PowerShell Invoke with parameters not substituting PARAM for installing MSI

Question

I am trying to use Power-shells Invoke to run an MSI install.

This code is not runing the MSI install.

param ($path1, $path2, $path3)

write-output "path1= $path1"
write-output "path2= $path2"
write-output "path3= $path3"
$PathToMSI = "D:\Install\$path1\'$path2$path3'"
write-output "PathToMSI= $PathToMSI"

$scriptblock = {Start-Process msiexec.exe -Argumentlist "/i $PathToMSI","/qn"}
invoke-command  -scriptblock $scriptblock 

I know that my PathToMSI is correct, as this is what is displayed, but it's not executing.

path1= 20191213.3
path2= X Y Z
path3= .msi
PathToMSI= D:\Install\20191213.3\'X Y Z.msi'

If I run it hard coded it works?

Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock {
    D:\install\20191213.3\'X Y Z.msi' /quiet
}

It seems that the PathToMSI is not resolving to it's value. I have reviewed a few like Error invoking command to install a Msi through Powershell

Answer 1

You need to pass $PathToMSI to the ScriptBlock . You can either use -ArgumentList for this:

Invoke-Command -ArgumentList $PathToMSI -ScriptBlock {
  Start-Process msiexec.exe -Argumentlist '/i', $args[0], '/qn'
}

or you can use the $using: scope if invoking on a remote computer:

Invoke-Command -ComputerName server.domain.tld -ScriptBlock {
  Start-Process msiexec.exe -Argumentlist '/i', $using:PathToMSI, '/qn'
}

Invoke-Command runs your ScriptBlock in a new PowerShell session, which doesn't know of any local variables you may have declared. The $using scope will look to the parent session for variable resolution, while -ArgumentList will pass literal variables that can be referenced using the $args variable within your ScriptBlock .