Capturing standard out and error with Start-Process

Is there a bug in PowerShell's Start-Process command when accessing the StandardError and StandardOutput properties?

If I run the following I get no output:

$process = Start-Process -FilePath ping -ArgumentList localhost -NoNewWindow -PassThru -Wait
$process.StandardOutput
$process.StandardError

But if I redirect the output to a file I get the expected result:

$process = Start-Process -FilePath ping -ArgumentList localhost -NoNewWindow -PassThru -Wait -RedirectStandardOutput stdout.txt -RedirectStandardError stderr.txt

That's how Start-Process was designed for some reason. Here's a way to get it without sending to file:

$pinfo = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
$pinfo.FileName = "ping.exe"
$pinfo.RedirectStandardError = $true
$pinfo.RedirectStandardOutput = $true
$pinfo.UseShellExecute = $false
$pinfo.Arguments = "localhost"
$p = New-Object System.Diagnostics.Process
$p.StartInfo = $pinfo
$p.Start() | Out-Null
$p.WaitForExit()
$stdout = $p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()
$stderr = $p.StandardError.ReadToEnd()
Write-Host "stdout: $stdout"
Write-Host "stderr: $stderr"
Write-Host "exit code: " + $p.ExitCode

In the code given in the question, I think that reading the ExitCode property of the initiation variable should work.

$process = Start-Process -FilePath ping -ArgumentList localhost -NoNewWindow -PassThru -Wait
$process.ExitCode

Note that (as in your example) you need to add the -PassThru and -Wait parameters (this caught me out for a while).

IMPORTANT:

We have been using the function as provided above by LPG.

However, this contains a bug you might encounter when you start a process that generates a lot of output. Due to this you might end up with a deadlock when using this function. Instead use the adapted version below:

Function Execute-Command ($commandTitle, $commandPath, $commandArguments)
{
  Try {
    $pinfo = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
    $pinfo.FileName = $commandPath
    $pinfo.RedirectStandardError = $true
    $pinfo.RedirectStandardOutput = $true
    $pinfo.UseShellExecute = $false
    $pinfo.Arguments = $commandArguments
    $p = New-Object System.Diagnostics.Process
    $p.StartInfo = $pinfo
    $p.Start() | Out-Null
    [pscustomobject]@{
        commandTitle = $commandTitle
        stdout = $p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()
        stderr = $p.StandardError.ReadToEnd()
        ExitCode = $p.ExitCode
    }
    $p.WaitForExit()
  }
  Catch {
     exit
  }
}

Further information on this issue can be found at MSDN:

> A deadlock condition can result if the parent process calls p.WaitForExit before p.StandardError.ReadToEnd and the child process writes enough text to fill the redirected stream. The parent process would wait indefinitely for the child process to exit. The child process would wait indefinitely for the parent to read from the full StandardError stream.

I also had this issue and ended up using Andy's code to create a function to clean things up when multiple commands need to be run.

It'll return stderr, stdout, and exit codes as objects. One thing to note: the function won't accept .\ in the path; full paths must be used.

Function Execute-Command ($commandTitle, $commandPath, $commandArguments)
{
    $pinfo = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
    $pinfo.FileName = $commandPath
    $pinfo.RedirectStandardError = $true
    $pinfo.RedirectStandardOutput = $true
    $pinfo.UseShellExecute = $false
    $pinfo.Arguments = $commandArguments
    $p = New-Object System.Diagnostics.Process
    $p.StartInfo = $pinfo
    $p.Start() | Out-Null
    $p.WaitForExit()
    [pscustomobject]@{
        commandTitle = $commandTitle
        stdout = $p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()
        stderr = $p.StandardError.ReadToEnd()
        ExitCode = $p.ExitCode
    }
}

Here's how to use it:

$DisableACMonitorTimeOut = Execute-Command -commandTitle "Disable Monitor Timeout" -commandPath "C:\Windows\System32\powercfg.exe" -commandArguments " -x monitor-timeout-ac 0"

I really had troubles with those examples from Andy Arismendi and from LPG. You should always use:

$stdout = $p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()

before calling

$p.WaitForExit()

A full example is:

$pinfo = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
$pinfo.FileName = "ping.exe"
$pinfo.RedirectStandardError = $true
$pinfo.RedirectStandardOutput = $true
$pinfo.UseShellExecute = $false
$pinfo.Arguments = "localhost"
$p = New-Object System.Diagnostics.Process
$p.StartInfo = $pinfo
$p.Start() | Out-Null
$stdout = $p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()
$stderr = $p.StandardError.ReadToEnd()
$p.WaitForExit()
Write-Host "stdout: $stdout"
Write-Host "stderr: $stderr"
Write-Host "exit code: " + $p.ExitCode

Here's a kludgy way to get the output from another powershell process (serialized):

start-process -wait -nonewwindow powershell 'ps | Export-Clixml out.xml'; import-clixml out.xml

To get both stdout and stderr, I use:

Function GetProgramOutput([string]$exe, [string]$arguments)
{
    $process = New-Object -TypeName System.Diagnostics.Process
    $process.StartInfo.FileName = $exe
    $process.StartInfo.Arguments = $arguments

    $process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = $false
    $process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = $true
    $process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = $true
    $process.Start()

    $output = $process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()   
    $err = $process.StandardError.ReadToEnd()

    $process.WaitForExit()

    $output
    $err
}

$exe = "cmd"
$arguments = '/c echo hello 1>&2'   #this writes 'hello' to stderr

$runResult = (GetProgramOutput $exe $arguments)
$stdout = $runResult[-2]
$stderr = $runResult[-1]

[System.Console]::WriteLine("Standard out: " + $stdout)
[System.Console]::WriteLine("Standard error: " + $stderr)

Here's what I cooked up based on the examples posted by others on this thread. This version will hide the console window and provided options for output display.

function Invoke-Process {
    [CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess)]
    param
        (
        [Parameter(Mandatory)]
        [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [string]$FilePath,

        [Parameter()]
        [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [string]$ArgumentList,

        [ValidateSet("Full","StdOut","StdErr","ExitCode","None")]
        [string]$DisplayLevel
        )

    $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

    try {
        $pinfo = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
        $pinfo.FileName = $FilePath
        $pinfo.RedirectStandardError = $true
        $pinfo.RedirectStandardOutput = $true
        $pinfo.UseShellExecute = $false
        $pinfo.WindowStyle = 'Hidden'
        $pinfo.CreateNoWindow = $true
        $pinfo.Arguments = $ArgumentList
        $p = New-Object System.Diagnostics.Process
        $p.StartInfo = $pinfo
        $p.Start() | Out-Null
        $result = [pscustomobject]@{
        Title = ($MyInvocation.MyCommand).Name
        Command = $FilePath
        Arguments = $ArgumentList
        StdOut = $p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()
        StdErr = $p.StandardError.ReadToEnd()
        ExitCode = $p.ExitCode
        }
        $p.WaitForExit()

        if (-not([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($DisplayLevel))) {
            switch($DisplayLevel) {
                "Full" { return $result; break }
                "StdOut" { return $result.StdOut; break }
                "StdErr" { return $result.StdErr; break }
                "ExitCode" { return $result.ExitCode; break }
                }
            }
        }
    catch {
        exit
        }
}

Example: Invoke-Process -FilePath "FQPN" -ArgumentList "ARGS" -DisplayLevel Full

If there's a timeout, ReadToEnd() is not an option. You could do some fancy looping, but IMO the 'cleanest' way to do this is to ignore the streams. Hook the OutputDataReceived/ErrorDataReceived events instead, collecting the output. This approach also avoids the threading issues mentioned by others.

This is straightforward in C#, but it's tricky and verbose in Powershell. In particular, add_OutputDataReceived is not available for some reason. (Not sure if this is a bug or a feature, at least this seems to be the case in PowerShell 5.1.) To work around it you can use Register-ObjectEvent.

$stdout = New-Object System.Text.StringBuilder
$stderr = New-Object System.Text.StringBuilder

$proc = [System.Diagnostics.Process]@{
  StartInfo = @{
    FileName = 'ping.exe'
    Arguments = 'google.com'
    RedirectStandardOutput = $true
    RedirectStandardError = $true
    UseShellExecute = $false
    WorkingDirectory = $PSScriptRoot
  }
}

$stdoutEvent = Register-ObjectEvent $proc -EventName OutputDataReceived -MessageData $stdout -Action {
  $Event.MessageData.AppendLine($Event.SourceEventArgs.Data)
}

$stderrEvent = Register-ObjectEvent $proc -EventName ErrorDataReceived -MessageData $stderr -Action {
  $Event.MessageData.AppendLine($Event.SourceEventArgs.Data)
}

$proc.Start() | Out-Null
$proc.BeginOutputReadLine()
$proc.BeginErrorReadLine()
Wait-Process -Id $proc.Id -TimeoutSec 5

if ($proc.HasExited) {
  $exitCode = $proc.ExitCode
}
else {
  Stop-Process -Force -Id $proc.Id
  $exitCode = -1
}

# Be sure to unregister.  You have been warned.
Unregister-Event $stdoutEvent.Id
Unregister-Event $stderrEvent.Id
Write-Output $stdout.ToString()
Write-Output $stderr.ToString()
Write-Output "Exit code: $exitCode"

• The code shown is the happy path (stderr is empty)
• To test the timeout path, set -TimeoutSec to .5
• To test the sad path (stderr has content), set FileName to 'cmd' and Arguments to /C asdf

Here is my version of function that is returning standard System.Diagnostics.Process with 3 new properties

Function Execute-Command ($commandTitle, $commandPath, $commandArguments)
{
    Try {
        $pinfo = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
        $pinfo.FileName = $commandPath
        $pinfo.RedirectStandardError = $true
        $pinfo.RedirectStandardOutput = $true
        $pinfo.UseShellExecute = $false
        $pinfo.WindowStyle = 'Hidden'
        $pinfo.CreateNoWindow = $True
        $pinfo.Arguments = $commandArguments
        $p = New-Object System.Diagnostics.Process
        $p.StartInfo = $pinfo
        $p.Start() | Out-Null
        $stdout = $p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()
        $stderr = $p.StandardError.ReadToEnd()
        $p.WaitForExit()
        $p | Add-Member "commandTitle" $commandTitle
        $p | Add-Member "stdout" $stdout
        $p | Add-Member "stderr" $stderr
    }
    Catch {
    }
    $p
}