Install updates when nobody is logged in

Question

Hello,

We currently update our systems with the use of a scheduled task which updates the system with the get-wuinstall cmdlets. We have 2 types, manual and automatic updates.
The Automatic runs fine.
However I would like to be able to kick off the manual task when nobody is logged on. How do I do this? the query user commands work fine. But how do I integrate this in my script?

So basically I want to be able to check if there is anybody logged on, if not, I want to kick of my script.

Answer 1

Do you want to "kick off my script" or cause a scheduled task to run? They aren't the same.

You can use Start-ScheduledTask if you're going to start a task.

Answer 2

Hello @jellekamma

You can use the next snippet for that purpose:

function Get-RemoteLogonStatus{  
    [CmdletBinding()]  
    param(  
        [string]$ComputerName = 'LocalHost'  
        )  
  
    if( Test-Connection -ComputerName $ComputerName -Count 2 -Quiet ){  
        try{  
            Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock { quser } -ComputerName $ComputerName -ErrorAction Stop | Out-Null  
            }  
        catch{  
            Write-Output 'No user logged in.'  
            return  
            }  
  
        Write-Output 'Computer in use.'  
        }  
    else{  
        Write-Output 'Computer offline.'  
        }  
    }  

Hope this helps with your query,

------
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Answer 3

Hi, thanks for this snippet, How do I combine it my script? I basically need a "oneliner" which combines your snippet, when the output is No user logged in I need to it to run Start-ScheduledTask -TaskName ""Start task X"

I run this command manually.

So my current task is something simple like running a powershell command directly. I Still want that But I want my script to run only if no one is logged on. So my script runs locally. Not via remote powershell.

The only thing I do via remote powershell will be starting the task.

Answer 4

I also tried this, but the task starts on both computers in the txt, one of them had a logged in session.

if( Test-Connection -ComputerName (get-content c:\temp\patch.txt) -Count 2 -Quiet ){
try{
Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock { quser } -ComputerName (get-content c:\temp\patch.txt) -ErrorAction Stop | Out-Null
}
catch{
Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock { Start-ScheduledTask -TaskName "patch task" } -ComputerName (get-content c:\temp\patch.txt) -ErrorAction Stop | Out-Null
return
}

              Write-Output 'Computer in use.'
     }
 else{
     Write-Output 'Computer offline.'
     }

Answer 5

However I would like to be able to kick off the manual task when nobody is logged on.

Start the script normally. But put a delay at the beginning to wait until the user logs off.

    $wait = $true 
    $count = 0
    $waittime = 60             # How long to wait between checks  
    $limit = 10                # how many times to test     
    while ($Wait) {
        $q = quser.exe 2>$null
        if ($q) {
            $q 
            $count++
            if ($count -gt $limit) {
                "Wait limit exceeded. Giving up. Maybe notify someone that this process didn't work."
                return 
            }
            Start-Sleep -Seconds $waittime
        } else {
            "No user is logged on.  We can now proceed."
            $wait = $false 
        }
    }
    "We can patch now."