Pfthb

I'm having an issue with automating part of an application install with powershell.
Part of the install is running a command line tool with parameters and entering credentials to access a database. This is supposed to be done without logging in.
For that purpose I've been using scheduled tasks to start my scripts at system startup.

I've been trying to get this particular step working by using AppActivate and SendWait to send the credentials to the window. This does not work though since there is no interactive window if I use the task scheduler.

This is the current script I've been using. It works if I would use the RunOnce key for example.

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.VisualBasic")

powershell.exe add-type -AssemblyName microsoft.VisualBasic

add-type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms

$parms = 'create instance'

Start-Process "app.exe" -ArgumentList $parms -WorkingDirectory "C:appapp.exe"

start-sleep -Milliseconds 1000

[Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction]::AppActivate("C:appapp.exe")

[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("username")

start-sleep -Milliseconds 1000

[Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction]::AppActivate("C:appapp.exe")

[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("password")

This script is called by another script which is run by the task scheduler.
Right now it fails with:

Exception calling "AppActivate" with "1" argument(s): "Process '0' was not found."

and:

Exception calling "SendWait" with "1" argument(s): "Access is denied"

Which is due to not being able to access the window.

Is there any way to send the username and password to the process without requiring an active windows? From what I've seen it doesn't seem to be supported by powershell but I'm still hoping that there is a way. Maybe using Handles? I can not use any applications like AutoHotkey or AutoIt.

Try this,

 $proc = Get-process | where $_.path -eq "C:appapp.exe"
 [Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction]::AppActivate($Proc.id)