" New-Item File" powershell command in runbook thows an error "Could not find part of the path..."??

Question

Trying to run a powershell script in a runbook and its throwing this error:

New-Item: Line | 15 | $logitem = New-Item File -Name $logfilename | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Could not find a part of the path 'C:\app\File\12-22-22_19-36-utc_VM-power-report.txt'.

Code it this: (theres more to it, but this is the part that thows the error)
<#
Gets the schudule of VMs that use the power-azvms.ps1 schedule. Writes the output to an
Azure Blob.
CMT 5-AUG-2022

>

$storageaccount = "chadstorage2112"
$connectionName = "AzureRunAsConnection"
$resourcegroup = "Policy-Test"
$powers = "power-off", "power-on", "power-reboot"

Setup Virtual Log file

$logfilename = (Get-Date -asUTC -Format MM-dd-yy_HH-mm) + "-utc_VM-power-report.txt"
write-output "Logfile name = $logfilename"
$logitem = New-Item File -Name $logfilename
$logcontainer = "vm-power-schedule-reports" #Need to create a blob container for this

This code works in another tennant/subscription, but not in my own tennant that I use for testing. Why does it even reference C:\ if this is a runbook?

Answer 1

Hi @Chad Thomsen ,

I am not completely sure why it was creating the file under "C:\app\File" path but as Azure Automation assigns a worker (which is just like a machine) to run each job during runbook execution in the sandbox and as you have mentioned "File" in your New-Item cmdlet so it might be creating the file under C:\ drive.

As per this Azure document, recommendation is to use $env:TEMP folder if you need to create temporary files as part of your runbook logic in the Azure sandbox for runbooks running in Azure.

I have created a runbook with below code in PS runtime 7.1 and file was created under "C:\Windows\System32\File" path as illustrated in below screenshot.

Then I have followed recommendation to use $env:TEMP and have created a runbook with below code and file was created under "C:\Users\Client\Temp" path.

I would recommend you to use $env:TEMP path and see if it helps to avoid the error that you were facing.