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PowerShell Tip : Error while setting up a password for Windows Services

This helps to fix issues while using Invoke-WMIMethod in your scripts

Scenario:

  • Used WMI object to clear the security log - Worked as expected
  • Used WMI object to set a password for a service - Failed

Failed Command

Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Service -Filter "name='BITS'" | 
Invoke-WmiMethod -Name Change -ArgumentList $null,$null,$null,$null,$null,$null,$null,"Password123"

Error Message:

Invoke-WmiMethod : Input string was not in a correct format.
At line:1 char:60

  • Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Service -Filter "name='BITS'" | Invoke-WmiMethod -Nam ...

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Invoke-WmiMethod], FormatException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.FormatException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeWmiMethod

Root Cause: Invoke-WMIMethod will not understand using bunch of $null

Alternate Method

Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Service -Filter "name='BITS'" | 
ForEach-Object -Process {$_.Change($null,$null,$null,$null,$null,$null,$null,"Password123")}

Output:

__GENUS          : 2
__CLASS          : __PARAMETERS
__SUPERCLASS     :
__DYNASTY        : __PARAMETERS
__RELPATH        :
__PROPERTY_COUNT : 1
__DERIVATION     : {}
__SERVER         :
__NAMESPACE      :
__PATH           :
ReturnValue      : 0
PSComputerName   : 


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