DSC WindowsProcess Resource

Applies To: Windows PowerShell 4.0, Windows PowerShell 5.x

The WindowsProcess resource in Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) provides a mechanism to configure processes on a target node.

Note

This documentation of this DSC resource covers the version that's included with PowerShell prior to version 7.2. The PSDscResources module contains new and updated DSC Resources that are officially supported by Microsoft. The PSDscResources module is available from the PowerShell Gallery.

For more information and updated documentation, see the PSDscResources reference documentation.

Syntax

WindowsProcess [string] #ResourceName
{
    Arguments = [string]
    Path = [string]
    [ Credential = [PSCredential] ]
    [ StandardErrorPath = [string] ]
    [ StandardInputPath = [string] ]
    [ StandardOutputPath = [string] ]
    [ WorkingDirectory = [string] ]
    [ DependsOn = [string[]] ]
    [ Ensure = [string] { Absent | Present }  ]
    [ PsDscRunAsCredential = [PSCredential] ]
}

Properties

Property	Description
Arguments	Indicates a string of arguments to pass to the process as-is. If you need to pass several arguments, put them all in this string.
Path	The path to the process executable. If this the file name of the executable (not the fully qualified path), the DSC resource will search the environment $env:Path variable to find the executable file. If the value of this property is a fully qualified path, DSC will not use the $env:Path variable to find the file, and will throw an error if the path does not exist. Relative paths are not allowed.
Credential	Indicates the credentials for starting the process.
StandardErrorPath	Indicates the directory path to write the standard error. Any existing file there will be overwritten.
StandardInputPath	Indicates the standard input location.
StandardOutputPath	Indicates the location to write the standard output. Any existing file there will be overwritten.
WorkingDirectory	Indicates the location that will be used as the current working directory for the process.

Common properties

Property	Description
DependsOn	Indicates that the configuration of another resource must run before this resource is configured. For example, if the ID of the resource configuration script block that you want to run first is ResourceName and its type is ResourceType, the syntax for using this property is DependsOn = "[ResourceType]ResourceName".
Ensure	Indicates if the process exists. Set this property to Present to ensure that the process exists. Otherwise, set it to Absent. The default value is Present.
PsDscRunAsCredential	Sets the credential for running the entire resource as.