Read-Host input value does not complete search requirements

Question

Hello Everyone,

I have a script that extract the uninstall string from the reg keys below

'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall*',

'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall*'

The script works fine when I specify "zoom" or other values; however, we are attempting to make this universal; however when I add read-host so it can accept a value, it creates the file but only adds /qn

Working Script

$regKeys =

'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall*',

'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall*'

$test = read-host -Prompt "Please enter software by Display Name"

$Un = Get-ItemProperty -Path $regKeys | Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -eq "Zoom Outlook Plugin"} | Select-Object -Property uninstallstring

(($un.UninstallString)-replace"/I","/X") + " /qn" | out-file "c:\RemoveOutlookplugin.bat" -Encoding ascii

Start-Sleep -Seconds 15

Invoke-Expression -Command "c:\RemoveOutlookplugin.bat"

Faulty script

$regKeys =

'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall*',

'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall*'

$test = read-host -Prompt "Please enter software by Display Name"

$Un = Get-ItemProperty -Path $regKeys | Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -eq "$test"} | Select-Object -Property uninstallstring

(($un.UninstallString)-replace"/I","/X") + " /qn" | out-file "c:\RemoveOutlookplugin.bat" -Encoding ascii

Start-Sleep -Seconds 15

Invoke-Expression -Command "c:\RemoveOutlookplugin.bat"

I hoping someone can help me use read host so that the -eq in the script actually searches for displayname and finds the correct uninstall string.

Answer 1

It would help to know what you're entering as the display name, and what the uninstallstring value is from the registry. It would also be helpful to know if "$Un" is a scalar value (i.e., just one item) or an array (i.e., more than one item).

Just extracting the relevant parts of your code for a test produced the correct results:

$test ="Zoom Outlook Plugin"
$item = [PSCustomObject]@{displayname = "Zoom Outlook Plugin"; uninstallstring = "blah.exe /I"}
$un = $item | Where-Object {$_.displayname -eq $test} | Select-Object -Property uninstallstring
(($un.UninstallString)-replace"/I","/X") + " /qn"

Here's your script with some changes that will figure out what's happening:

$regKeys =  'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall*',
            'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall*'
$test = read-host -Prompt "Please enter software by Display Name"
Write-Host "Will try to uninstall '$test'"
$Un = Get-ItemProperty -Path $regKeys | 
        Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -eq "$test"} | 
            Select-Object -Property uninstallstring
if ($un -is [array]){
    Write-Host "Found $($un.count) items for removal: $($un.displayname -join ', ')"
}
elseif ($null -eq $un){
    Write-Host "Didn't find any items for removal"
}
else {
    Write-Host "Found 1 item for removal $($un.displayname)"
}
(($un.UninstallString)-replace"/I","/X") + " /qn" | 
    out-file "c:\RemoveOutlookplugin.bat" -Encoding ascii

Start-Sleep -Seconds 15
Invoke-Expression -Command "c:\RemoveOutlookplugin.bat"