What is the "Invoke-Command" cmdlet in Windows PowerShell?

You can use the "Invoke-Command" cmdlet to run commands on remote computers in one-time PSSession. With a single Invoke-Command command, you can run commands on multiple computers.

"Invoke-Command" cmdlet can also be used to run commands on an existing PSSession by using the "-session $s" option to specify the existing session.

The following example runs the "query user" cmdlet on the remote computer "office-server":

PS C:\fyicenter> Invoke-Command office-server {query user}
 USERNAME              SESSIONNAME        ID  STATE   IDLE TIME  
 fyicenter             rdp-tcp#0           2  Active          .  

The following example runs the the PowerShell script, test.ps1, on the remote computer "office-server". Note that "test.ps1" is located on the local computer not the remote computer.

PS C:\fyicenter> Invoke-Command office-server -FilePath test.ps1

The following example runs two script on the same existing PSSession. The first script creates a variable $p in the PSSession. The second script uses the value of variable $p. Note that "-ScriptBlock {...}" option is used, "$p=Get-Process PowerShell" and "$p.VirtualMemorySize" are scripts, not cmdlets.

PS C:\fyicenter> $s = New-PSSession office-server
    
PS C:\fyicenter>Invoke-Command -Session $s -ScriptBlock {$p=Get-Process PowerShell}

PS C:\fyicenter>Invoke-Command -Session $s -ScriptBlock {$p.VirtualMemorySize}
    17930240

⇒ Managing Windows PowerShell Background Jobs

⇐ Example of PowerShell Session on Remote Computer

⇑ Managing Remote Computer with Windows PowerShell

⇑⇑ Windows PowerShell Tutorials