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Powershell Cmdlet Test-Connection fails on -Quiet .... Why ????

Hi friends,

I have a weird problem with Windows Powershell:

Within a script I use the cmdlet Test-Connection to check if a certain station could be pinged successfully. The complete command reads

$pingresult=Test-Connection STATIONX -count 1 -Quiet -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

With the -Quiet parameter the cmdlet should return a boolean that thells if the station could be reached. On my own station that works well, but on the target station it fails with

Test-Connection : A parameter cannot be found that matches parameter name 'Quiet'.

On my machine (still XP) $PSVersionTable returns

Name                           Value
----                           -----
CLRVersion                     2.0.50727.3655
BuildVersion                   6.0.6002.18111
PSVersion                      2.0
WSManStackVersion              2.0
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0}
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.1

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while on the target machine (Win 2003 Server R2) it returns

Name                           Value                                                                                               
----                           -----                                                                                               
CLRVersion                     2.0.50727.1433                                                                                      
BuildVersion                   6.1.6949.0                                                                                          
PSVersion                      2.0                                                                                                 
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0}

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Unfortunately I need the "Parameter Set: Quiet" because the other parameter sets return complex object that I don't want to parse. The online help (i.e. at MS Technet) doesn't mention anything where -Quiet isn't supported ....

What's wrong here ?

Dale Harris

If you're doing -Quiet why do you need -erroraction?

Try -count 2 as well, so it gives it 2 chances.

Personally, I would set up something like this:

if (test-connection $server -count 2 -quiet){
#Do something
}

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trinitrotoluene

I would just try

$pingresult=Test-Connection STATIONX

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check whether the above succeeds first

and then

$pingresult=Test-Connection STATIONX -Quiet

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Count defaults to 4 so I wouldn't bother setting my own count

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

David Johnson, CD

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Frank Helk

ASKER

@Dale Harris:
>If you're doing -Quiet why do you need -erroraction?

Because I don't need any entries in the eventlog, etc. - I only need to know if the station is reachable. true or false. And be as quiet as possible.

@trinitrotoluene:
>I would just try
> $pingresult=Test-Connection STATIONX

That would not return a boolean but a bunch of ping result objects (4 of them if I don't use "-Count 1"). As told above, I only need a boolean result, which seems to require require "-Quiet".

@David Johnson
>if you just need a true or false return then (...)

Thanks - that seems to provide a workaround for where -Quiet is not supported. Thanks

@anybody out there:
I still want to know WHY the parameter -Quiet is not supported on that station ....

trinitrotoluene

this worked for me. just move around the params

if(!(Test-Connection -Cn STATIONX -BufferSize 16 -Count 1 -ea 0 -quiet))
      {"Ping test failed"}
ELSE {"Conn Test succeeded"} #end if

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trinitrotoluene

oops didn't see the other answers

David Johnson, CD

perhaps quiet was introduced in a later version of powershell note the older build version

Dale Harris

This question is closed, but I would like to submit that you don't need an erroraction. It will be true/false, and an error shouldn't happen because the system will be either online or not.

Dale Harris

And I'm curious why you only gave one guy credit when I think all of our solutions actually work.

Frank Helk

ASKER

@David Johnson:
Interestingly, the build of my machine (where -Quiet works) is 6.0.6002.18111, while on the target machine (where it fails), the build is 6.1.6949.0 ... which I presume to be later.

@Dale Harris:
Sorry, but at the time I accepted the soultion, there were 2 anwers not really fitting my problem (-Quiet not working on one system) and one with an acceptable workaround. I seems to be just to accept that answer ... maybe I've been a little fast, but that's life, I think.

Thanks to all for commenting, anyhow.