Question

I wrote an script for PowerShell 1.0 (now using 2.0) that executes a search on my Active Directory. The code is the following:

$filter = "some filter"

$rootEntry = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry

$searcher = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher
$searcher.SearchRoot = $rootEntry
$searcher.Filter = $filter
$searcher.SearchScope = "Subtree"

$colResults = $searcher.FindAll()

After calling FindAll() method of the DirectorySearcher instance, I print the results to see what I got.

The thing is, if I start PowerShell.exe and call the script on the prompt I’m able to see results. But if I try to call it using cmd.exe using the same filter I don’t see any results. FindAll() returns an empty result set.

I’m running this on a Windows 2003 Server. It did not came with PowerShell 1.0 so I downloaded it and installed it on the server. It does have .Net Framework 2.0.

Any suggestions?

Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

Finally got it working by doing two things:

1. Upgrade to PowerShell 2.0.
2. Run with -File option.

So the command was run like this:

>>powershell -file ./script.ps1 "dn" "uid"

I’m not sure what the difference between the -File and -Command options are (does anyone?) but it worked.

Thanks.