as seen by the virtual machines' guest operating systems.

    VMGuestFile

    Copy-VMGuestFile
    This cmdlet copies files and folders from and to the guest OS of the specified virtual machines using VMware Tools.

    VMQuestion

    Get-VMQuestion
    This cmdlet retrieves the pending questions for the specified virtual machines.
    Set-VMQuestion
    This cmdlet answers the specified virtual machine question.

    VMResourceConfiguration

    Get-VMResourceConfiguration
    This cmdlet retrieves information about the resource allocation between the selected virtual machines.
    Set-VMResourceConfiguration
    This cmdlet configures resource allocation between the virtual machines.

    VMScript

    Invoke-VMScript
    This cmdlet runs a script in the guest OS of each of the specified virtual machines.

    VMStartPolicy

    Get-VMStartPolicy
    This cmdlet retrieves the start policy of the virtual machines on a vCenter Server system.
    Set-VMStartPolicy
    This cmdlet modifies the virtual machine start policy.
    Feedback

    Was this page helpful?

    ©2021 VMware Inc. Terms of Use Privacy Your California Privacy Rights Accessibility Trademarks Glossary Help Contact Us