Using az vm run-command from within a .ps1 script and with .ps1 script file

Question

I have created a VM in Azure, and I can run the following command from my local Windows 10 Powershell window:

az vm run-command invoke --command-id RunPowerShellScript --resource-group $ResourceGroup --name $AD1Name --scripts "@provision.ps1"

But when I put this line in a Powershell script file, CreateVMAndProvision.ps1, and run my CreateVMAndProvision.ps1 that also run the az vm create... I get the following error:

  "value": [
    {
      "code": "ComponentStatus/StdOut/succeeded",
      "displayStatus": "Provisioning succeeded",
      "level": "Info",
      "message": "",
      "time": null
    },
    {
      "code": "ComponentStatus/StdErr/succeeded",
      "displayStatus": "Provisioning succeeded",
      "level": "Info",
      "message": "At C:\\Packages\\Plugins\\Microsoft.CPlat.Core.RunCommandWindows\\1.1.5\\Downloads\\script6.ps1:1 char:1
+ @provision.ps1
+ ~~~~~~~~
The splatting operator '@' cannot be used to reference variables in an expression. '@provision'
can be used only as an argument to a command. To reference variables in an expression use
'$provision'.
    + CategoryInfo          : ParserError: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : SplattingNotPermitted
 ",
      "time": null
    }
  ]
}

The syntax of specifying my local provision.ps1 file to the az cli command as "@provision.ps1" seem to be the problem, but I can not figure out how to solve this. I have tried to use double quotes, combination of double and single quotes, here string (@"..."@) and (@'...'@) without any success.

Anyone have an idea on how to solve this?

Thanks! :: Petter

Answer 1

Yes, this is one of the Quoting issues documented in the Azure CLI docs:

When running Azure CLI commands in PowerShell, parsing errors will occur when the arguments contain special characters of PowerShell, such as at @ . You can solve this problem by adding a backtick (`) before the special character to escape it, or by enclosing the argument with single or double quotes '/".

For example, az group deployment create --parameters @parameters.json doesn't work in PowerShell because @ is parsed as a splatting symbol . To fix this, you may change the argument to `@parameters.json or '@parameters.json'.

Since what you have is a PS script already, the easiest way out would be to use the PowerShell equivalent of az vm run-command , which is Invoke-AzVMRunCommand .

Here is how you can use it:

Invoke-AzVMRunCommand -ResourceGroupName '<myResourceGroup>' -Name '<myVMName>' -CommandId 'RunPowerShellScript' -ScriptPath '<pathToScript>' -Parameter @{"arg1" = "var1";"arg2" = "var2"}

Other ways to run PowerShell scripts in your Windows VM by using Run Command are documented here .

But if you do have specific reasons to use Azure CLI commands within your PS script, you could also try using PowerShell's stop-parsing symbol --% in your command. The stop-parsing symbol (--%), introduced in PowerShell 3.0, directs PowerShell to refrain from interpreting input as PowerShell commands or expressions.

So this should do the trick:

az --% vm run-command invoke --command-id RunPowerShellScript --resource-group '<myResourceGroup>' --name '<myVMName>' --scripts @script.ps1