Why does this powershell command using Get-Service not continue if it encounters an error?

Question

I've been tasked with auditing Windows servers to see what services and programs are installed. I though PowerShell would be ideal for this, though I am new to PowerShell scripting.

I have a list of servers in a txt file and have been using the following commands.

Get-CimInstance -ComputerName (Get-Content .\servers.txt) -ClassName win32_product | Select-Object PSComputerName, Name, PackageName, InstallDate, IdentifyingNumber | Export-CSV -Path .\programs.csv

Get-Service -ComputerName (Get-Content .\servers.txt) -ErrorAction Continue | Select-Object MachineName, Name, DisplayName, Status, StartType | Export-CSV .\services.csv

The .\servers.txt is a simple text file with the server FQDNs.

If the server is inaccessible or not found, the first statement prints an error message and continues. As I understand the ErrorAction by default is to continue. However, the second statement fails and stops executing. I expect there will be errors and I could deal with them on a case by case, but why does the statement not continue on error as expected?

If I remove the bad server from the list, Get-Services runs fine. I'd rather get an error in the script and deal with that separately.

Update to include Powershell output

Get-Service : Cannot open Service Control Manager on computer 'computer_name'. This operation might require other privileges. At .\get-service.ps1:1 char:1 + Get-Service -ComputerName (Get-Content .\servers.txt) -ErrorAction Co ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-Service], InvalidOperationException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.InvalidOperationException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetServiceCommand

Answer 1

Just to show you how I imagined using a try-catch-statement.

$serverList = Get-Content .\servers.txt foreach ($server in $serverLists) { try { Get-CimInstance -ComputerName $server -ClassName win32_product | Select-Object PSComputerName, Name, PackageName, InstallDate, IdentifyingNumber | Export-CSV -Path .\programs.csv -Append Get-Service -ComputerName $server | Select-Object MachineName, Name, DisplayName, Status, StartType | Export-CSV .\services.csv -Append } catch { "Error on server $server occurred." | Out-File -FilePath .\errors.log -Append } } 

You could tweak the catch blocks to distinguish between CimInstance and the Service or instead of the generic error message you can forward the $_.Exception.Message.