Invoking Exchange Management Shell from C#

Question

I'm currently using .NET 3.5 / C# to develop a Windows service that performs automated Exchange operations. This service basically watches a SQL database for operations to perform then spawns PowerShell and redirects the output so that results can be monitored from a UI residing elsewhere. Below is the code I'm using to invoke the process...

Action<object, DataReceivedEventArgs> DataReceived = (sender, data) =>
{
    // Log data in SQL
};
System.Diagnostics.Process p = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = "powershell.exe"
p.StartInfo.Arguments = arguments;

// Arguments are (they're coming from SQL, didn't feel like escaping everything just for this example)
// -command ". 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\bin\RemoteExchange.ps1'; Connect-ExchangeServer -auto; Get-Mailbox –ResultSize unlimited | Search-Mailbox -SearchQuery ... stuff ...

p.StartInfo.LoadUserProfile = true;           
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
p.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
p.OutputDataReceived += new DataReceivedEventHandler(DataReceived);
p.Start();

This code can do things like run ping, tracert, nslookup, echo, dir, and all of the usual command-line suspects with behavior identical to as if I typed it into a command prompt. For instance, I could copy-paste the above into the Run box and it would work flawlessly. Whenever I try to run it as above, however, I receive the following:

Get-ItemProperty : Cannot find path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\Setup' because it does not exist.
At C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\bin\RemoteExchange.ps1:46 char:34
+ $global:exbin = (get-itemproperty <<<<  HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\Setup).MsiInstallPath + "bin\"
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (HKLM:\SOFTWARE\...erver\v14\Setup:String) [Get-ItemProperty], ItemNotFo 
    undException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetItemPropertyCommand

Get-ItemProperty : Cannot find path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\Setup' because it does not exist.
At C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\bin\RemoteExchange.ps1:47 char:38
+ $global:exinstall = (get-itemproperty <<<<  HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\Setup).MsiInstallPath
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (HKLM:\SOFTWARE\...erver\v14\Setup:String) [Get-ItemProperty], ItemNotFo 
    undException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetItemPropertyCommand

Get-ItemProperty : Cannot find path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\Setup' because it does not exist.
At C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\bin\RemoteExchange.ps1:48 char:38
+ $global:exscripts = (get-itemproperty <<<<  HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\Setup).MsiInstallPath + "scri
pts\"
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (HKLM:\SOFTWARE\...erver\v14\Setup:String) [Get-ItemProperty], ItemNotFo 
    undException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetItemPropertyCommand

The term 'bin\CommonConnectFunctions.ps1' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable
    program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\bin\RemoteExchange.ps1:52 char:2
+ . <<<<  $global:exbin"CommonConnectFunctions.ps1"
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (bin\CommonConnectFunctions.ps1:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

A whole slew of other errors follows after this, but from going over the RemoteExchange PowerShell script I've determined that it all comes down to those first three errors: not being able to read from the registry. Does anyone have any idea as to why this might be happening?

Things I've tried to get this to work:

• Running this code in a console app as opposed to a service context.
• Every time I've run it I've done so as a domain and Exchange admin and I never got an UAC prompts, so I doubt the issue is one of credentials
• Checked registry keys... The HKLM key it's looking at also has full read permissions granted to everbody
• I've enabled unsigned PowerShell script execution on the server
• Putting the command into a PowerShell script and invoking that programmatically
• Hardcoding the registry keys' values into the PowerShell script (which just gives me another set of registry read errors further down the line)
• Using ShellExecute on the process (this can't be done with output redirection, which I require)
• Explicitly setting environment variables on the StartInfo to match the ones in the spawning environment

To anyone that can give me a hand... thanks a billion!

***EDIT: Perhaps I should clarify the hardcoding bit. I already cracked open RemoteExchange.ps1 and set the variables that are erroring out to their correct values (as opposed to using GetProperty or whatever) and I get marginally farther:

Exception calling "TryLoadExchangeTypes" with "2" argument(s): "Unable to determine the installed file version from the
 registry key 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\Setup'."
At C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\bin\RemoteExchange.ps1:79 char:92
+ $typeLoadResult = [Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.TaskHelper]::TryLoadExchangeTypes <<<< ($ManagementPath, $t
ypeListToCheck)
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DotNetMethodException

From what I'm surmising from looking at like 79 this isn't something I can change. It's trying to load types from a library and to do that it needs to look at the registry still, so I can't just fix a variable.

Answer 1

Just try to compile your program in x64.

I know it is weird but, in x86 managed powershell, some cmdlets can't see registry keys form x64 programs.

(I got the clue from: "One of these things is not like the other | Home Of The Scary DBA" : http://www.scarydba.com/2010/06/30/one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-other/ )

Answer 2

You can open the Exchange.ps1 that resides in \\bin, and edit the variables that appear under

## EXCHANGE VARIABLEs ########################################################

Change $global:exbin, $global:exinstall, and $global:exscripts to be hard coded paths to

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\bin\"
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\"
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\scripts\"

This is not an ideal solution, but the workaround should not impact anything else calling these variables.

Answer 3

Had the same problem and actually finally figured it out. My previous answer was completely wrong.

I answered it correctly here .