Powershell remoting executing SQL Server installation msi fails

Question

I am trying to use Powershell remoting invoking "chef local mode" on a remote virtual machine.

I am using Powershell code like: invoke-command -session $session -ScriptBlock{}

The code invoking chef recipe works fine on the remote VM remote desktop Powershell window.

But it always fails entering "invoking msi" step of that recipe.(I am using official chef SQL Server recipe by the way).

Error log doesn't show anything, but it looks exactly like me manually force closing popup dos windows of SQL Server installation Application while installing locally on the remote VM.

Is there a restriction on Powershell remoting about new window spawn or something?

I had similar problem invoking MSI directly using Powershell scripts, which I had to work around with schedule a Windows task first and kick off it immediately.

Answer 1

PowerShell remoting is subject to severe constraints, see Quota Management for Remote Shells , most importantly MaxMemoryPerShellMB which is 1GB default. Even if the unnattended SQL instalation is correct, the MSI will likely run out of memory due to this constraint. The default values can be modified, see Learn How to Configure PowerShell Memory .

But is very likely that you're running incorrectly the unattended installation. Remote sessions are not allowed to interact with the Desktop, so no, they cannot spawn windows. Read Install SQL Server 2014 from the Command Prompt and Install SQL Server 2014 Using a Configuration File . Only after you validated locally that the unattended installation is correct, attempt to run it remotely.

I don't know what the 'official SQL Server' recipe does, but I wouldn't trust any such. I would make sure I run a correct unattended installation and build my own recipe from that.

Answer 2

As I mentioned in the comments, I am still hitting same problem after applying Hotfix from Microsoft. And again, I picked up workaround using schedule job to execute installer. This is acceptable approach in Vagrant Core 1.6

The most difficult part of the plugin was the elevated runner which takes any commands and runs them through a scheduled task instead of directly through the current WinRM shell. This whole rigamarole is needed because of the Windows permission model. You may be running your WinRM shell as Administrator, but its not the same as running Administrator locally on the box. This leads to all kinds of unexpected errors for users trying to install software on a Windows guest.

via here

and implementation code from Vagrant is here