Invoke-Command doesn't return anything from my Get-ChildItem

Question

This script doesnt return anything to the $file parameter. if i do it without the Invoke-Command on the server itself it does find a file.

Remote Example:

$file =Invoke-command -ComputerName $server -Credential $cred -ArgumentList $fileName -scriptblock{param($fileName)(Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Force "C:" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Where-Object { ($_.PSIsContainer -eq $false) -and  ( $_.Name -eq $fileName) })}

write-host $file
write-host $file.PSPath

if($file -ne $null -or $file -ne ""){
        $path= $file.PSPath
    }
return $path

Local example:

$file = Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Force "C:" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Where-Object { ($_.PSIsContainer -eq $false) -and  ( $_.Name -eq $fileName) }
write-host $file
write-host $file.PSPath
if($file -ne $null -or $file -ne ""){
        $path= $file.PSPath
    }
return $path

Answer 1

I believe that your issue is with your Get-ChildItem statement. Here is an example to help you sort it out:

PS C:\Temp> Get-ChildItem 'C:'


    Directory: C:\Temp


Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
-a----           3/9/18   6:42 AM              0 file


PS C:\Temp> Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\'


    Directory: C:\


Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
d-----          12/1/17   9:30 AM                PerfLogs
d-r---           3/7/18   2:52 PM                Program Files
d-r---          2/26/18   5:12 PM                Program Files (x86)
d-----           3/9/18   6:42 AM                Temp
d-r---          12/1/17  11:30 AM                Users
d-----           3/6/18  11:46 AM                Windows


PS C:\Temp>

Also, please keep in mind that as of PowerShell version 3 you can use -Directory or -File instead of a Where-Object PSIsContainer logic comparison:

PS C:\Temp> Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\' -File
PS C:\Temp> Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Temp\' -File


    Directory: C:\Temp


Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
-a----           3/9/18   6:42 AM              0 file


PS C:\Temp> Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Temp\' -Directory
PS C:\Temp> Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\' -Directory


    Directory: C:\


Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
d-----          12/1/17   9:30 AM                PerfLogs
d-r---           3/7/18   2:52 PM                Program Files
d-r---          2/26/18   5:12 PM                Program Files (x86)
d-----           3/9/18   6:42 AM                Temp
d-r---          12/1/17  11:30 AM                Users
d-----           3/6/18  11:46 AM                Windows


PS C:\Temp> 

I think that this greatly aids in readability, but it does sacrifice backward compatibility if you are ever going to run this script in PowerShellv2 for some reason.

TL;DR

I think that you need to do this:

$file = Get-ChildItem `
    -Recurse `
    -Force `
    -Path 'C:\' `
    -File `
    -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | 
        ?{$_.Name -eq $fileName}

A simple test that I performed:

PS C:\Temp> $fileName='file'
PS C:\Temp> $file = Get-ChildItem `
>>     -Recurse `
>>     -Force `
>>     -Path 'C:\' `
>>     -File `
>>     -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
>>         ?{$_.Name -eq $fileName}
PS C:\Temp> $file.PSPath
Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\Temp\file
PS C:\Temp>

I hope that this helps!

EDIT

Now that I think about it you could use -Filter as well to filter for your filename:

PS C:\Temp> New-Item demo.csv


    Directory: C:\Temp


Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
-a----           3/9/18   7:12 AM              0 demo.csv


PS C:\Temp> Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Temp\ -Filter "$fileName"


    Directory: C:\Temp


Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
-a----           3/9/18   6:42 AM              0 file


PS C:\Temp> $fileName = '*.csv'
PS C:\Temp> Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Temp\ -Filter "$fileName"


    Directory: C:\Temp


Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
-a----           3/9/18   7:12 AM              0 demo.csv


PS C:\Temp>

This would remove your need for a Where-Object pipe.

And... I just noticed that mklement0 pointed out this second point as well in the comment section above. My bad.