How to troubleshoot Start-job scriptblock that runs forever?

Question

I have difficulties troubleshooting scriptblock used in start-job.

Basically I wanted to get WMI properties for servers. If I issue the following command from Powershell, it works.

c:/>$wmi=Get-WmiObject -class Win32_OperatingSystem -computer servername

However, if I run the command in scriptblock of start-job, the job runs forever.

c:/> start-job -argumentList servername -scriptblock {$wmi=Get-wmiobject 
-class win32_operatingsystem -computer $args[0]}

C:/> get-job
Id   Name    State     HasMoreData   Location    Command
--   ----    -----     -----------   --------    -------
169  Job169  Running   True          localhost   $wmi=Get-WmiObject -cl...

Any help or suggestions is much appreciated.

Thanks

Answer 1

Is this on Windows XP? There is a known issue with WMI on Windows XP and Start-Job. Read this thread: WMI Query Script as a Job

This could be due to corrupt WMI repository. Try rebuilding it once.